30229
Seminar
WiSe 14/15: Europe as a Process, a Project, and a Problem
Manuela Boatcá
Information for students
Exam (pass/fail)
Seminar paper (3,000 words) is part of the active participation.
Comments
As a cultural entity, political project and military-economic power, Europe has played very different roles throughout ancient and modern history. Accordingly, the defini-tions of what Europe actually is, whether in terms of geography, cultural self-understanding or its population's subjective feelings of belonging, were subject to large variation. On the one hand, recurring religious conflicts shaped the still persist-ing division into Eastern and Western Europe; on the other hand, projects of geopolitical and economic policy unification, such as Mitteleuropa from the latter half of the 19th century or the European Union from the second half of the 20th century, shaped identities on the continent - with very different results.
The seminar addresses the different dimensions of the cultural, economic and politi-cal phenomenon of Europe according to their historical and present meaning. Issues such as the current European borders, the distinction between Europe and the European Union, the East-West conflict, Eurocentrism and the postcolonial effects of Europe's colonial and imperial politics, will be discussed on the basis of texts from a wide range of disciplines within the social science spectrum.
close
Suggested reading
Anderson, Perry (2010): The New Old World, London: Verso
Habermas, Jürgen (2011): Zur Verfassung Europas. Ein Essay. Suhrkamp: Frankfurt a. M.
Offe, Claus (2010): Lessons Learned and Open Questions. Welfare State Building in Post-Communist EU Member States, in: Transit. Europäische Revue, 38.
Outhwaite, William (2008): European Society, Cambridge: Polity.
Pagden, Anthony (Hrsg.) (2002): The Idea of Europe, Cambridge.
Therborn, Göran (2000): Die Gesellschaften Europas 1945-2000. Ein soziologischer Vergleich, Frankfurt a. M.
Todorova, Maria (1997): Imagining the Balkans, New York, Oxford.
Wolff, Larry (1994): Inventing Eastern Europe, Stanford.
close
15 Class schedule
Additional appointments
Mon, 2014-12-15 10:00 - 12:00
Location:
Garystr.55/302b Seminarraum (Garystr. 55)
Regular appointments
Mon, 2014-10-13 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2014-10-20 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2014-10-27 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2014-11-03 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2014-11-10 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2014-11-17 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2014-11-24 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2014-12-01 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2014-12-15 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2015-01-05 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2015-01-12 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2015-01-19 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2015-01-26 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2015-02-02 12:00 - 14:00
Mon, 2015-02-09 12:00 - 14:00