Political states have borders demarcating one “interior” from another. Civilizations have frontier zones, where the coherence of one master narrative gradually dissolves and the power of another fades in. Borders are porous, however, and frontiers are nebulous. All through history, people have moved from one world civilization to another through the spaces in between. Merchants, tourists, adventurers, bandits, armies, migrants, criminals on the lam—all have carried with them trinkets, goods, games, jokes, recipes, riddles, songs, stories, judgments, rumors, opinions, and countless other sorts
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