Regional ethnography: Europe

The European sphere is arguably the only continent in the world with undefined geographical boundaries. The areas in which it extends can easily stop at St. Petersburg, or extend deep into the Caucasus, according to the historical and ideological imagination employed. This sociocultural building of what Europe is, brings to the fore some main components of social constructivism that are of great interest to the anthropological eye. What is more, "Europe" has been defined by centuries of colonialism, as outward imperialistic expansion brought an array of influences into the continent, while it exported violence and subjugation.

The course critically visits the identity and perception of "the European", as well as the social and cultural life of Europe and the institution of the EU, which has become in recent decades a synecdoche of Europe at large. However, while the EU acts as a normative guardian and a benchmark of Europeanness, we shall explore the limits of the EU as Europe’s representative and the limitations of "EUrope" as a cultural construct. The course navigates the Mediterranean, a major sea of historical reference for European peoples, both of those in the South who share its shores and those in the North that have planned trade and cultural identity around it.

Moreover, the course deals with alterity is within and across Europe, an otherwise self-celebrated cohesive continent. Europe is aplenty with otherness, be it minorities, migrants, refugees, or even entire regions of "European people" who do not find a way into becoming fully accepted as Europeans by their peers. This selective Europeanness leaves out half of the continent in certain readings, and week four focuses on the peoples of the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Russia, as well as on the excluded immigrants to Europe.