The Space Between

Verdun's Zone Rouge

Of the many travel adventures people have dreamed up, a tour of No Man's Lands has got to be one of the most intriguing. Alasdair Pinkerton, an expert in human geography at the Royal Holloway University of London, and fellow researcher Noam Leshem of Durham University have just embarked on a monthlong excursion to these peculiar areas in 19 countries in Europe and North Africa. Demilitarized zones like that between North and South Korea notwithstanding, the concept of a No Man's Land is not solely a military one, says Pinkerton. In fact, the first one they visited was a field between two church parishes in southern England. According to Leshem, a No Man's Land is "a place where there has been an intentional withdrawal of state power and sovereignty. At the same time that space has been delineated—there is a very clear sense of what is in it, and what is considered to be outside of it. So you have these two forces—on the one hand this intentional pulling back, and at the same time this setting apart": (story, link to audio interview): http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34319540