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74459-01 - Seminar: Local Europe: Everyday Meanings and Futures (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Alastair Mackie (alastair.mackie@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | From the triumphalism of the early 2000s (Mak) to the apparently continuous polycrisis of the 2010s, discourse on Europe has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Today, every new crisis is portrayed by some as an existential threat to European integration, and one would be forgiven to think that the European project is doomed; that Europe has lost its meaning, or that it never had any meaning at all. But when the realities of these crises hit the everyday lives of Europeans, for example in the form of European disintegration caused by Brexit or the perception of threat from Russia, meanings of Europe appear to be found or (re)created in local spaces. The aim of this seminar is to take an anthropological approach to the study of Europe and its meanings in the everyday. We will attempt to disconnect Europe from its political and economic constructs; instead, our focus will be on how Europe is experienced and perceived everyday lives and in local spaces (Johler, Scalise), thus searching for new answers to the questions of where Europe is and what its meanings might be. While doing so, we will also analyse how the anthropological study of Europe has evolved over the past 20 years, what form an ethnology of Europe (Frykman, Schriewer) might take and whether, keeping Europe’s imperial history in mind, we can take a decolonial approach. The seminar will use the lecturer’s research on meanings of Europe in the Scottish independence movement following Brexit as a starting point. Students will then be encouraged to search for local Europe in their own research; be it in Basel, the university campus or their personal environments, and to reflect on their findings to the class. |
| Learning objectives | A confident understanding of anthropological approaches to the concept of Europe, and an increased awareness of local meanings of Europe. |
| Bibliography | Anderson, B. and Wilson, H.F. (2018) ‘Everyday Brexits’, Area, 50(2), pp. 291–295. Assmann, A. (2020) Der europäische Traum: Vier Lehren aus der Geschichte. 5. Auflage. München: Verlag C.H.Beck oHG Boatcă, M. (2021) ‘Thinking Europe otherwise: lessons from the Caribbean’, Current Sociology, 69(3), pp. 389–414. Bryant, R. and Knight, D.M. (2019) The Anthropology of the future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (New Departures in Anthropology). Eder, K. (2009) ‘A theory of collective identity. Making sense of the debate on a “European identity”’, European Journal of Social Theory, 12(4), pp. 427–447. Green, S. (2012) ‘Replacing Europe’, in R. Fardon et al. (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Social Anthropology. London: SAGE Publications, pp. 286–307. Henig, D. and Knight, D.M. (2023) ‘Polycrisis: Prompts for an emerging worldview’, Anthropology Today, 39(2), pp. 3–6. Johler, R. (2002) ‘Local Europe’, Ethnologia Europaea, 32(2). Kockel, U., Nic Craith, M. and Frykman, J. (eds) (2012) A companion to the anthropology of Europe. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (Blackwell Companions to Anthropology, 17). -> In particular chapters 32 and 33 Mak, G. (2021), The Dream of Europe: Travels in a Troubled Continent. London: Harvill Secker -> Also available in German: Mak, G. (2020) Große Erwartungen: Auf den Spuren des europäischen Traums (1999-2022). München: Pantheon Verlag. Pasture, P. (2015) Imagining European unity since 1000 AD. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. -> In particular chapters 8, 9 and the conclusion. Popovici, V. (2023) ‘Disavowal’, in A. Vilenica (ed.) Decoloniality in Eastern Europe: A lexicon of reorientation. Novi Sad: New Media Center_kuda.org, pp. 72–81. Recchi, E. et al. (eds) (2019) Everyday Europe: Social transnationalism in an unsettled continent. 1st edn. Bristol University Press. Scalise, G. (2015) ‘The narrative construction of European identity: meanings of Europe “from below”’, European Societies, 17(4), pp. 593–614. Schriewer, K. (2014) ‘From the disciplinary legacy towards Europe. Prologue for a European athropology’, in K. Schriewer and S.C. Sánchez (eds) Anthropological perspectives. Tools for the analysis of European societies. Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Servicio de Publicaciones, pp. 267–321. |
| Admission requirements | Grundstudium abgeschlossen. Die Teilnehmenden werden nach Fachrichtung, Studiengang und in der Reihenfolge ihrer Anmeldung auf die Liste gesetzt. Wer im Rahmen von Auslandaufenthalten und von Austauschprogrammen in Basel studiert wird unabhängig vom Listenplatz immer aufgenommen. Wer in der ersten Sitzung unentschuldigt fehlt, kann die Lehrveranstaltung nicht besuchen. Pro Lehrveranstaltung mit zwei Semesterwochenstunden sind maximal zwei entschuldigte Absenzen möglich. Siehe Merkblatt zum Umgang mit Absenzen und Sonderregelungen: https://kulturwissenschaft.philhist.unibas.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/kulturwissenschaft/Dokumente/Studium/Merkblaetter_allgemein/B_absenzen-sonderregelungen_24-01.pdf. |
| Course application | Anmelden bei …; Belegen über Services@unibas.ch |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| unregelmässig | See individual dates | ||
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday 08.03.2025 | 10.15-18.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum 207 |
| Saturday 22.03.2025 | 10.15-18.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum 207 |
| Saturday 10.05.2025 | 10.15-18.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum 207 |
| Modules |
Modul: Methoden und Felder der Kulturanthropologie (Bachelor's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Research Lab Kulturanthropologie (Master's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Theorien der Kulturanthropologie (Bachelor's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Theorien und Methodologien der Kulturanthropologie (Master's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Transfer: Europa interdisziplinär (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Module: Europeanization and Globalization (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Module: Migration, Mobility and Transnationalism (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Specialization Module Global Europe: Regional Integration and Global Flows (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regelmässige und aktive Teilnahme. Erbringen der Leistungen im vereinbarten Zeitrahmen. Referat. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie |