JulietJFallNov 13, 2022

Want to see atmospheric yet often really mundane border photos? My online 🇨🇭🇫🇷 walking journal is moving here, as I’m enjoying this new online atmosphere. (I’m freezing new posts on Twatter & just ‘name-holding’ my account.)
Link to last post on one of the longer earlier threads:
https://twitter.com/julietjfall/status/1571476764269871104?s=46&t=9RfIT2qARWZk8ZBEIES9Vw

#geography #borders #borderstudies #walking #CreativeResearchMethods #CreativeGeography #VisualMethods

Juliet Jane Fall "Official" Heheheheheheeee on Twitter

“We continued today, walking a loop that continued along the river, gazing across into France. No border stones on this stretch, just a super weird military training ground, for playing war games. More control to get into that than the state border.🇨🇭🇫🇷 #BorderWalk #Geography”

Twitter
Show threadJulietJFallNov 13, 2022
Context: This autoethnographic & ad hoc project builds on visual fieldwork carried out during the 1st Covid lockdown, published as an academic comic. It is an ongoing attempt to make sense of borders, identity & the visual performances of statehood as a political geographer interested in feminist & open-ended creative methods (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2399654420933900)
Today’s walk started by revealing the invisible border through infrastructure.
Show threadJulietJFallNov 13, 2022
We then came to border stone no. 52, in the setting sun. (This border was demarcated in 1815, so S is for Savoie, G is for Geneva). We followed the edge of a field, looking for the next one, following the line indicated on the top.
(Methodologically, I love how the injunction to label the image makes me think about it more consciously & mindfully compared to in previous threads!)
Show threadJulietJFallNov 13, 2022
With the help of an online map by the Swiss mapping agency (SwissTopo), we found the next border stone no. 53, semi-buried, with just the G (for Geneva) showing, perhaps when the French built the new sporting complex next to the international border? We then headed home on our bikes as it was getting cold.
Show threadJulietJFallDec 28, 2022
After the double fun of flu & Christmas, both spent in a cloud of brain fog, it was good to get out to continue our delightfully erratic border walk. Rather confusingly, we started at border stone no. 1, the “other” first one, this time on the right bank. Double border stones, at the tripoint of the Canton de Vaud & Canton of Geneva (both 🇨🇭) touching France (🇫🇷). The Geneva one dates back to 1818, Treaty of Paris. #Geography #Borders #BorderWalk #SlowScholarship
Show threadJulietJFallDec 28, 2022
The Geneva/Vaud cantonal border is historically significant, as it used to be the international Swiss border before the Treaties of Paris & Turin extended the territory of Geneva & joined it to the Helvetic Confederation (“Switzerland”). We were amused to see that some of the old border stones remain, now marking an internal (cantonal) border. #Geography #Borders #BorderWalk
Show threadJulietJFallDec 28, 2022
We continued our walk along the Versoix river, meeting border stone number 2 along the way, set in a wall. We were amused by a sign on the French side, explaining that when the border was redefined, the inhabitants of the village of Sauverny living on the left side of the river had to join a foreign country “without any choice in the matter”. No laughing matter, obviously, but it seemed to be implied that they were leaving civilisation behind… #Geography #BorderWalk
Show threadJulietJFallDec 28, 2022
We followed the river for about an hour, enjoying the wintry landscape and beautiful woods. There were no more border stones along there, as the 🇨🇭🇫🇷border follows the middle of the river for a good stretch. We wandered slowly, stepping over muddy patches, enjoying the delightful intersection of #borders, #mosstodon #lichensubscribe, rather than the normal frozen ground of a usual December. It was 10C (i.e. much too hot…)! #Geography #Borders #BorderWalk
Show threadJulietJFallDec 30, 2022
The theme of today’s 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border walk was mud mud mud. We certainly earned reaching border stone No. 3, down a steep & muddy gully, joining a stream to the more mighty Versoix river. We almost-but-not-quite joined up with where we stopped two days ago, but in the absence of a bridge we were trapped on the wrong bank. Some limits are truly material objects, even if we use them to define human political creations.
