Introduction

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the military exclusion zone defensively created by North American governments—against the threat of Japanese invasion during the war—as a border space. It explains the controlled opacity of government-supported offshore detention at Manus Island, Papua New Guinea and Nauru. The book illustrates expansionist ambitions, whether by border crossing, exclusion or media proliferation, highlighting different manifestations of territorial sovereignty. It focuses on a number of counter-monuments erected, removed, transported and recreated in a dynamic political practice wher..