European Identity Research Articles

Capítulo 7. Pillorying the Pillars: the EU identity crisis through the lens of Italian contemporary film and TV drama

This chapter investigates screen representations of migrants in Italian productions over the last two decades through a methodological blend of textual analysis and statistical analysis of select hard data.A representative sample of feature films (Saimir, Good morning Aman, La desconocida, Cover Boy, Mar Nero, Francesca, Terraferma, Fuego en el mar) reveals a balance between narratives of clash and encounter between cultures while highlighting the frequency of the victim paradigm almost always through a vision ab intra that, in most cases, carries a symbolic function of condemnation of a social issue (be it racism or injustice) and of promoting integration in the form of compassionate realism.However, a detailed analysis of audience numbers and box office records (both in Italy and in other European markets such as Spain) also reveals the low impact and public outreach of these films. The real paradigm shift in the past two decades has been from film to serial television, which has become capable of attracting audiences of millions and multiplying exports.Thus, the second part of the chapter will argue how, through a distinctive blending and dramatization of true facts and fiction, series like Gomorra, Suburra and El Comisario Montalbano push beyond traditional stereotypes and can be seen as paradigmatic of the crisis of the European Identity as a result of the failure (by Italian and EU institutions alike) to keep true to the so-called Pillars that the European entity has set itself.
 Palabras clave: EU Pillars, Migration/migrants, Italy, Feature film, TV serial drama, Audience outreach.

Security, history and the boundaries of European identity after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a rupture point in European politics of a kind not seen since the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The effects on the human, military, energy and environmental security of Central and Eastern Europe have been dramatic, but ideational factors are proving to be as significant as material ones. Conflicting understandings of shared history are shaping the course of the war in Ukraine and its effects on the rest of Europe, underscoring the status of Russia as the other against which European societies construct their identity. As a result, in the rest of Europe as well as in Ukraine itself, Ukrainian identity is now increasingly seen as European, and European identity is understood to include Ukraine. At the same time, a collective focus on this reshaping of identity is muting some of the most urgent questions about the limits of European liberalism and democracy.

Sensing, imagining, doing Europe: Europeanisation in the boundary work of welcome cultures

ABSTRACT In the article, we shed light on and problematize the everyday sensing, imagining, and doing of Europe in the boundary work of welcome cultures. By relating the practices and performances of the welcome cultures to a long tradition of thought problematizing European identity around the notion of cosmopolitanism, we read welcoming activities as openings for imagining and doing an inclusive Europe in a space apart from and beyond the institutional violence of exclusive borders. It is our argument that through the everyday activities of welcoming, ‘other Europes’ emerge, heterotopia, materialized as ‘elsewheres’ articulated in resistance to and as well as mirroring and mimicking the EU and state bordering. We thereby illuminate how European welcome cultures open for renegotiating and reimagining the boundaries and contours of what it means to be European, and this is sensed, imagined and performed in the everyday practices.

EU identity visions and narratives of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in European Schools

ABSTRACT In ‘European Schools’, created for children of EU officials, narratives of European identity among students could match EU visions. Yet, students’ individual narrations of their identities are more complex. The study systematises these narratives of Europeanness: cosmopolitan, multinational and transnational notions of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Qualitative thematic analysis provides perspectives on what ‘being (not) European’ means for EU, European Schools and teachers – and most importantly, it disentangles identity narratives of European School students. Based on interviewing 101 students across three schools, the analysis shows that EU and European School propositions of a multinational European identity differ from teachers’ and students’ cosmopolitan and transnational narratives. At the EU level, Europeanness implies an ‘out-group’ of a nationalist, war-torn past. Students contradict EU visions by widening teachers’ antinationalist narrative and excluding people within Europe. They exclude intolerant and narrow-minded, but more generally people who are more national and less mobile than their ‘in-group’. Systematically comparing European identity narratives thus helps to uncover these contradictions. Not all narratives about Europe are available to everyone and individual opportunities to partake in mobile, multilingual Europeanness need reconsideration.

Social model or neoliberal champion? Economic visions of the European demos among EU citizens

AbstractTheories of economic nationalism have shown that identities can be constructed around various economic discourses. Yet, much of the literature focuses on official discourses while empirical tests on the citizen level are short in supply. The debate about the European demos exemplifies this shortcoming as EU institutions construct two competing visions of a European identity around economic issues. The European economy is depicted as a neoliberal competitor or as an economic space characterised by a social model. This paper investigates which of these two official visions EU citizens subscribe to. Based on 18 focus group interviews in France, Germany and Poland, I argue that citizens only share a conception of a European social model while a marriage of neoliberalism and nationalism can be detected for national economies. These findings highlight the importance of studying everyday nationhood, as not all official visions can be expected to resonate with citizens. Studies of discursive identity formation cannot only focus on official discourse, but should be flanked by investigations on the citizen level.

