Both intercultural education and comparative education have conventionally assumed the primacy of territoriality and sovereignty. This paper engages critically with these assumptions and, in turn, highlights the historical fluidity of nation states while seeking to normalise the process of geographical movement of populations. As such, a number of explicit or implicit modalities of collective survival have emerged on the part of many self-defined ethno-national groups reflected in narratives which sustain collective existence but which, over time, may be seen as flexible. These processes are illustrated with contemporary and historical references, demonstrating that such modalities pragmatically take into account the realities of survival and calling into question essentialist notions of ethnicity, cultural integrity and nationhood. It is argued that the provisional aspect of geopolitical boundaries, the mobility of populations and the autonomous existence of a number of communities have not conventionally figured prominently either in comparative education or intercultural education discourse. Accordingly, there is a strong case for moves towards de-territorialised theorisation in both disciplines with an increased emphasis on agency in collective identity formation and away from national and cultural reification. (Contains 2 notes.)