Frontier Studies has, of course, generated a huge literature, but remarkably little of the work so far has been comparative across either space or time. This group begins from Newcastle's longstanding strength in the comparative historical archaeology of Roman (including Byzantine) Frontier Studies but adds other empires (eg. China, Austria-Hungary), extends our time-depth to the modern period and present day, and increases the range of cross-disciplinary conversations that may be possible (eg. archaeology-history-politics).
Members' specific interests are extraordinarily wide-ranging, but they are bound by a shared interest in the frontier processes of large, complex, multiethnic political units ('empires' is probably too narrow). We are concerned with the changing relationships over time between a) borders defined in political, military or institutional terms and b) the societies that actually lived on and around those borders. We find value in comparison across the broadest possible range of time and space. Our approach is empirical rather than theoretical: we are concerned with material things and lived experience rather than with abstractions.
We are planning activities that are likely to include a series of research seminars with invited and local speakers, and possibly a reading group to discuss ideas of common interest.