This project examines the emergence of a new Iron Curtain along the EU’s eastern border with Russia from the perspective of the borderland, shifting the focus away from the geopolitical centres towards the neglected, yet critical margins. It traces the fortification and militarisation of the border in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine and investigates how borderland residents across Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland respond to these transformations. By adopting a bottom-up perspective and drawing on border studies, feminist and intimate geopolitics, and memory studies, the project aims to uncover the emotional and historical undercurrents that shape geopolitical relations between the EU and Russia.
Methodologically, it pioneers a mobile border ethnography, combining fieldwork along the border with targeted, multi-sited case studies in three key areas: security (linking personal and national safety), border economies (disrupted by the loss of cross-border exchange), and ethnic minorities (navigating ties to Russia and complex positionalities).
It delivers: (1) a bottom-up perspective on EU–Russia border dynamics, (2) new insights into borders as contested and emotional spaces, and (3) an analysis of how historical memories shape contemporary practices. By foregrounding local experiences, the project provides urgently needed knowledge of how Europe’s frontline communities negotiate geopolitical shift at a critical time for the European security order.