Bordering intimacy explores the interconnected role of borders and dominant forms of family intimacy in the governance of postcolonial states. Combining a historical investigation with postcolonial, decolonial and black feminist theory, the book reveals how the border policies of the British and other European empires have been reinvented for the twenty-first century through appeals to protect and sustain ‘family life’ – appeals that serve to justify and obfuscate the continued organisation of racialised violence. The book examines the continuity of colonial rule in numerous areas of contemporary government, including family visa regimes, the policing of ‘sham marriages’, counterterror strategies, deprivation of citizenship, policing tactics and integration policy.