World of Learning, Sociability and City in early Eighteenth Century France

In this last paper, I wish to present the research project I am currently working on, which is about the connection between the world of learning and scholars and the emergence of urban identities in Europe in the first half of the 18th century. To speak in broader terms, what I would like to grasp is how the circulation of knowledge shaped the making of the great cultural metropolises in the period between the 17th and the 18th century, mainly in a few sites : Paris, Lyon, London, Edinburgh,...

Measuring the scientific greatness : the recognition of Paris in European Enlightenment

This paper will explore the interpretation of european capital cities as centre of knowledge from the Scientific Revolution to the Enlightenment, to seize the connection between the world of learning and scholars and the emergence of urban identities in Europe in the first half of the 18th century. As we will see, the field of research makes a shift from the history of Republic of letters like Hans Bot, Francoise Waquet, Ann Goldgar or Dena Goodman have developed it in previous works. To spea...

Jonas Aistis’ and Sigitas Geda’s Notion of Open Cultural Identity: Between Universality and National Self-Preservation

In this article, author uses the theory of intertextuality to examine how the works of two Lithuanian poets, Jonas Aistis and Sigitas Geda, revised Western literary works during the Soviet era and what kind of European identity they conveyed by creating intertextual connections. Both poets during the Cold War looked for the ways to make vital links with Western literature and to continue to reflect on the relationship between Europeanness and Lithuanianness that had taken place in Lithuania before World War II. Aistis turned to the classical era that was popular in the interwar period, especially the myths of Medea, Orpheus and Eurydice, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Using intertexts, he reflected on the ideas of double homelessness (love for the lost Lithuania and Europe), post-catastrophic identity, and the painful disappointment with the diminished impact of his poetry. The ideas of national and European identity as a synthesis of the West and the East reflected in the works by Stasys Šalkauskis and Adomas Mickevičius, as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s vision of the universality of world literature, were important in Geda’s poetry. They were significant in creating authentic intertextual links with the works of Western literature (such as Ovid, Homer, Rainer Maria Rilke and Georg Trakl), in order to preserve the complex historical European experience and to provoke readers’ self-consciousness in opposing the repressive Soviet regime.

Exploring children’s knowledge of Irish and European symbols: a comparison of Irish-medium and English-medium primary school children

ABSTRACT Knowledge of symbols, which can be influenced by school ethos, informs identity construction in primary school children. This study aimed to explore Gaelscoil (Irish-medium) and English-medium primary school children’s familiarity with Irish and European symbols. Thirty 9–12-year-old children in Ireland participated in this study; 15 from two Irish-medium and 15 from an English-medium primary school. A draw-and-tell data collection design was used and qualitative data was analysed using the constant comparative method. Results indicate children from both school types shared a number of Irish symbols, namely Irish emblems, Irish mythology, sports and material aspects of culture. Irish-medium primary school children had two further Irish symbol categories, the past as a symbol and physical characteristics of Ireland. European symbols shared across children from both school types included signifiers of the European Union (EU), monetary symbols and European countries. The Irish-medium primary school children had two further categories, Europe through an Irish lens and European cuisine, while the English-medium children had one further category, sport. The results suggest that by middle childhood, children in both school types have knowledge about a number of symbols associated with both national and European identities. Implications for future research are discussed.

‘Return to the International Family of Democracies’: Keyness Factor in the International Speeches of the Baltic Presidents

Presidential speeches as a type of political discourse are aimed not only at the negotiation and construction of the national identity of a nation-state at a local level but also at the representation and shaping of the national identity internationally. The presidents of the Baltic States have represented their individual, collective and regional identities in the international gatherings of world leaders since the restoration of independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from the Soviet Union. The current study displays an analysis of how the keyness factor of particular lexical items used in 142 speeches given by the presidents of the Baltic States internationally from 1991 until 2021 helps to identify the tendencies of identity construction and representation, which can then be investigated in detail via a critical analysis of the discursive strategies and linguistic means applied in the speeches. Moreover, the analysis of keyword tendencies across speeches marked by different criteria shows how the process of identity construction as marked by lexical change varies across time and states. The keyness factor points to multiple identities being constructed in the international speeches, where the national identities are constructed most frequently, followed by the common European identity, Baltic regional identity, and global identity. It is also concluded that a common political past is one of the main elements of national and Baltic identities, while shared values such as democracy and cooperation are the main elements of supra-national identities.

