JulietJFallIn 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
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
Side trip from the usual 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border toots: I visited a museum along the former intra-German Iron Curtain, built from original infrastructure but reassembled in a former gravel pit. Hard political memories in the countryside, out of sight of everyday life. An excellent example of showing the extraordinary violence of borders, and linking it to contemporary debates about migration & belonging in the museum. https://www.grenzhus.de/
#geography #borders #politics @geography
#geography #borders #politics @geography
Willkommen im Grenzhus Schlagsdorf - Grenzhus Schlagsdorf
Willkommen im GRENZHUS Schlagsdorf . Öffnungszeiten täglich von 10.00 bis 16.30 Uhr Das Mitführen von Hunden auf dem Außengelände ist gestattet. Eintritt Eintritt: 7,- € pro Person (Schüler, Studenten und Personen mit einem Behindertenausweis 3,- €) Keine EC-Karten-Zahlung möglich. Café Grenzstein Mai bis Oktober 2024 geöffnet.Für Gruppen mit rechtzeitiger Anmeldung öffnet das Café nach Absprache.www.cafe-grenzstein.de… Weiterlesen »Willkommen im Grenzhus Schlagsdorf
Quick extra detour on the way home, after a night on a train, to visit the suitably-numbered border-stone no. 50 on the Swiss/German border at Basel. Happy birthday to me! #geography #borders #borderstone #birthday
I don’t think I ever shared that we walked the border stretch near Cara 🇨🇭/ Carra 🇫🇷 a few weeks ago, did I? (Clearly this is news that the fediverse has been waiting for with baited breath😛!)
I love it when the 2 countries can’t even agree on spelling for place names: the near-abroad is made subtly more Other. Several great border stones and border infrastructure to keep me amused on these last steps of our epic & mundane slow walking adventure. #borderWalk #border #geography #visualMethods
I love it when the 2 countries can’t even agree on spelling for place names: the near-abroad is made subtly more Other. Several great border stones and border infrastructure to keep me amused on these last steps of our epic & mundane slow walking adventure. #borderWalk #border #geography #visualMethods
One more step in the long story: unboxing the English-language book born out of this slow wander Along The Line!
#comics #comicstudies #visualmethods #geography #history #socialscience #academicwriting
If you want a free copy of my book “Along the Line”, it’s available to buy or download here: https://www.epflpress.org/produit/1555/9782889156818/along-the-line
(Photo from today, still chasing borders in very unlikely places, this time in the freezing cold of the Jura!)
Today’s walk, along an old wall marking the 🇫🇷🇨🇭border in the Jura mountains was almost entirely over deep frozen moss, covering everything in a springy layer of green.
Have you ever wondered what a fleece jacket would turn into if you left it in the woods? I wonder how long it took for this one to turn into a mossy sculpture? These are deep, deep woods, and we were far from a path.
Just gorgeous, haunted landscapes.
