Europe: culture and identity

Teacher(s)

Coulie Bernard;

Language

English

Prerequisites

Non.

Main themes

The course will analyze a series of concepts (identity, culture, heritage, history, tradition, modernity) when applied to Europe. It will present in more detils the main heritages of the European tradition and their relevance for today's Europe. Several key moments of European history will be tackled. Eventually, the course will propose a comparison between European and Oriental cultures in order to better characterize the specifif constituents of the European tradition.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	The course wil help students to master important concepts (identity, culture, heritage, history, tradition, modernity) when applied to Europe. Doing this, the aim of the course is to help students to be able to define their own identities and to express it in a well argumented manner.

Content

The course will open with a reflexion on tne concept of history and its application to Europe, and on the concept of European space and borders. It will then move to the concepts of identity and of European identity, and will question the possibility and limit of a political construction of such an identity. The concepts of culture, civilization, and cultural identity in relation to Europe will then be scrutinized. The course will remind the main foundation myths of Europe and jump to the question of the heritages. Three main heritages will be studied in more detail : the hellenic, roman, and judaeo-christian heritages. The last part of the course will be devoted to a comparion between european and oriental (eastern) cultures, in order to better characterize the specific constituents of European culture. Finally, differences inside the European culture will be presented and analyzed. Through these analyzes, several key moments of European history will be tackled.

Teaching methods

Lectures.

Evaluation methods

For the exam, students will write down an essay. The specifics of the essay, and the question it will have to answer, are presented during the first class. 
2020-2021: the written essay might be complemented by an oral presentation of it, if the sanitary situation permits. In such case, the split of the points will be: written essay 75%, oral presentation 25%.

Other information

Documentation and material of the course available for the students on the Moodle site of the course.

Online resources

Documentation and material of the course available for the students on the Moodle site of the course.

Faculty or entity

EURO