The Borders Within: Mobility and Enclosure in the Riau Islands

Abstract

The border studies literature makes a strong case against claims for unfettered transnationalism and ‘borderlessness’ in our ‘globalising world’. However, its focus on movement across borders means that it fails to address bordering practices that occur within the nation-state as a result of transnational activity. In this paper, we extend Cunningham and Heyman’s concepts ‘enclosure’ and ‘mobility’ to confront the different layers of bordering (both physical and nonphysical) that have occurred in Indonesia’s Riau Islands since they became part of the Indonesia– Malaysia–Singapore Growth Triangle.