Review of Birgit Van Puymbroeck, <i>Modernist Literature and European Identity</i> (2020)

Review of Birgit Van Puymbroeck, Modernist Literature and European Identity (2020)

Digital sovereignty, geopolitical imaginaries, and the reproduction of European identity

ABSTRACT “Digital sovereignty” has emerged as a hot topic in European politics. But although true European digital sovereignty seems unattainable, analysing the digital sovereignty discourse is still useful since it tells us much about European politics. We examine three “projects” which are part of the broader digital sovereignty initiative: 5G, Gaia-X, and the semiconductor industry. This empirical perspective allows for a better understanding of how imaginaries about digital sovereignty play out in these specific tech projects and how these then help to affirm a particular European identity. Methodologically, we focus on how particular geopolitical imaginaries appear in these digital sovereignty projects. Our empirical analysis reveals that Europe’s comparatively weak digital industries are considered a security issue. China and, to a lesser degree, the United States are not only seen as economic rivals but also security threats when it comes to issues such as espionage and data protection. Based on this, we argue that digital sovereignty projects, despite being full of contradictions and tensions, contribute to a distinct EU identity of an agile, future-oriented global player in the digitised economy. This, while not entirely new, is a powerful imaginary even if the proposed idea of “sovereignty” might never be enacted.

Brexit And British Expatriates in The British Newspapers

The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of Brexit on national identities. Particular focus is on British expatriates prior to and in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum held in June 2016 in the sense that Britain’s withdrawal from the EU raised concern about their identities in Europe. The paper uses media framing as a methodological tool in order to gain a better understanding of the way British daily newspapers represented British expatriates’ worries about Brexit. Corpus of the study, consisting in a selection of 200 articles from the Sun and the Daily Mail, is qualitatively analyzed in a bid to find out the way such newspapers framed Brexit in relation to British expatriates. Media frames are also juxtaposed to Ipsos Mori and YouGov polls dealing with Brexit and related issues to gain a better insight into media effects. Results of the study reveal that media frames seemed to have had a major impact on British expatriates, increasing their concern about their national identity to the extent that some of them decided to apply for another citizenship within the EU to keep their rights as EU citizens.

Autonomous Interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights and Margin of Appreciation

Summary The article is devoted to the problem of interpretation and application in practice of the European human rights standards through autonomous interpretation, as well as to the definition of the role and significance of the doctrine of margin of appreciation in this process. The relevance of the subject matter of research is due to the need to implement effective mechanisms for ensuring and protecting key human rights and freedoms in Ukraine, the establishment of the European principles of law and the European identity. The purpose of the study is a comprehensive analysis of the formation and evolution of the doctrine of autonomous interpretation in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights by studying and synthesizing judicial practice on the application of autonomous interpretation and elaboration on this basis of a system of autonomous concepts that reflect the common European vision of fundamental human rights and are also a kind of foundation of the European human rights law. The methodological basis of the paper are philosophical, general scientific and special research methods, in particular, dialectical, historical, logical, systemic, sociological, and comparative methods. The study concludes that it is through autonomous interpretation based on the European consensus that the European Court of Human Rights establishes imperative standards for the interpretation and application of human rights in practice, which prevents certain violations by particular member states of the Council of Europe, as well as supports the convergence and harmonization of different national legal systems, which contributes to the formation of the most homogeneous legal environment and the European system of human rights protection. The practical feasibility of the study is aimed primarily at applying autonomous concepts in practice, prima facie, by the judiciary.

ZORANA SOKOLOVSKA: LES LANGUES EN DÉBAT DANS UNE EUROPE EN PROJET

Even for those who do not work directly in the field of languages, the Council of Europe and its language policies have had a significant and wide-ranging influence on the lives of millions of Europeans since the end of the Second World War. In her first monograph, Les langues en débat dans une Europe en projet [Language debates in the making of Europe], the sociolinguist Zorana Sokolovska, assistant professor at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, delves into the relevant supranational debates and discussions that have shaped the Council of Europe and its language policies between 1949 and 2008. In addition to using sociolinguistic approaches, Sokolovska also integrates insights from anthropology and discourse analysis to highlight the fundamental role that the Council of Europe has played in creating and promoting a common European identity through the prisms of language and plurilingualism. Separated into six chapters, together with an introduction and conclusion, the book is based on the author’s doctoral thesis, which received the 2017 dissertation prize awarded by the European Parliamentary Association.

