Narrative can be fruitful to perception of the borders that surround us and that we deal with on a daily basis. Border narratives can help us understand the notions of difference and other in real daily situations, rather than as abstract sociological constructs. According to Michel de Certeau narrative is built upon interactions in space, and border narratives use different emplotments and border figures to configure the border. Border narratives may for example transform the border from a barrier, through which the other side is invisible, to a place where reconciliation, cooperation and coexistence can take place. The narrative of the unknown other can receive equal importance, as can the narrative of border opening and removal. Narrative, anecdote and communication can establish and negotiate borders and move across them marking differences and establishing connections.
Border narratives include narratives of border crossing and of border formation. Border narratives vary on a scale from the individual micronarrative to the collective historical narrative, and may be utilized in both top-down/hegemonic discourse and bottom-up counter-discourses. Individual experiences of the border mediated through aesthetic works and narrative texts can be connected to the larger historical narratives of border formation at an aggregate level.