#BorderWalk #Geography #Borders ##Histodons #AreWeNearlyThereYet?
Show threadJulietJFallDec 30, 2022
We scrambled up along the little stream used to define the border between the Versoix and border stone No. 4. This is a long stretch of the border demarcated after the 1818 Treaty of Paris, with a lot of twists and turns in a small area. So our walk is in stops and starts. The light is flat, and rain spits at us. Not a great day for photography.
#BorderWalk #Borders #Geography #HowMuddyCanItGet?
Show threadJulietJFallDec 30, 2022
Border stones 5, 6, 7 mark out an odd little triangle, then lead us on along a field. We might feel in the middle of nowhere, but we are approaching one of the relay stations of the cross-border CERN hadron collider loop. Modern physics meets ancient political history. If it weren’t the holidays, we might imagine particles zooming around under our feet, oblivious to human territories.
#BorderWalk #Geography #Borders #physics #NuclearResearch
Show threadJulietJFallDec 30, 2022
🇨🇭🇫🇷 Border stones 8, 9, 10. On we go, in the light drizzly rain. Is anyone still following along? It is starting to feel like a rather laborious Advent calendar, a few weeks late…
Moss and ivy are slowly taking over some of the stones. Should we clean them? Let them be? I am torn between feeling that they should be cleaned & preserved and a fondness for the romantic aesthetic of them merging and dissolving into the landscape.
#BorderWalk #Geography #BorderStudies #mosstodon
Show threadJulietJFallDec 30, 2022
🇨🇭🇫🇷 Border stones 11, 12, 13, 14. Some have been restored and cleaned. So someone has decided to apply Swiss standards of cleanliness to these old ladies. Adieu romantic decay.
#BorderWalk #Geography #BorderStudies
Show threadJulietJFallDec 30, 2022
🤣😳In the interest of documentary accuracy, I must admit that we found a pair of rather kinky underpants for someone with a penis on 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border stone number 14! Perhaps these woods, easily accessible by car, are the site of delightfully furtive nocturnal encounters? Certainly someone had enough fun recently to leave behind their underwear… I delicately lifted them & placed them on a different stone. In case you are out looking for them?🩲 #BorderWalk #LostUnderpants
Show threadJulietJFallDec 30, 2022
We trundled on a little way until border stone 17, before doubling back, hungry and damp, but still wearing our underwear. We felt like eating fresh crispy French bread & strong coffee, but unfortunately the villages we passed through on our way home were uninspiring — and the rare boulangeries we found were shut. Clichés of French cuisine be damned: this is a periurban area taking a break after Christmas, filled with crumbling malls not bijou cafés.
#BorderWalk #Geography #Borders
Show threadJulietJFallJan 10, 2023
A quick 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border cycle / walk at the end of a workday, to fill my lungs with fresh air and explore very close to home. It quickly turned very muddy… and rather dark! I look forward to Spring and longer days. But it’s lovely that even close by, I can have mini-border-adventures and come home muddy and happy.
#BorderWalk #geography #borders
Show threadJulietJFall
Border stones 39 to 50 today starting in Soral at the bus stop, walking alone in the pouring rain, and then going all the way home. The walk included one of the youngest stretches of border in Geneva following changes peacefully negotiated in 1996, demarcated in 2000: swapping territory in both countries, negotiated by the Canton of Geneva directly with central government in Paris. The🇨🇭federal system means that the organization of such things are devolved to cantons, unlike in 🇫🇷
Jan 15, 2023 at 2:55pmToot!
Show threadJulietJFallJan 15, 2023
A little #mosstodon moment along the way, and a splendid #lichensubscribe tree that looked as though it had been struck by lightning, just a gnat’s whisker across the border in France.
Show threadJulietJFallJan 15, 2023

What is the point of all this walking? Perhaps because as I wander along these 🇨🇭🇫🇷 now-peaceful lines, exploring home, I can keep in mind other times and other places where boundary lines are still lethal. People kill and die for territories and imaginary lines only a few hours away. My local landscapes are now quiet but the sound of gunfire and strife, wounded bodies, fear and death cling to borderlines.

