Waiting for Today’s Barbarians: How the Fall of the Roman Empire Is Anachronistically Exploited to Serve a Contemporary Discriminatory B/Ordering and Othering Agenda

Luuk Winkelmolen, Paschalina T. Garidou and Henk van Houtum

Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2025, vol. 40, issue 2, 417-435

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the “Colosseum interview” of former U.K. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, in which he pleads for fierce border control against refugees, “like the Romans did.” His speech act is exemplary of a trend among especially conservative and/or far-right politicians and thinkers who are warning of a possible fall of the E.U., like the Roman Empire, if it does not “control its borders.” Close reading and deconstructing his phantasmagorical claims, we showcase how Johnson follows a worrying populist tradition of selectively and anachronistically glorifying the Roman past to legitimize contemporary antagonistic b/ordering and othering practices. We argue that precisely the normalization of such dog-whistle speech acts, where historical events are farcically tragedized to fit violent political agendas, potentially paves the way for future tragedies to emerge.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2024.2330067

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Journal of Borderlands Studies is currently edited by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, Henk van Houtum and Martin van der Velde

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