Europe in the American liberal arts college curriculum

Abstract

Europe in’ the American liberal arts college curriculum is a subject of both controversy and paradox. Controversy in that there has been much criticism of the allegedly overly ‘Eurocentric’ nature of the American higher education agenda, most specifically the curriculum in the liberal arts college. The paradox lies in that the teaching of Europe is both widely scattered throughout a variety of academic departments and the ‘new Europe’ and the European Community receive comparatively little attention. In this paper we will briefly survey the debate which pits Eurocentrism against Multiculturalism in the curriculum and the entanglement of ‘European’ subjects with ‘American’ ones which serves to exacerbate this debate. Next, we will look at the actual situation of European studies in the American liberal arts college, using as a sample the curricula in a select group of these colleges in New England. Finally, we will make some suggestions as to how to improve this situation with respect to European studies and by so doing clarify and defuse at least some of the tensions attendant on the Eurocentric and multicultural debate. Despite what is perhaps the secret wish of many involved in academia, at least in the United States, the debates, which seem to many academics to be of central, if not crucial, significance both to their disciplines and to the world, are rarely perceived as such outside the academy. The debate over Eurocentrism and multiculturalism has, however, reached out beyond academia to become very much a public issue.’ Multiculturalism, in the American framework, first gained wide currency in the 1980s though its roots go back at least into the 195Os.‘The central idea was to improve the curriculum in liberal arts in such a way as to reflect more accurately the composition and diversity of American society as it is now and as it has historically evolved. In essence, its purpose was to broaden and deepen the curriculum to include the history and culture of social groups who had not been considered in much depth, if at all, in the more traditional curriculum. Most particularly it was an effort to present a more fully rounded picture of America by discussing the African-American community. In its concern, the growth of multiculturalism in America was accompanied by a corresponding rise of social history as a major element in the discipline of history. Inclusion of the AfricanAmerican community was very rapidly, and naturally, expanded to incorporate the Latino/a community and subsequently native Americans and AsianAmericans. The origins of the multicultural movement lay in the genuine desire of the academic community (both faculty and administration) to incorporate these concerns in such a way as to provide an education for students which would enable them to gain a more representative understanding of American society