Transnational Cultures in Europa Research Workshop with the University of Lancaster

The notion of different cultures evokes the image of nation states corresponding to them. We commonly see a culture closely connected to a specific state. History seems to underpin this conception, for parallel to the emergence of the nation-state in the nineteenth century a process of cultural standardization and homogenization set in, making for or accelerating an intermingling of cultures in many fields. What was conceived as imprints of the nation or the nationally specific, e.g. language, literature, art, music, the interpretation of the past, even collective memory, was already merging with the nationally other. In short, cultures were not and are not restricted by national, i.e. political boundaries. The religious or linguistic landscape of Europe is a case in point, for they do not adhere to the political map of nation-states, but comprise larger territorial entities. Even at the apex of nationalism in Europe in the later nineteenth century up to the First World War, cultures extended beyond the nation state, benefiting from the rapidly developing communication media, transport systems, the standardization of technical norms and measures, the synchronization of world time etc., and paralleling processes of international trade, migration movements, or elitist, intellectual and artistic dialogue, in relation to its scope either termed Europeanization or Globalization today. This intermingling is still continuing at present, with cultures of various forms, scopes and degrees of intermingling existing side by side. In this context we can identify transnational networks of people with similar interests, aims, beliefs, identities or habits, i.e., we can identify specific transnational cultures. These transnational cultures are interesting for two different reasons: while being transnational in scope, very often national differences within these cultures remain in place – a peculiarity that is attributed to the ‘creolization’ or ‘hybridization’ of transnationalism. Hence, these cases offer us interesting insights into the conditions, structures and forms of transnational cultures, which are always cross-national and inter-national at the same time. The research workshop centers on these aspects of Europeanization and Globalization: Its objective is to describe and understand the evolution and present state of transnational cultures in Europe. The focus on Europe is due to pragmatic considerations, because it allows to analyze and compare transnational cultures within a specific social context in a more systematic way. The workshop will deal with past and present transnational cultures in order to raise the awareness of this phenomenon and its continuity over the past two centuries. Moreover, the comparison of past and present cases will provide important insights, allowing to highlight similarities and differences as well as their origin and variation over the years. For the purpose of a systematic comparison, we will restrict our research workshop to a reduced number of specific transnational cultures. The research workshop is part of a series of courses on 'Global and European Studies', organized jointly with the University of Lancaster since 2008. This year's course is designed for MA- (and PhD-) students and divided into two stages: a preparatory phase based on a common reading-list (starting with a first in-class meeting on April 15th), and the research workshop itself with experts from the UK and Germany, and a concluding in-class meeting (June 9-11). Students are required to write a short assignment on matters dealt with in texts of the reading-list, and (depending on credit-points) prepare and write an essay on a specific transnational culture of his/her own choice. The course will be held in English, with the participation of students from the University of Lancaster. Schwarz, Angela, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Universität Siegen SoSe 2010 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Lahusen Christian