ENG249 Frontiers of/in Europe

Spring 2013

Meeting Times: Tuesday and Fridays, 18.00-19.30

Location: A109

Instructor: Dr. Sandra Zito

Office Phone: 2117

Office Hours: 15.30-16.30, or by appointment

Course Description: The concept of the border is crucial in understanding Europe. Since its inception, concept(s) of the European have been defined with respect to both its internal borders and its external limits. The course surveys mainly two areas: i) the expansion into space and the redefinition of the concept of Europe and European identities over time and in different contexts, and ii) the different criteria (climatic, anthropological, cultural, religious, linguistic, political, geopolitical) by which Europe-internal borders and frontiers have been drawn and redrawn. At the same time, it will reveal the blurriness and shifting character of such frontiers, rethinking them as transition zones within continua rather than faultiness. Towards this, a multidisciplinary approach is adopted, drawing on geography, history, political science, sociology, linguistics, dialectology, culture theory, and the history of ideas. A special emphasis will be given to case studies on the various frontiers of (incomplete) European expansion: the Iberian peninsula, Cyprus, Southern Italy, North Africa, the Balkans, and Turkey.

Since the acceleration of European economic and political integration and the abolition of internal border checkpoints within Europe in the last two decades of the twentieth century, both Europe as a political entity and the concept of the border have increasingly come under question. Combined with the effects of decolonization, the end of the Cold War ideological conflicts, and the rise of the US as a global superpower, Europe’s experiment with transnational governance has brought to the fore questions of the relationship between European colonialism and imperialism with political conceptions of sovereignty, self-determination, nationalism, democracy, and the modern state system. Because of this, Europe and its political borders appear less natural and inevitable (fixed and immobile on a map), and more the result of constant political, economic, and cultural change. This course presents the history and theories of Europe and its borders as a series of questions, and ongoing debates, over Europe’s relationship to past colonial exploits and its present political and economic role in the world today. The class will focus on recent theories of the border in history, geography, political thought, art and architectural discourses, and critical theory in terms of how they contribute to debates on who is considered internal to and who is considered external from Europe. To this end, the class will raise such questions as: is Europe a collection of states of uncertainty? Is Europe a state of perpetual conquest and colonization? Is Europe a state of multi-national tolerance and liberty?

Student Learning Objectives:

At the end of this course students should be able to:

· Describe the debates over how borders are changing as a consequence of globalization

· Explain the relationship between political borders and construction of identities and how European identity and difference, and who is included and excluded, who is considered a part of Europe and who is thought of as a stranger, enemy, or alien to Europe changes throughout history

· Analyze case studies of border crossing in terms of how borders constrain and enable certain types of movements of peoples, ideas, goods and norms of behavior both within states and across them

· Synthesize, define and utilize keywords in the debates on frontiers and borders in short essay answers on mid-term and final exam and in a short expository essay

Required Texts:

Course Reader

Course Assignments:

Midterm Exam 20%

5-7 page Paper 20%

Group Work/

Class Participation 30%

Final Exam 30%

Course Expectations and Requirements: This class will be a combination of short lectures, small group work, and class discussion. Small group work and class discussion will revolve around the assigned reading for the day, so please bring the reading with you to each class and be prepared to discuss it. The mid-term and final exam will draw from the readings and lectures and will be composed of defining keywords/concepts and answering several short essay questions. The longer expository essay is a chance for you to synthesize and apply some of the main concepts and debates we discuss in class through an interpretation of a border case study of your own choosing.

***Syllabus Subject to Change***

Weekly Schedule:

Week 1: Introduction: Frontiers in/of Europe

January 22: Introduction

Readings:

January 25: Jacques Le Goff interviewed by Hans-Ulrich Obrist. “Europe’s Past, Present, and Longue Durée” in The Manifesta Decade: Debates on Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Biennials in Post-Wall Europe (2005), 103-111.

Tawadros, Gilane. “Re-Imagining Europe: Contemporary Art and Ideas in An Era of Globalization” in The Manifesta Decade: Debates on Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Biennials in Post-Wall Europe (2005), 167-174.

Multiplicity. Interview with Balibar, Etienne in USE: Uncertain States of Europe: A Trip Through a Changing Europe (2003), 206-209.

