Imagining Southern Europe: Culture and Populism

Southern European countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece face common social, cultural and economic challenges. These challenges require profound analysis and evaluation. The central questions on which this Winter School will focus depart from the hypothesis that the 2008 financial crisis and its particular manifestation in Southern European countries has revealed historical processes of interrelation and interdependence in the region that have developed since Early Modernity.

The aim of the Winter School is to analyse these processes based on cultural representations (through individual and collective imaginaries) of symbolic capital exchanges and power relationships. This edition central theme is culture and populism in Southern Europe.

Key-questions addressed in this Winter School include the following: How meaningful is it to speak of a common “European” culture, history or public space? How has it been formulated in the past and how should such a concept be formulated? How has the circulation of knowledge (in media, research, publishing practices, intellectual and education networks) contributed to or challenged European integration? How do various European spaces and identities make use of the media and systems of representation? Are representations of Europe mainly created by Northern/continental Europe? How do Southern Europe citizens contribute to and participate in a European public space? How can multiple disparate histories and cultures be integrated into a notion of national or “European” identities?

More information in University of Groningen Summer Schools website.