Still Counter-Map of Malta

This is a still image taken from video 3. The bright countries represent countries of origin and the darker countries represent countries of transit/settlement for all known information referring to the 14 border-crossers who comprised this ethnographic study of Malta’s borders. Thus, this counter-map of Malta is established with data from the border-crossing journeys of 10 living border-crossers and 4 would-be, deceased border-crossers who died en route. This map indicates Malta’s borders do not directly and only correspond with its territorial borders, territorial waters or SAR Zone. Nor do Malta’s borders exclusively correspond with the borders of the Schengen Area. 

Malta’s borders, instead, are found within the borders of the countries of origin for each border-crosser. Malta’s borders influence the route and manner of which each border-crosser might arrive. Malta’s borders also exert differential temporal influences, impacting the time it takes for each border-crosser to arrive.

If we want to understand what the Maltese borders are, where the Maltese borders exist and what the Maltese borders do to border-crossers, this map aids us in a way that a map of Malta’s territorial borders does not. This map represents the Maltese borders as practiced. It directly challenges traditional representations of borders, Malta’s borders – including Schengen Area and Malta’s SAR Zone.

The analysis presented here supports this map as representative of the phenomenological borders of Malta.