Monstrous knowledge in a world without borders

As is now well known, at the end of 2001 three hijacked planes crashed into three buildings in the U.S.A - an event that was immediately labelled, by left and right, by local and global media, as ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“an event that changed the worldââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢. Meanwhile in Australia, unnoticed by the world media, a small group of academics was preparing to launch an interdisciplinary electronic journal called borderlands. One event, the Event, quickly symbolised a new awareness of the fragility of borders, and constructed a new generation of monsters to inhabit this too-open world. The other was a small monster created to thrive in interstices, between and across borders. In this article I want to trace interconnections between these two events, and begin to theorize a context in which such interconnections can become a richer, more powerful basis for a more effective practice.