Module I: Histories and Theories of Political Borders in Europe

Week 2: Making Europe, Making States

Readings:

January 29: Tilly, Charles. “Cities and States in World History” in Coercion, Capital and European States, 990-1992 (1990), 1-38.

February 1:

Week 3: Liberal Political Borders: Sovereignty, Territory, Identity

Readings:

February 5: Anderson, Malcolm. “Introduction” and “The International Frontier in Historical and Theoretical Perspective,” in Frontiers and State Formation in the Modern World (1996), 1-36;

February 8: Anderson, Malcolm. “Conclusion: The European Union and the Future of Borders,” 178-191.

Week 4: Borders in Colonial-National Discourse

Readings:

February 12: Lord Curzon. Frontiers (1907), 3-26.

February 15: Curzon, 27-58.

Week 5: A Social History of A Political Border

Readings:

February 19: Sahlins, Peter. Introduction, Conclusion, Epilogue in Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees (1989), 1-24;

February 22: Sahlins, 267-279; 280-298.

Week 6: Borders, Democracy, Nations, Minorities: Inclusion and Exclusion

Readings:

February 26: Arendt, Hannah. “The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man” in the Origins of Totalitarianism (1968), 267-290;

March 1: Arendt, Hannah. 290-302.

Midterm

Module II: Post-Cold War Borders, Globalization, and Decolonizing the Border

Week 7: Postcolonial Borders and Transnational Citizenship?

Readings:

March 5: Balibar, Etienne. “What is a Border?”, “The Borders of Europe” in The Politics of the Other Scene (2002), 75-104.

March 8: Balibar, Etienne. “At the Borders of Europe,” ”Droit de Cité or Apartheid?”, “World Borders, Political Borders” in We, the People of Europe? Reflections on Transnational Citizenship (2004), 1-10; 31-51; 101-114.

Week 8: Decolonizing the Border

Readings:

March 12: Mignolo, Walter. “On Gnosis and the Imaginary of the Modern/Colonial World System” in Coloniality, Subaltern Knowledges, and Border Thinking (2000), 3-22.

March 15: Mignolo, 22-45.

Week 9: Globalization

Readings:

Mach 19: Sassen, Saskia. Introduction, “The State and the New Economy of Power” and “Immigration Tests the New Order”, in Losing Control?: Sovereignty in the Age of Globalization (1996), 1-31,

March 22: Sassen, 59-101.

Writing Workshop

Week 10: Media, Environment, and Borders

Readings:

March 26: Virilio, Paul. “Overexposed City” in Lost Dimension (original French 1984/English 1991), 9-29.

March 29: Virilio, Paul. “Stop/Eject” in Native Land: Stop Eject (2008), 177-204; Diller, Scofidio, Renfro, et al, “Living Archive and Control Room” in Native Land: Stop Eject (2008), 199-299.

Module III: Border Crossings: Case Studies

Week 11: Labor and Capital

Readings:

April 2: Davis, Mike.“The Great Wall of Capital” in Against the Wall (2005), 88-99.

April 5: Easterling, Keller. “El Ejido” in Enduring Innocence: Global Architecture and Its Political Masquerades (2005), 39-61.

Boeri, Stefano, “Benelux Intensifications: Trans-national Parasites” in USE: Uncertain States of Europe, 131-137.

Week 12: Detention

Readings:

April 9: Caloz-Tschopp, “On the Detention of Aliens: The Impact on Democratic Rights” Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1997: 165-180.

April 12: Demos, T.J., “Europe of Camps” in Companion: Manifesta 7: the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, 385-391.

MIGEUROP

Boeri, Stefano and Multiplicity. “Solid Sea” and “Ghost Ship” from multiplicity.it

Film: Children of Men

Week 13: Identities

Readings:

April 16: Boeri, Stefano and Multiplicity. “Border Syndrome: Notes on a Research Program” in Territories: Islands, Camps and Other States of Utopia (2003), 52-61.

April 19: Boeri and Multiplicity, “Paris: Subversions: A City in Building,” and “Mazara del Vallo/Tunis, Osmosis: A Border Made of Mirrors,” in USE: Uncertain States of Europe: A Trip Through a Changing Europe (2003), 81-87; 181-187.

Multiplicity, “MRE: Tourism” from multiplicity.it

Exam Prep: April 22-26

Easter Vacation: April 29-May 3

Final Exam: TBA