Nationalism and Borders

Being born in post-2001 world, I have only known one world, which is the world full of borders. During this whole entire trip, I have heard from many academics and people generally that borders are artificial and a recent phenomena in the world. In the past, people were able to travel anywhere and were not as limited as we are nowadays. For me this is something that is very hard to understand because especially having a passport that puts all kinds of limitations on me, I have learned that this world is in fact defined nowadays with borders. I always have to get visas or travel long distances to finally reach my destination just because of those borders and the passport that I have. This is the reality for many people, if not worse. People, especially from the states or who hold powerful passports, do not come to understand these issues as much I believe because they don’t experience the hardships. During this trip, we have talked about the issues of migration and immigration greatly and have seen that many governments today take a very isolating approach and build walls rather than opening up and taking in migrants and immigrants. This is the reality that I have grown up in and I am not sure if it will change in the future. Maybe I am pessimistic because I haven’t seen the world before 9/11 however I know that it is a real issue for many. I was fortunate to be able to legally go through the process of immigration but yet understand that many don’t have the luxury or the opportunity to do so. Another aspect that affects this issue of migration and borders is the notion of nationalism. I didn’t know how nationalistic I am till I immigrated to the United States and during this trip definitely people have seen the nationalistic aspects that I have. Reflecting back, I at times am surprised of how nationalistic I am because I realize that this nationalism is actually a real issue for many. Especially in this part of the world, because of nationalism governments stop taking in immigrants and migrants that are desperate to find a safe shelter. Generally speaking, the whole idea of nationalism is interesting because originally most of the states started out as one nation and over time there have been mixing of populations and nations. On one hand you have a country that wants to preserve its national character and on the other hand, you have human beings who need to migrate and honestly I don’t really know who is to blame because I understand both sides equally. I don’t know what I would do or how I would feel if one day I returned to Armenia and Armenians were a minority in the country. One thing that I know though is that during a time when this is a hot topic, I am going to keep up with it and not choose sides because it is more complex than most people think.