• By Rob Norwood
• Posted Wednesday, February 10, 2021

"The Borders of Our Minds" with author David Mould on March 2 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom

Join us on Zoom as historian and journalist David Mould takes us on a journey to borders, both real and imagined.

In his latest book on travel, history and culture, "Postcards from the Borderlands," Mould explores the meaning of borders. Are they simply political and geographical, marked by posts, walls and fences, or should we think of them more broadly? Some borders, set by surveys and treaties, take no account of geography, language, and culture. There are borders within countries—physical, economic, or social. And finally there are the borders of our minds—the way we may think of unfamiliar places.

His journey begins with maps and cartoons that poke fun at how we view other parts of the United States. He moves on to the carve-up of Africa, the artificial (and often straight-line) borders drawn by colonial powers. In South Asia, he explores what The Economist called “the world’s craziest border” between India and Bangladesh. He ends up in Central Asia, in that gerrymandered jumble of former Soviet republics whose names end in -stan.

David Mould, Ph.D., professor emeritus of media arts and studies at Ohio University, has traveled widely in Asia and southern Africa. He was born in the United Kingdom, and he worked as a newspaper and TV journalist before moving to the United States. His travel essays and articles have been published in Newsweek, Christian Science Monitor, Times Higher Education, and History News Network. His other books include: "Monsoon Postcards: Indian Ocean Journeys" (Ohio University Press, 2019) and "Postcards from Stanland: Journeys in Central Asia" (Ohio University Press, 2016).

Kirkus Reviews describes Mould as “a genial travel guide … an academic who does not write like an academic.” Rick Steves, in an interview for his radio show, said: “'Monsoon Postcards' reads like you’ve got a friend who’s really connected and committed to these cultures.”