ASTK18309U The ‘Other’ Europeans

Volume 2019/2020
Education

Bachelor student (2012 programme curriculum): 20 ECTS

Bachelor student (2017 programme curriculum): 15 ECTS

Master student: 15 ECTS

Content

Purpose:

This course aims to provide students with a novel perspective on Europe as both a polity (the EU) and a geographical-cultural entity. The course focuses on the ‘Other’, lesser-known Europeans - the stateless nations of Europe. Throughout the course, we will problematize perceptions of what ‘Europe’ is, and what it means to be European. The curriculum is based in interdisciplinary theory and analysis, with texts ranging from anthropology and cultural geography to political science and law. Further, we investigate concepts such as region, nation, state, ethnicity, and identity in relation to important contemporary topics such as Brexit and the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.

 

Course description:

The course focuses on the stateless nations of Europe, hopefully problematizing students’ perception of what ‘Europe’ means – and what it means to be European. Important issues are Europeanization, multilevel governance, ethnicity/nationalism and territorial politics. 

 

Special consideration will be taken to highlight the contemporary issues of statehood and European stateless nations’ political struggles for independence. This involves an in-depth perspective on Scotland and Catalonia, as well as a broader look at national minorities in Eastern Europe.

 

The curriculum is based on interdisciplinary theory and analysis. Current topics such as Brexit, the 2017 Catalan independence referendum and the 2019 Barcelona protests factor into the course.

 

The course is graded with a final paper, where students must demonstrate not only their new knowledge of ‘the other Europeans’, but their capacity for independent, critical thought. There is a one-page hand in mid-way through the course.

 

Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

  • Present key debates and describe general issues in the study of nationalism
  • Demonstrate an empirical knowledge of minority nations in Europe
  • Critically reflect on the concepts of ‘European identities’ and minority nations

 

Skills:

  • Compare political minority nationalist movements in Europe
  • Apply relevant theory and case studies in analyzing the relation between minority national and European identities
  • Communicate and discuss relevant academic issues related to Europeanization, national minorities, and ethnic conflict

 

Competences:

  • Transfer relevant theoretical knowledge of ethnic and national identities in practice to new academic problem fields
  • Organize their own learning in an interdisciplinary environment course on minority nations and Europeanization
  • Independently take responsibility for their own specialization within the field of Europeanization, nationalism studies, and ethnic minorities

 

  • Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. “Nationalism.” In Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives, 97–119. Pluto Press, 2002.
  • McCrone, David. “Chapter 1: The Fall and Rise of Nationalism.” In The Sociology of Nationalism, 1–17, 20. Routledge, 1998.
  • ———. “Chapter 9: Nationalism and Its Futures.” In The Sociology of Nationalism, 169–88. Routledge, 1998.
  • Billig, Michael. Introduction. In Banal Nationalism, 1-13 SAGE, 1995.
  • Gellner, Ernest. “Ernest Gellner’s Reply: ‘Do Nations Have Navels?’” Nations and Nationalism 2, no. 3 (1996): 366–70.
  • Smith, Anthony D. “Opening Statement Nations and Their Pasts.” Nations and Nationalism 2, no. 3 (1996): 358–65.
  • Costa, Josep. “Catalan Linguistic Policy: Liberal or Illiberal?” Nations and Nationalism 9, no. 3 (2003): 413–32.
  • Bucholtz, Mary, and Hall, Kira. “Language and Identity.” In A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology, edited by Alessandro Duranti, 369-394. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
  • Woolard, Kathryn A., and Tae-Joong Gahng. “Changing Language Policies and Attitudes in Autonomous Catalonia.” Language in Society 19, no. 3 (September 1990): 311–30.
  • Hau, Mark F. “Nation Space, and Identity in the City: Marking Space and Making Place in Barcelona.” Etnofoor 28, no. 2 (2016): 77–98.
  • Cohen, Anthony P. (Anthony Paul). “Introduction.” In The Symbolic Construction of Community, 11-22, 28-38. Routledge, 1985.
  • Mast, Jason L., and Jeffrey C. Alexander. “Introduction: Symbolic Action in Theory and Practice: The Cultural Pragmatics of Symbolic Action.” In Social Performance: Symbolic Action, Cultural Pragmatics, and Ritual, edited by Jeffrey C. Alexander, Bernhard Giesen, and Jason L. Mast, 1–29. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Gouriévidis, Laurence. 2013. “The Memorialisation of the Highland Clearances in Scottish Museums: Economic and Socio-Political Uses of Heritage.” Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 22(1):59–78.
  • Hobsbawm, Eric. “Introduction: Inventing Traditions.” In The Invention of Tradition, edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, 1–14. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  • McCrone, David. “Explaining Nationalism: The Scottish Experience.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 7, no. 1 (January 1, 1984): 129–37.
  • Clarke, Harold D., Matthew Goodwin, and Paul Whiteley. “Why Britain Voted for Brexit: An Individual-Level Analysis of the 2016 Referendum Vote.” Parliamentary Affairs 70, no. 3 (July 2017): 439–64.
  • Hobolt, Sara B. “The Brexit Vote: A Divided Nation, a Divided Continent.” Journal of European Public Policy 23, no. 9 (October 20, 2016): 1259–77.
  • Keating, Michael. 2004. “European Integration and the Nationalities Question.” Politics & Society 32(3):367–88.
  • Saunders, Robert. 2015. “The Supermarket of Nations: Competitive Identity and the Brand State.”
  • McCrone, David. 2005. “Cultural Capital in an Understated Nation: The Case of Scotland.” The British Journal of Sociology 56(1):65–82.
  • Gudjonsson, Hlynur. “Nation Branding.” Place Branding 1, no. 3 (July 2005): 283–98.
  • Européennes de Sociologie / Europäisches Archiv Für Soziologie 43, no. 2 (January 1, 2002): 163–89.
  • Lynch, Peter. “Co-Operation between Regionalist Parties at the Level of the European Union: The European Free Alliance.” In Regionalist Parties in Western Europe, edited by Lieven De Winter and Huri Tursan. Routledge, 2004.
  • de Winter, Lieven. The Impact of European Integration on Ethnoregionalist Parties, 3-26. Barcelona: Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 2001.
  • Barth, Fredrik, ed. “Introduction.” In Ethnic Groups and Boundaries - the Social Organization of Culture Difference. Bergen: Universitetsforlaget, 1970.
  • Brubaker, Rogers, and Frederick Cooper. “Beyond ‘Identity.’” Theory and Society 29, no. 1 (February 1, 2000): 1–47.
  • Eidheim, Harald. 1970. “When Ethnic Identity Is a Social Stigma.” Pp. 39–57 in Ethnic groups and boundaries - the social organization of culture difference, edited by F. Barth. Bergen: Universitetsforlaget.
  • Brubaker, Rogers. “Introduction.” In Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe, 1–13. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  • ———. “National Minorities, Nationalizing States, and External National Homelands in the New Europe.” In Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe, 55–78. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  • Denich, Bette. “Dismembering Yugoslavia: Nationalist Ideologies and the Symbolic Revival of Genocide.” American Ethnologist 21, no. 2 (May 1, 1994): 367–90.
  • Borgen, Christopher J. “From Kosovo to Catalonia: Separatism and Integration in Europe.” Goettingen Journal of International Law 2 (2010): 997–1034.
  • Brubaker, Rogers. “Introduction.” In Nationalist Politics and Everyday Ethnicity in a Transylvanian Town. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2007.
  • Hayden, Robert M. “‘Democracy’ without a Demos? The Bosnian Constitutional Experiment and the Intentional Construction of Nonfunctioning States.” East European Politics & Societies 19, no. 2 (May 1, 2005): 226–30, 242-59.
  • Bourne, Angela K. “Europeanization and Secession: The Cases of Catalonia and Scotland.” JEMIE 13 (2014): 94–120.
  • Dardanelli, Paolo. “Ideology and Rationality: The Europeanisation of the Scottish National Party.” Östereichische Zeitschrift Für Politikwissenschaft 32, no. 3 (2003): 271–84.
  • Galbraith, Marysia, and Thomas M. Wilson. “Thematic Focus: Instrumental Europe: Practices of Daily Engagement with the European Union.” Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 20, no. 2 (October 31, 2011): 1–20.
  • Hayden, Robert M. “‘Democracy’ without a Demos? The Bosnian Constitutional Experiment and the Intentional Construction of Nonfunctioning States.” East European Politics & Societies 19, no. 2 (May 1, 2005): 226–30, 242-59.
  • Keating, Michael. “Thirty Years of Territorial Politics.” West European Politics 31, no. 1–2 (2008): 60–81.
  • Stråth, Bo. “A European Identity To the Historical Limits of a Concept.” European Journal of Social Theory 5, no. 4 (November 1, 2002): 387–401.
Active participation is highly recommended for this course. Students are asked to complete student presentations of one of the course themes. Additionally, as students will be asked to discuss in groups, informal presentations of ideas and analyses are expected after each group work session. At the end of each class, two students will be chosen to provide a short sum-up of the lesson (today I learned…).
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 56
  • Total
  • 56
Oral
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Free assignment
Exam registration requirements

Free written assignment

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Re-exam

Free written assignment

Criteria for exam assesment
  • Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings
  • Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings
  • Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner