JulietJFallWe 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!)
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.
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
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
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
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
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?
#BorderWalk #Geography #Borders ##Histodons #AreWeNearlyThereYet?
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?
#BorderWalk #Borders #Geography #HowMuddyCanItGet?
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
#BorderWalk #Geography #Borders #physics #NuclearResearch
🇨🇭🇫🇷 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
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
🇨🇭🇫🇷 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
#BorderWalk #Geography #BorderStudies
🤣😳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
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
#BorderWalk #Geography #Borders
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
#BorderWalk #geography #borders
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 🇫🇷
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.
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
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
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
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
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 🇨🇭🇫🇷
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
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
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
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
#BorderWalk #Geography #borders #Geneva
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
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
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
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
(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
Landscape as archive: find the old Caserne des Douaniers in Perly. #VisualMethods #QualitativeMethods #Archives #History #geography
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
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
#borderWalk #walkingEthnography
#borders #geography #academicFunding #prettyPlease
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
#geography #borders #frontiers #visualArchive #visualMethods #Genève #douaniers
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
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
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
Term-time is ended, the archives are closed, and we are back outside celebrating the beginning of the holidays by walking! Walking the wiggly borderlines along the Foron river, where the border is unusually not in the middle of the stream but along the right (Swiss) bank. France has full rights over the water. Interestingly, 🇨🇭and 🇫🇷 haven’t formally agreed on the exact location of the border here and discussions are ongoing. #Borderwalk #geography #borders #frontières #visualMethods
We wandered on along a charming path in the evening sun, enjoying the usual mix of contrasting landscapes on either side of the line: small villas on the Swiss side & rather charmless apartment blocks in France. I love spotting the immediately-recognizable former border posts, often now converted, built in the 1920s & mostly designed by Marc Camoletti: the architect who built the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire. #localHistory #architecture #borders #frontières #borderWalk #douane #visualEthnography
We ended up in Thônex, just after a beautiful borderstone showing the Sardaigne/Savoie arms, and the Geneva key & eagle. Home for tea! #douane #thônex #borderWalk #border #geography #borderline #borderstone
My, my, guess what we’ve been doing today for a blissfully sunny & warm Boxing Day? Unseasonably warm, but just perfect for hopping across and along the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border, this time near Jussy. Four hours to walk from border stones 120 to 155, and back to the starting point, with two extra bonus old ones incongruously moved from elsewhere & reused rather oddly to mark the entrance to a property. #BorderWalk #borders #geography
This stretch of our long ongoing border walk saw us traipsing along paths, mostly on the Swiss side, and sometimes crossing muddy fields, digging in brambles looking for border stones and wandering in unexpected stretches of mossy woods as we traced our way along the 🇨🇭🇫🇷border. This was an old section of the border of what was the Mandement de Jussy, belonging to the city of Geneva before the canton was made into one contiguous unit in 1815. #BorderWalk #geography #borders #frontières #mosstodon
We ended the year wandering away from our usual 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border, between near Vich (Vaud) along the so-called line of Toblerones, echoing the shape of the chocolate bars: a World War II anti-tank defense line of dragon’s teeth. I’m usually no fan of military history, but I am sensitive to the fear and horror contained in the site & the stones. I am also mindful that right now in Europe, in Ukraine, similar objects save or kill. #borders #history #mosstodon #standingStoneSunday
Yesterday, we got chased down the mountain we were staying on by a blocked toilet (not fun in an isolated chalet in a snowstorm!), so back to walking the 🇨🇭 🇫🇷 border. A lovely but VERY muddy walk today, back near Jussy.
First: a curiosity. A house built using recycled 1754 border stones, removed in 1798 (thank you French Revolution!) during the short-lived creation of the French Département du Léman. #borders #borderWalk
The border first followed a stream, then a series of extremely muddy canals dug through the boggy forest. We walked very slowly, hopping from log to log, as the paths turned to brooks and the stones became islands, fired on by our delightfully pointless quest to find all the stones. Geneva felt like an island surrounded by boggy lands.
