„The Making of Europe“

This lecture series invites students from all nine Aurora partner universities to reflect “The Making of Europe”. From Reykjavik to Napoli, we will discuss examples of constructing Europe from the perspectives of EU governance, popular culture and memory politics. 

Europe is a concept with many connotations, encompassing both a space and a political system. In everyday language, Europe is also equated with the institutions of the European Union. The term ‘Europeanisation’ generally refers to the political unification process since the Second World War, but encompasses more than political agreements and laws, also social norms and ideas. 

We want to examine the historical, social and cultural dimensions of Europeanisation and look at the initiatives, instruments and institutions that constitute Europe and 'Europeanness' and position Europe into the everyday life and self-image of its citizens. This includes transnational co-operations such as town twinning, Erasmus student exchange, the Euro as a common currency, pop cultural phenomena such as the Eurovision Song Contest, art formats such as the European Capital of Culture and examples of European politics of remembrance in museums and exhibitions. EU institutions will also be represented when we discuss the making of Europe with Christian Gsodam, Head of Cabinet of the Secretary General, European Committee of the Regions.

On a theoretical level, special attention is given to the perspective of provincialising and decolonising Europe: We ask about the intersectionality of citizenship, religion, and class in order to understand Europe and Europeanness as multi-layered and multi-voiced in a global context.

Assessment:
At the end of term, students will be given a number of essay questions based on the weekly lectures. They can choose one question and answer it in an essay of 7-10 pages. The essay should contain footnotes and further references (included in the 7-10 pages).

Literature:
Patel, Kiran Klaus (2020). Project Europe. A History. Cambridge UP.
Patel, Kiran Klaus (2015). The Making of Homo Europaeus: Problems, Approaches and
Perspectives. In: Comparativ. Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung, 25, issue 5-6 (2015), 15–31.