In this presentation, Tomas will dwell on a few ethnographic and cartographic materials from the research project he is currently working on. The overall aim of the research project is to engage with the formation of Southern Africa, particularly the shift from empire and colonialism to the nation-state. Central in this process is the interplay between key concepts such as war, race, border, and territory. In conversation with several intellectual traditions, namely, but not exclusively, black geographies and critical race theory, his aim in this presentation is to attempt to suture the growing schism between Black and African Studies. He will do so by inscribing ethnographic moments into the history of the formation of Southern Africa (with a focus on South Africa, Namibia, and Angola), more specifically in relation to the so-called Border War and national boundary delimitations. Hit argument here is that engaging with the territorial formation of Southern Africa, in the context of settler colonialism, may shed productive light on contemporary discussions on race and the spatialization of racism.