A lovely day in the sun with three of us walking for a change, fired on by biscuits and chocolates. #borderWalk #geography #riverBorder #mosstodon #visualmethods
A lovely day in the sun with three of us walking for a change, fired on by biscuits and chocolates. #borderWalk #geography #riverBorder #mosstodon #visualmethods
Sometimes, my walks lead to unexpected marvels. It started out today as a quest to find old border buildings near Moillesulaz (🇨🇭) / Moëllesulaz (🇫🇷) but they were all apparently flattened & replaced with a shiny new (& super useful!) cross-border tram & modern blocks of flats or administrative buildings. So, a frustrating start if nostalgia is your thing. But what happened next will surprise you, as they say... #BorderWalk #geography #border #borderStudies #visualMethods #SlowScholarship
All history was not erased. The city held on to other memories a little further down the street: Irène Gubier (1897-1995), a woman of remarkable bravery, member of the French Resistance during WWII, is remembered by her little cross-border house standing tall. It was used to transport people & messages during the war. She was deported by the Nazis to Ravensbrück but survived to live to 97. She is remembered on both sides of the border. #History #geography #womenshistory #resistance #ireneGubier
There is a simple & accessible open-access downloadable book about the historical context & Irène Gubier (and other local characters), in French, if anyone is interested: file:///Users/fall/Downloads/livre-expo-gubier-web.pdf
#womenshistory #resistance #worldwar2 #localhistory #genève #gaillard
#womenshistory #resistance #worldwar2 #localhistory #genève #gaillard
Smile moment last night as we hopped into France to celebrate my lovely father-in-law’s 80th birthday, crossing by car at a place we have walked. I know all the slightest details of the borderline there, and the location of every stone. But politics also has daily rhythms that we forgot. When we wanted to go home, the border was shut. Ha! My daughter took one look at me and said “Ah, yes, Captain Geography…” 😂 I now have a new ironic title! #borders #geography #borderlines #politics #BorderWalk
Another Sunday exploring. No snow on the mountains, so the family isn’t skiing as much as some winters. Time to border hop!
We connected back with where the photo above — showing a border that closes at night — was taken, and tootled on. I love spotting all the infrastructure connected to the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border. I now have an official list of it all from the Office du Patrimoine but it’s usually pretty legible.
#borderWalk #geography #borders #slowResearch #visualEthnography
We connected back with where the photo above — showing a border that closes at night — was taken, and tootled on. I love spotting all the infrastructure connected to the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border. I now have an official list of it all from the Office du Patrimoine but it’s usually pretty legible.
#borderWalk #geography #borders #slowResearch #visualEthnography
Lots of lovely border stones to keep me happy along the way (left bank 72 to 85 today), large and small, old and new(ish). Some easy to see, some requiring a phone app with gps to find in brambles, some needing repair, and some behind private fences (ahem…). #BorderWalk
We wore Wellington boots today, which was inspired, because it was muddy in places, we waded through the stream used to define the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border for some stretches, and it was POURING with rain as we turned back to the car. Home for tea after another lovely walk seeing the superb and the mundane, following an (in)visible line. How much effort goes in to making us believe in the reality of the arbitrary territories we carve out!
#BorderWalk #geography #borders #borderlands #sovereignty
#BorderWalk #geography #borders #borderlands #sovereignty
It’s Sunday so off we go 🇨🇭🇫🇷boundary-walking, through fields & along the river Hermance. We walked from border stones 210 to 216 on the left bank, close to Veigy-Foncenex.
We started by stumbling upon a memorial in Crevy to some of the Righteous among the Nations, i.e. local people who helped Jewish refugees flee to Switzerland during WWII. (We reckon we’ve got about 5-6 stretches left to complete our tour, but we might stretch it out a bit!) #localHistory #borderWalk #geography #history #ww2
We started by stumbling upon a memorial in Crevy to some of the Righteous among the Nations, i.e. local people who helped Jewish refugees flee to Switzerland during WWII. (We reckon we’ve got about 5-6 stretches left to complete our tour, but we might stretch it out a bit!) #localHistory #borderWalk #geography #history #ww2
We joined up with the border & continued upstream, along the river Hermance. The border now runs down the middle of it here (here it was formerly along the talweg, i.e. following the deepest bit of the river bed). It is a picturesque and languid river meandering in a rural landscape punctuated by the usual border infrastructure: border stones, disused border guard buildings and rusting signs and fences. #borderWalk #geography #switzerland #visualMethods #visualEthnography #walking
Some of the river bank has been reinforced on the Swiss side. We wouldn’t want the pesky neighbours to steal bits of territory (Note almost springtime birdsong!)
