Borders and Boundaries: Practices of Categorisation

The Borders and Boundaries: Practices of Categorisation Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) is organised by the University of Turin, in coordination with the University of Saarland (Germany), a member of the Transform4Europe Alliance, and with the involvement of several international partner universities (University of Savoie-Mont Blanc, University of Zaragoza).

This inter-alliance collaboration strengthens academic exchange across European University Alliances and promotes dialogue beyond institutional and geographical borders - in line with the very themes explored by the programme.

Entirely taught in English, the BIP adopts an interdisciplinary approach across Social Sciences and Humanities, and reflects the mission of the UNITA Hub Inclusive Societies.

The programme focuses on the practices through which categories are produced, controlled, negotiated, and resisted. Categories are indeed the result of classification processes: tracing a line, creating a boundary, defining what belongs and what does not.

Through categories, we make sense of reality. At the same time, these classifications frame and constrain our existence. We are defined as “something”: a woman, a worker, a migrant, a citizen. Yet these definitions never fully capture our individuality or agency. Sometimes we embrace categories; sometimes we resist or renegotiate them.

Against this backdrop, the BIP proposes to analyse categorisation as a practice — the act of bordering and boundary-making.

The programme explores three main dimensions:

• dimensions and scales of borders and boundaries: from international and institutional borders to social and individual boundaries
• processes of categorisation: gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, migration, social class, identity, and other forms of social differentiation
• epistemological and theoretical frameworks: conceptual tools to critically reflect on borders and categories in contemporary societies.

Lectures and workshops address borders and categories from multiple perspectives, including socio-cultural, linguistic, philosophical, historical, and political approaches.

As an inter-alliance BIP, the programme brings together students and scholars from different European alliances, fostering intercultural and inter-linguistic dialogue, comparative academic perspectives, transnational collaboration, and critical reflection on European and global challenges.

The academic programme includes lectures by international scholars, thematic workshops, group work, and student presentations. Topics addressed include:

• border walls and geopolitics
• migration and the construction of the "dangerous other"
• racial and sexual boundaries
• gender as a categorisation processes
• the body as a boundary
• border art and artivism
• stereotyping and discrimination in public discourse
• intercultural communication practices.

• Host University: University of Turin, Italy - UNITA Universitas Montium
   
• Inter-alliance coordination: University of Saarland, Germany - Transform4Europe
   
• Partner institutions: the programme involves scholars from European and international universities, ensuring a strong transnational and interdisciplinary academic environment.