Europe: A Cultural Border, or a Geo-cultural Archipelago

Journal of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 2017

The long discussion on the formulation of “Europe and her identity,” from a political, economic, cultural or religious aspect, has, on one hand, paved the way for the unity of European nations, and created many misconceptions in the mind-set of both the elite and the masses, the developed and undeveloped nations, on the other. The worry about the absorption of core principles of one’s culture within European Community and the superiority of high culture (a subculture presented by the elite in the society within the European Community) towards popular culture or low culture (a subculture presented by the majority of the community within the European Community) have created numerous obstacles for the construction of the concept of Europe as a cultural identity, which is the thrust of the study in this paper. Cultural identity is very essential for European Community, as it persuades its people to have a sense of self and how to interact with each other. Also, it contributes to people’...

2008

On the importance of the Idea of Europe and the arbitrariness of ‘cultural identities’ is the revised translation of an article from 2008, ‘On the importance of the Idea of Europe and the disadvantages of its reality’. Is there such a thing as a European culture? European (cultural) identity is not defined by the diversity and richness of customs, habits, and languages, nor by the intense 'encounter' of so many small differences on such a small continent. It is also not rooted in the shared meanings, common heritage—architecture, art, religion, knowledge—with which we might identify. Instead, it lies in the awareness and understanding, cultivated through a long and unique history, that all cultures are ultimately untrue and that no culture deserves special respect—neither mine nor that of others. This is not an existential truth and is difficult to live with, but rather a guiding principle. The understanding that my/our culture can be extraordinary and deeply important to me, while also being not special and somehow equal to all other cultures, so that I cannot derive any special rights from it, is the product of a long and complex history. Two significant moments in this development are (1) the invention of the 'game' of discussion and (2) a modern, enlightened understanding of ethical consciousness.

This essay states that Europe at its very essence is a cultural phenomenon: an idealistic image of a European community and identity. This implies that Europe is far from perfect and completed. Europe is a destiny as well as a wish-dream. 0.1 On the every-day surface the image of the unification of Europe is that of a strange jumping procession, a fatiguing going forwards and backwards, a critical compromise among the national states that primarily aim at their own political sovereignty and their own economic interest. In the meantime nobody, however, can doubt in earnest that the compromise is irreversible. Exactly that laborious progress of the European project refers to a deeper level of unity or integration. The compromise proofs that the European unity is unthinkable and impossible without a common desire or a propelling ideal. If the European unity was not fundamentally a cultural or mental unity the project of Europe would have failed a long time ago. The unity of Europe is neither a geographical nor a political reality, but a profound, imaginative, subconscious and exactly as such all the more a reality: a common identity and a binding ideal, in short one culture. 0.2 The unity of Europe is not a new invention but the re-invention of an historical reality dating from centuries before the invention of the nation states. The 19th century nation states work as a blockade for the process of European integration on the fundamental basis of cultural unity and not on the basis of geographical or geo-political outside or inside frontiers. The European Union as a cultural phenomenon is not a new state, on the contrary: Europe is a re-conquest from the modern national ‘villain state’. Europe is not a unitary state, but a cultural, a moral unity. Europe is a unity in a ‘post-modern’ form: it is an absolute political novelty and unparalleled in political history. 0.3 If ever the integration of Europe, today and in the future, is concretely visible and comes into being, then it will be in the cities, the urban regions and in their mutual relationships into Euregions. The economical, social and cultural relationships between cities in Europe cross the national frontiers. Both the European superstructure of culture and its substructure of economy and technology are located in the cities. 0.4 The post-war prosperity, the economic power and the social-cultural quality of life in Western Europe owe their existence to what is called: the Welfare State or the Rhineland model. The European welfare state model is the basis and the success formula of the European social-economic growth and prosperity thanks to a relatively high labour-participation through flexible work hours in numbers and schedules, a controlled development of the cost of labour and a relatively calm and reliable labour climate through social security. 0.5 As a cultural entity Europe has originated in the course of thousands of years from subsequent migrations of nations, from the import and integration of the most diverse cultural influences. Europe has no chance on a leading position in the world as the power of the strongest, but as founded on solidarity with the weakest. Europe is not an impregnable fortress, but a social-economic home for any one living there. Originally Europe is a multi-cultural reality. The power of Europe lies in its cultural diversity. The harmony among the European nations seems to override the contrasts. 0.6 It will be a matter of (re)invention or creation of open forms of democratic co-existence, in old and new connections, not frightening but, on the contrary, enriching or – to be pragmatic – necessary, inevitable in view of the new global processes of mobility, communication and migration. In this perspective, new, greater political entities such as Europe might be the only possible guarantee for the maintenance of cultural identity and diversity, just because greater entities like Europe have been built up from smaller, older and much stronger entities than the nation state, rooted as they are in history and national character. In this connection the importance of the European cities and urban regions must be emphasized once more. The European unification and the ambition of ‘old’ population groups for acknowledgement of their own identity and a certain degree of independence seem to be the reverse sides of one and the same process. A European Union will be a Europe of the nations (peoples) instead of the states. 0.7 The ‘undercurrent’ where the unity of Europe develops itself in a concrete way appears to be a cultural subconscious process that consciously, at least visibly moves in the field of economy and technology. Within the context of innovation which we have a lot through R&D in Europe, but the missing entrepreneurship to reach the market for its new technical inventions, Ulijn et al.(in press) make a plea for a paradigm focusing on national, corporate and professional cultural capital using its cultural diversity as an asset for the economic and technical development.

