Metamorfosis de un surco : tierra y confines

"Man has always sought to become powerful on Earth," as Carlo Donolo writes in his introduction to the issue of the Italian Journal Parole-chiave where this essay was originally published. "His first task is to achieve supremacy on the earth as land or surface. For this he needs to set borders and then try to expand them." This shows in just a few words the importance of the topic of this article. Our interest is in the present days, although a quick scan over past events may be useful in order to establish a few points. The "rooting" of the border in the land is verified from an etymological angle by many Indo-European languages, which relate it to the origins of sedentary agriculture, to the furrow made by a plough. Through this furrow, resuming Donolo, a series of transformations of the earth begin to take place, through which it becomes land, territory, space and landscape, as well as many other things. We can hence conclude one first important point: every time we trace borders they transform the land they are affecting, conferring it a different meaning. Tracing borders is therefore a productive - and even a creative - action.