#BorderWalk #Boundaries #Borders #geography #peace #StandWithUkaine

Show threadJulietJFallJan 22, 2023
Today, in sub-zero temperatures, we walked from border stone 16 to 43, starting from Bossy, looping back to our starting point. We were close to here a few weeks ago, in much warmer weather. But despite the freezing ‘bise noire’ north wind ringing in our ears, we were pleased that frozen ground helped us walk across stretches that would have been too muddy only a few days ago. #borderWalk #geography #autoethnography #walkingMethodology #borders #politicalGeography
Show threadJulietJFallJan 22, 2023
In today’s walk, started out along part of the 1815 border (Treaty of Paris), then along a stretch moved in 1897, and finished on a part redefined in 1963, part of the territories exchanged between 🇨🇭🇫🇷 to allow the extension of Geneva airport’s runway. Lines of history, in a couple of hours of a very cold walk. #BorderWalk #geography #walkingMethodology #Borders #BoundaryStudies
Show threadJulietJFallFeb 5, 2023
In sunny cold, today we walked from 🇨🇭🇫🇷border stones 41 to 64, from rural Geneva through urban Ferney-Voltaire and along fence of Genève Cointrin international airport. From the sublime… to the very smelly, with a special mention to the appalling odor around the back of Carrefour car park! #BorderWalk #borders #geography
Show threadJulietJFallFeb 5, 2023
This stretch of border includes sections moved in 1963, with France gaining territory to build its Lycée International & sporting equipment, while Switzerland could increase the length of its airport runway to take larger planes. Their noise above, taking off every few minutes, is at times unbearable. We catch glimpses of the Alps in the distance, across the runway. #BorderWalk 🇨🇭🇫🇷
Show threadJulietJFallFeb 18, 2023
Today we went back to connect two 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border stretches because we realized that we’d missed a small section of the right bank along the Allondon river as the path was roped off a few months ago. 16C, walking in a T-shirt in February. Bafflingly scary climate crisis, but unexpectedly delightful if you can block off the fear. #BorderWalk #geography #walkingMethodology #geneva #borderline
Show threadJulietJFallFeb 18, 2023
Most of our walk followed the Allondon river that was used to define this stretch of 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border, a beautifully wild valley with sunny dry prairies and woods. There was fabulous moss and lichen all around, glistening in the sun.
The second 1818 border stone we encountered was incongruously in the middle of a Swiss campsite, no. 136. A few caravans were occupied, with families enjoying sunny picnics, perhaps just there for the day.
#BorderWalk #Geography #Mosstodon #lichensubscribe
Show threadJulietJFallFeb 26, 2023
In a howling north-east wind (“la bise” but not the kissing kind!) we continued our erratic multi-day ramble along the🇨🇭🇫🇷 border, from border stone 123 down to 99, in Meyrin, starting near the CERN (European nuclear research centre). Only dog walkers and keen runners were out, braving the near-freezing sudden return of winter temperatures. We’ll need to gain access to the closed cross-border CERN campus if we want to walk along that stretch.
#BorderWalk #Geography #borders #Geneva
Show threadJulietJFallFeb 26, 2023
This Treaty of Paris 1818 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border stretch followed historical field & parish lines, leading to a convoluted boundary with many stones demarcating the changes of direction. Lichen-encrusted border signs were slowly going feral; border stones stood to attention covered in beautiful moss, others restored & scrubbed clean: standing stones for modern political rituals not ancient religions, yet imbued with curious magic. #BorderWalk #mosstodon #lichensubscribe #StandingStoneSunday
Show threadJulietJFallApr 4, 2023
A different border, close by, built of fear, determination and some hubris. Now mostly associated with a chocolate bar: the line of toblerones near Gland, built during WWII to slow down a feared but hypothetical foreign attack. Now preserved as heritage. Look closely at the Maison Bleue — the blue house. It’s not a real home but a fortified and camouflaged gun position. Borders disguised as rural idyll. Somehow chilling. #borders #mosstodon #geography #walkingMethodology #borderWalk
Show threadJulietJFallAug 27, 2023
Back to border-hopping after a long summer of heat and travel further afield. Yay for restarting mini-adventures close by, hopping back and forth in time with many archival photos stored on my phone! We haven’t walked all the way round the Canton of Geneva yet: endless little treasures to find, and new places to explore. #borderWalk #walkingMethodologies #geneve #swissBorder #FrenchBorder #geography #history
Show threadJulietJFallSep 3, 2023
It’s surprising to me how many border stones are carved erroneously. It’s almost embarrassing / delightful how much time and money must have been invested to lay this one with an S (for 🇫🇷 Savoie) carved backwards (🇨🇭was G for Geneva on that one). Or maybe it was done on purpose as a subtle insult?
(One advantage of my mini-border-crossing adventures is that I get to visit French boulangeries. For research purposes, obviously.)
#BorderWalk #borders #visualMethods #geography #StandingStoneSunday
Show threadJulietJFallSep 5, 2023
Landscape as archive: find the old Caserne des Douaniers in Perly. #VisualMethods #QualitativeMethods #Archives #History #geography
Show threadJulietJFallOct 1, 2023
A walk of contrasts today, with many brambles, some light trespassing into a gravel quarry, pretty countryside and industrial stretches between Bardonnex & Croix-de-Rozon. #Borders #geography #borderWalk
Show threadJulietJFallOct 1, 2023
Anyone care to sponsor me to buy this abandoned border post? This would be my dream drawing studio for finishing my border comic! Maybe I need a fundraising project here, or a spare 450’000 Swiss Francs, or a real bestseller? Hmmm…
#borderWalk #walkingEthnography
#borders #geography #academicFunding #prettyPlease
Show threadJulietJFallOct 2, 2023
1970s TV archive on the Swiss border and border guards in Geneva, and on how rivers and bodies of water were used to help trace the borderline (weren't TV programmes slow paced back then? Rather refreshing!): https://www.rts.ch/archives/tv/information/la-suisse-est-belle/11280287-geneve-frontiere-deau.html
#geography #borders #frontiers #visualArchive #visualMethods #Genève #douaniers
Genève, frontière d'eau