European and National Identity in the Perceptions of Modern Russian Youth: The Case of St. Petersburg

European and National Identity in the Perceptions of Modern Russian Youth: The Case of St. Petersburg

National Identity of Poles in the Context of European Values

The article aims to refer to issues related to the understanding of national identity, assuming that the basic reference point for the theoretical analysis is the model of universally recognised European values. Attempting to concretise the concept of national identity and identify determinants affecting its shaping, reference was made to the problem of identifying Poles with European values. Since the problem of national identity was often the object of interest of researchers, especially during the intensification of integration processes in Europe and the impact of such phenomena as globalisation, migration or development of mass culture with a cosmopolitan character, there were observed increased anxieties of various nations encouraging underlining their own “separateness”, and also greater identification with the national community. The author does not treat this phenomenon as disturbing because, according to the latest trends related to the understanding of European identity, it can crystallise as the sum of the identity of European national countries.

Макиавеллистический момент Европы: перспективы интеграционного проекта ЕС в условиях утраты глобального политического равновесия

The European integration project, after 70 years of the successful implementation, is now facing a significant number of difficulties caused by the process of globalization. The list of these difficulties includes: (1) the incompleteness of the process of formation of the European identity; (2) the deepening contradiction between two fundamental legal principles — transnational and national constitutionalism; (3) the growing asymmetry between the European regions; (4) dramatic disputes over migration issues; (5) the ideological confrontation between liberal and illiberal democracies. This situation, exacerbated by the challenges of globalization and officially defined today as the “existential crisis” of the EU, revealed certain significant flaws in the current integration model hung between confederalism and federalism. The shortcomings, such as weakened democratic legitimacy, ineffective decision-making and the absence of clear and stable European leadership, have resulted in the growing spread of Euroscepticism and rightwing populism, as well as the erosion of Europe’s mission in the world. The increasingly obvious threat of a loss of political balance in Europe makes it important to comprehend the potential directions and scope of changes in the EU integration project, to assess the hypothetically possible legal and institutional forms of the new integration model and their political implications. The author describes the current situation as a Machiavellian moment in Europe: under the conditions when the preservation of the status quo only reinforces the contradictions within the integration project, the European elites are faced with the necessity to make a clear choice between a confederal and a federal system in order to find a new legitimizing formula for this fading project, and it should be done as soon as possible.

Pan-European Identity during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic triggered a qualitative reformatting of the pan-European identity. Early in the pandemic, it clashed with national self-awareness. As Brussels attempted to strengthen solidarity and cohesion, the situation in some EU countries became extremely instable. The present article contains a theoretical description of the concept of EU identity and the transformations it underwent during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on the early challenges to the EU’s identity, its subsequent plunge into uncertainty and confusion, and Brussels’ attempts to build trust and solidarity as the basic principles of the EU’s identity. The author analyzed the Eurobarometer surveys to reveal the public attitude towards the two conflicting levels of identity. During the pandemic, the pan-European identity served as a protective mechanism against the exacerbation of chronic unification problems.

Investigating the Country of Origin and the Role of the .eu TLD in External Trade of European Union Member States

The Internet, and specifically the World Wide Web, has always been a useful tool in the effort to achieve more outward-looking economies. The launch of the .eu TLD (top-level domain) in December of 2005 introduced the concept of a pan-European Internet identity that aimed to enhance the status of European citizens and businesses on the global Web. In this study, the countries of origin of websites that choose to use the .eu TLD are investigated and the reasoning behind that choice, as well as its relation to each country’s economy and external trade are discussed. Using the Web as a tool, information regarding a vast number of existing .eu websites was collected, through means of Web data extraction, and this information was analyzed and processed by a detailed algorithm that produced results concerning each website’s most probable country of origin based on a multitude of factors. This acquired knowledge was then used to investigate relations with each member-state’s presence in its local ccTLD, its GDP and its external trade revenue. The study establishes a correlation between presence in the .eu TLD and external trade that is both independent of a country’s GDP and stronger than the relation between its local ccTLD presence and external trade.