We found ourselves in formerly Sardinian (!) territory as a splendid crested border stone across the 🇨🇭🇫🇷Hermance river reminded us that this was part of wider kingdoms in 1816, before the same stone was recarved when this area joined France, but maintaining the Sardinian royal flag. On the other side, the Geneva crest was spectacularly inaccurate, and as a result really rather cool. #borderWalk #history #borders
We then got into trouble traipsing across cross-border fields, ending up in someone’s garden, trying to accurately follow the line where it left the river. « We are just trying to follow the invisible borderline» not surprisingly comes across as rather odd to people who are wondering if the walkers wandering into their land are a) lost or b) burglars! To be fair, none of this really makes any sense, does it? Other than as geographical poetry of the absurd. #borderWalk #geography #borderlines
Hurray, we have secured access badges to CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research) to walk the short stretch of the 🇨🇭 🇫🇷 within the cross-border science site tomorrow, with two knowledgeable staff members. I am so loving this adventure along the borderline, taking us to many unexpected places large and small!
And, yikes, my comic book coming out of this project needs to be handed in at the end of the month! Almost there!
#borders #borderWalk #geography #history #borderstudies #cern #comics
What do you do if you want to build a particle accelerator slightly above ground across the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border and there is a border stone in the way? The solution will surprise you, as they say. Answers on a postcard, please!
Fabulous welcome this morning at CERN where patient people took time to answer our many questions.
#borders #borderstone #cern #geography
Fabulous welcome this morning at CERN where patient people took time to answer our many questions.
#borders #borderstone #cern #geography
We reached the end of the line today in Hermance, but we actually still have two holes to plug until we can officially proclaim to have walked the whole 🇨🇭🇫🇷 Geneva border. #BorderWalk #Genève #Geneva #Geography
Yippeee, the book & comic to emerge from this project have been submitted to peer review. Fingers crossed! #academicWriting #comics #scienceComic #comicsBasedResearch #graphicNarrative #bilingual #geography #academic
Today, for Ascension weekend, we walked to Spain.
Ok, not really! We actually scrambled in the woods in the Jura mountains looking for three elusive border stones, the oldest of which was laid in 1648 when there was a border between Franche-Comté that belonged to Philip IV, king of Spain & the Pays de Vaud (then part of Berne). Although this remained an international border until 1862 (Traité des Dappes) this area is now entirely within France 🇫🇷. #BorderWalk #geography #history #mosstodon
Ok, not really! We actually scrambled in the woods in the Jura mountains looking for three elusive border stones, the oldest of which was laid in 1648 when there was a border between Franche-Comté that belonged to Philip IV, king of Spain & the Pays de Vaud (then part of Berne). Although this remained an international border until 1862 (Traité des Dappes) this area is now entirely within France 🇫🇷. #BorderWalk #geography #history #mosstodon
The teaser flyer for the French version of my comic that was born of the visual ethnography of the 🇨🇭 🇫🇷 border is out, aimed at an audience of comic-lovers, and local history/geography/urban planning folks.
The English version of the same comic ("Along the Line") is interwoven into a "serious" social science academic book, looking at the theory (territory/borders/infrastructure), methods and ethics of the project.
#comics #geography #visualMethods #history #histoire #histoireSuisse #localhistory
The English version of the same comic ("Along the Line") is interwoven into a "serious" social science academic book, looking at the theory (territory/borders/infrastructure), methods and ethics of the project.
#comics #geography #visualMethods #history #histoire #histoireSuisse #localhistory
