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Class notes European Culture
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This is a collection of notes from the first-year course of European culture at Radboud University (Nijmegen)
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European Culture SummaryIntroduction: Europe as an Idea
November 1. 1993: Maastricht Treaty
- The treaty established the European Union (EU),
- EU citizenship granted to every person who was a citizen of a member state.
EU citizenship enabled people to vote and run for office in local and European
Parliament elections in the EU country in which they lived, regardless of their
nationality.
- European Communities, a common foreign and security policy, and enhanced
cooperation in home (domestic) affairs and justice.
European Union = a convention, an idea
Does Europe Exist?
- Definitions in dictionaries differ
- Maps ( Europe as the centre and larger than actual size, e.g. same size as
Africa, Europa as Garden Eden)
➔ Therefore the “truth” depicted in definitions and maps still represents some
sort of value:
- Dictionary= Consensus ( = the truth of the dominant class) / Conservative
- Maps= Perspective; Tendentious
‘Europe as a product of actors, strategies and actions. The actors involved in Europeanisation
do not form a homogeneous group, although they might share some social characteristics.’
Essence versus Function:
• ‘Europe’ does not ‘exist’ and yet the term has a function in a day-to-day
discourse
• The term ‘Europe’ and its definition is a construct, not a reality
• ‘Value’ disguised as ‘truth’: not neutral, but ideologically charged: hidden
agenda, strategic visions of Europe
• Functionalist approach:
Not: What is Europe ( = essentialist approach)
Rather: How does the term ‘Europe’ function, what does it mean in a certain
context; which visions covertly determine its definition? And to whom do
these visions belong?
• Perceptions of Europe from the inside and the outside
, ➔ If men define situations as real, then they are real in their consequences
Europe from the outside ( representation); Which ‘identity’ do outsiders ascribe to Europe?
o Movies; Euro Trip ( Jeff Schaffer, 2006), Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen,
2011)
o Europe as seen by Americans:
Europe from the inside:
o Self-representation
o Notion of ‘Imagined communities’
o “Unity” = a product of imagination, in two ways: the imagined, and that idea of
what is images are made→ Based on the idea of what is shared in a community (e.g.
Territory, History, Culture and Canon, Language, Religion and Morals, Symbols,
Foundational Myths, Art and Heritage etc.)
→Official Motto: contest September 1999
• Unity in diversity
• Unité dans la diversité
• In varietate concordia
Unifying narratives :
- “Foundational myths”: for example, The Odyssey: “The ideal European is polytropic;
agile and cunning while dealing with the multifaceted world.” + Unity in diversity
- Civilizer
- Birthplace/Motherland (heritage and history)
- Style and sophistication (versus American superficiality)
- Science and technology
Athens = “ Cradle of European civilization”
, Myth of Europa; Abduction of Europa
o Europa is a figure from Greek mythology who later gave her name to the
continent of Europe. In one popular version of her story Europa was a Phoenician
princess who was abducted by Zeus and carried to Crete.
➔ How can a tale of a Phoenician woman, unwillingly abducted and sexually
assaulted by a rutting, unscrupulous deity be used as a symbol for a unique project of
peace, prosperity and freedom in human history, being the voluntary integration of
different nations into the European Union?
o Present day commentaries of Europe often fail to mention the matriarchal
tradition and power of the mother; Woman capable of guiding male power according
to the laws of nature. Beautiful and sexual and intelligent woman. Europa often
presented as kidnapped woman whose passive role is used by men as a symbol for
their victory and as a justification of their use of violence. The patriarchal myth of the
triumph of the men over subordinated groups of people is connected to the image of
Europe and the bull ( Annette Kuhn)
Questions to ask:
1. Where is the image and when was it put there?
2. Who produced the image (artist and commissioner)?
3. How does this person or institution feel about Europe?
4. How does the image itself relate to the original story by Ovid?
5. How was this image received and commented upon?
Conclusion:
o Europe does not exist as essence ( essentialist)
o ‘Europe’ = a endless array of possible visions and opinions about it, some of
which are activated in particular contexts witch particular aims
→’Europa’ is a convention= result of negotiation between (un)equal partners: who decide
what ‘Europe’ means and why?
→Depending on time/space
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