European Journal of Social Theory, 2002

The EU has recently introduced a cultural policy. This includes symbolic initiatives, among which is the creation of the 'European Cities of Culture' (ECC), that are a primary example of EU attempts at awakening European consciousness by promoting its symbols, while respecting the content of national cultures. This goes together with the realization that the idea of 'Europe' as the foundation of an identity is key for the legitimization of the EU. This article addresses the question of European cultural identity as it is appropriated and shaped by the EU in the process of becoming an 'imagined community'. It is grounded on a critical systematization of current ideas of Europe as a cultural identity and on a fieldwork analysis of the nine ECCs in 2000. The article argues that if we are to appreciate how Europe is imagined, it is important both to take EU symbolic initiatives seriously, and to try and grasp the specificity of these symbols and the peculiar conditions of their use.

2008

El objetivo de esta investigación es debatir sobre la noción de identidad europea. También nos preguntamos si nos enfrentamos a una Europa multicultural o una Europa intercultural. Aquí hacemos hincapié en el hecho de que las grandes son Naciones multiculturales, que supieron armonizar sus diferencias culturales y lograron construir su identidad nacional sobre la base del diálogo intercultural. El trabajo tiene en cuenta que el multiculturalismo supone la coexistencia de culturas en el mismo espacio, su interacción no es obligatoria, y requiere al mismo tiempo tanto tolerancia como diálogo. Estas características permiten a las culturas coexistir, y enriquecerse mutuamente, lo que les lleva a un compromiso aceptable y constructivo, que requiere, sobre todo, la reciprocidad.

Current Issues in European Cultural Studies, 2011

The aim of the work is to approach the complex cultural system of the European Union through the analysis of cultural diversity within the EU and the existence of a possible common European cultural identity. This paper attempts to promote the debate on intercultural dialogue in the European Union and the actions undertaken by the European institutions to promote a common cultural identity based on plurality and diversity.

2018

The intent of this Special Issue is to be a starting point for a broadly-defined European cultural psychology. Across seven research articles, the authors of this Special Issue explore what European culture(s) and European identity entail, how acculturation within the European cultural contexts takes place and under what conditions a multicultural Europe might be possible. The Special Issue also discusses what is currently missing from the research agenda. Therein, the findings of this Special Issue constitute an important starting point for future psychological research that accompanies Europe along its journey into the 21st century.

1997

1992 was supposed to herald a positive turning point in the history of Europe. However, as one commentator succinctly remarked, at the end of 1992 the European Community had to worry about protecting yesterday's accomplishments rather than facing tomorrow's challenges.1 The collapse of the Soviet empire at the end of 1991 raised old and new European demons. These originated from the re-invigoration of the nation-state and of ethno-nationalism in Europe. The continent became embroiled in a sometimes deadly clash between two opposing forces: the logic of global socio-economic interdependence that spells integration and the logic of ethnicity and nationality that demands separation. It is not inevitable that the logic of unity and interdependence will prevail and there is a consequent danger of a return to a dangerously fragmented Europe with potentially devastating consequences.

Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 2018

The intent of this Special Issue is to be a starting point for a broadly-defined European cultural psychology. Across seven research articles, the authors of this Special Issue explore what European culture(s) and European identity entail, how acculturation within the European cultural contexts takes place and under what conditions a multicultural Europe might be possible. The Special Issue also discusses what is currently missing from the research agenda. Therein, the findings of this Special Issue constitute an important starting point for future psychological research that accompanies Europe along its journey into the 21 century.