Rivières et lac constituent des frontières naturelles pour le canton de Genève et elles n'échappent pas à la surveillance.

rts.ch
Show threadJulietJFallOct 17, 2023
Not walking today, but exploring the state archives, and the Mappe Sarde dating back to when parts of what is now the Canton of Geneva where part of other kingdoms. Just beautiful to see the mini painted landscapes, in still-fresh watercolours, showing places we have walked. #geography #borders #visualMethods #maps #oldMaps
Show threadJulietJFallNov 19, 2023

Sunday morning wandering and cycling around between past and present, in slight drizzle, chasing border stones & French boulangeries.

In case you missed it, a short comic stemming from this walking & drawing border project is mentioned here: https://mastodon.social/@JulietJFall/111427226794927481

#BorderWalk #geography #politicalGeography #VisualMethods #Borders #Borderstudies

Show threadJulietJFallDec 5, 2023
More archive work today, seeing the original documents & accompanying maps of the Treaty of Turin establishing part of what is now the 🇨🇭🇫🇷state border, formerly Geneva & Savoie/Sardinia. Just gorgeous to see it in person, and wander across the pages. Although these docs have been scanned, seeing them in person and gazing at them at an angle, allows you to see the amazing artistry (those little tree shadows!). #oldMaps #visualMethods #visualArchives #Geography #politicalGeography #borders