Abstract
In recent years the European Union has witnessed an increase of re-bordering processes, which have had a significant impact on border regions, and the national minorities that inhabit them (Opiłowska, 2021). Securitising narratives are often used to justify the need for border closures, and subsequent measures designed to protect state interests. While much of the literature in border and security studies has explored geopolitical and elite-level perspectives, less attention has been paid to the voice of individual citizens, and their (re)interpretations of macro-level political narratives. As such, this paper explores how young people in borderland regions respond to securitising border narratives. This study draws on data gathered through interviews and creative arts research workshops conducted with young people (aged 18-30) from borderland regions in South Tyrol, Italy, and Silesia, in Poland and Czech Republic. Participants were asked to respond to border narratives collected from minority media and to share their experiences of borders and Europe as young members of a national minority. We therefore focus on issues of identity and belonging from the intersectional perspective of young minority representatives living in peripheral border regions. A theoretical perspective of vernacular border security (Vaughan-Williams, 2021) is used alongside ontological security theory (Giddens 1991), to analyse how young borderlanders have experienced recent border crises, relate to securitised border narratives, and reflect on their identities. Thus, we argue that this bottom-up perspective of the securitisation processes can help scholars better understand the complexities of life for young borderland citizens and their relationship with macro-level narratives.