7AAYM115 European Identities & the EU
Credit value: 20 credits
Module tutor: Dr Alex Clarkson
Assessment: One unassessed presentation, one 4,000 word essay (100%)Teaching pattern: 1 x 2hr weekly seminar
Module description
The first part of the module will focus more heavily on methodology and study skills. The methodological sessions will try to help you develop your skills in such areas as conducting surveys and assessing opinion polls, analyzing different forms of primary and secondary sources, and balancing theory with empirical research. They will also look at how wider theoretical debates surrounding European identity might influence methodological approaches.
In the second part of the module there will be four thematic sessions. The thematic sessions will examine whether there is actually such a thing as a common European identity. In particular they will investigate different attempts to construct one through the exploration of a variety of case studies on issues concerning debates over citizenship, faith, state institutions, the constitution or law. A key component of these sessions will be group work, in which students can also set out their own ideas when debating concepts of European identity.
Module aims
By exploring a combination of theoretical models, methodologies and case studies, this module aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how the study of European identity has evolved over time. In the process, the module is also designed to help students explore and discuss how these debates may influence their own approach towards debates surrounding the construction of identity in Europe.
Learning outcomes
This module will provide students with a methodological grounding for postgraduate study in European Studies. We will discuss relevant theoretical issues and examine how different methodological approaches can be used to explore the formation of European identity. While providing participants with a key range of research skills, this module therefore also seeks to encourage all of you to make a virtue out of your own interdisciplinary backgrounds.
By the end of the module, students will be therefore able to demonstrate:
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a detailed knowledge of the methodological and theoretical challenges surrounding the study of European identity;
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a better understanding of the problems and challenges involved in developing policy in the European Union as well as in the various member states;
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a command of the interdisciplinary as well as disciplinary methods of analysis in key aspects of sociology and political studies;
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an ability to present their views in discussion and in written form in response to some of the issues and challenges raised by strategic gaming and European politics.
Primary texts
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Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Verso, 1983).
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Delanty, G. (1995) ‘The Ambilvalence of Europe: A Theoretical Introduction’, Inventing Europe. Idea, Identity, Reality (Basingstoke:Macmillan).
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Le Goff, J, The Birth of Europe (Blackwell, 2005).
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Soysal, Yasemin Nuhoglu, Limits of Citizenship: Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe, (University of Chicago Press, 1994).
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MacDonald, S. (ed.) Inside European Identities. Ethnography in Western Europe (Oxford: Berg, 1993).
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Adrian Favell, Eurostars and Eurocities: Free Movement and Mobility in an Integrating Europe (Blackwell, 2008).