The Idea of Europe (HIST 420/520)
Spring Term 2002

General Description

Syllabi are available for two previous classes: Spring 2000 and Spring 1999.

"The Idea of Europe" is an interdisciplinary course designed by a team of faculty specializing in European fields across campus. The course was created in 1993 to study Europe in a new way, one that took account of the changes occurring in Europe since the end of the Cold War. These changes raised profound questions about European identity and about the shape of Europe in the future, and have challenged our standards ways of thinking about Europe, especially in our teaching and learning of Europe in the classroom. "The Idea of Europe" is the result of collaborative faculty efforts to develop a different kind of course experience for students, inspired by these new questions about Europe. The course emphasizes creativity and the articulation of individual perspectives in a shared search for the meaning of Europe. It does so through a careful examination of selective issues, moments and texts from the entire European tradition, both past and present.

Faculty from a wide range of disciplines and areas of expertise on Europe offer students, through lecture and selected readings, an exploration of an aspect of Europe that speaks to them most meaningfully about questions such as the following: "What is Europe?" and "What is it, about Europe, that excites me most or troubles me most?" Students are invited to share in the process of raising these questions and providing their own responses. Students are especially encouraged to think creatively and even unconventionally about issues of all kinds which have emerged in the European tradition and which capture their interest. The intent of the course is not primarily the assimilation of information about Europe, but rather an encounter with a range of specific topics and texts that are thought-provoking. Every student in the course should expect to be challenged beyond his or her comfort zone of previously acquired knowledge. For instance, students of history, geography, political science, economics, and anthropology should expect to encounter unfamiliar passages from literary analysis and philosophical investigation, while students in the humanities and the arts should expect to find material, themes, and ideas about matters which are not their normal fare -- ideas of geographical understanding, institutions of political order and economic management, broad sweeps of historical inquiry. "The Idea of Europe" course, in other words, has as its main purpose the intellectual awakening of students towards new horizons and creative thinking, using Europe in its broadest sense - the entire legacy of Europe's culture, history, and political and social institutions - as the prime subject matter for this learning experience.

Course Structure

The course meets in two 80-minute sessions each week for presentations by different faculty in European fields. One session every two weeks will be devoted to group discussion of presentations of those two weeks. Students keep a weekly journal of their personal reflections and analyses of the content of lectures and readings. In these journals, they are encouraged to be creative and personal in expressing their insights and reactions, as well as responding to specific issues and texts of lectures and readings. In addition, each student writes a course paper, of about 10-15 pages in length, on a topic of the student's choosing related to any aspect of Europe, contemporary or historical, in any field of study.

Examples from Previous Year's Courses

Normally, anywhere from 15 to 20 faculty make presentations in "The Idea of Europe" course. In past offerings of the course, the disciplines and professional schools of these faculty have included: history, geography, political science, anthropology, economics, French literature, Italian literature, German literature, Scandinavian literature and Scandinavian studies, Russian literature, Spanish and Latin American literature, Chinese literature, English literature, classics, art history, music history, and music composition. Both Western and Eastern Europe (including Russia), northern and southern Europe, and certain areas external to Europe -- notably Latin America and China -- have been studied.

Examples of the course topics and professors for the past two years are given below:

Spring 2000 Course
Prof. Evlyn Gould, Romance Languages / 346-4020 / evgould@oregon.uoregon.edu
Prof. John McCole, History / 346-5906 / mccole@oregon.uoregon.edu

1 IDEAS OF EUROPE: AN INTRODUCTION

  • 3/28 Evlyn Gould (Romance Languages and Literatures) / John McCole (History), "Introduction"
  • 3/30 Alexander Murphy (Geography), "Relocating Europe"

2 CONTESTING EUROPE

  • 4/4 John McCole (History), "Faultlines and Fissures in Some Ideas of Europe"
  • 4/6 Carol Silverman (Anthropology), "Constructing a European 'Other': The Balkan Wars, Nationalism, and Roma"

3 LEGACIES OF EMPIRE

  • 4/11 John Nicols (Classics), "The Idea of Rome and the Idea of Europe"
  • 4/13 Monica Szurmuk (Romance Languages and Literatures), "Transplanted Europeans: Foundational Fictions in Nineteenth-Century Argentina"

4 EUROPEANS AND OTHERS

  • 4/18 Steven Shankman (English, Oregon Humanities Center), "The Idea of Europe, Levinas, and Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice"
  • 4/20 Julian Weiss (Romance Languages and Literatures), "Cultural Frontiers in Medieval Spain"

5 MAKING MODERN EUROPE I: IMAGINED COMMUNITIES

  • 4/25 Special Joint Class Session: George Sheridan (History), "Adam Smith, the Market and the Euro-Cosmopolitan Vision" / Evlyn Gould (Romance Languages and Literatures), "Economy and Desire"
  • 4/27 Regina Psaki (Romance Languages and Literatures), "The Origin of Nations, the Origin of Europe: The Uses of the Middle Ages in Modern History"

6 MAKING MODERN EUROPE II: RELIGIONS, PEOPLES, AND CITIZENS

  • 5/2 Ron Wixman (Geography), "Church, State, Citizenship: The Three Plus Europes"
  • 5/4 Jonathan Skolnik (Germanic Languages and Literatures), "Post-Enlightenment Communities: Europe, 'Orient,' and Cultural Zionism"

7 MAKING MODERN EUROPE III: AESTHETICS AND NATIONALITIES

  • 5/9 Ken Calhoon (Germanic Languages and Literatures), "Nation, Ethnicity, and the Margins of Empire"
  • 5/11 Marian Smith (Music), "National Opera on the International Stage: Richard Wagner Asks, "What is German?"

8 SOME EUROPEAN RESPONSES TO WAR: SILENCES AND CONTESTED MEMORIES

  • 5/16 Françoise Calin (Romance Languages and Literatures), "Voices of Silence in the Second World War"
  • 5/18 John McCole (History), "Memory Wars"

9 WITNESSING EUROPE

  • 5/23 Evlyn Gould (Romance Languages and Literatures), "A New Europe in the Wake of the Holocaust"
  • 5/25 Robert Kyr (Music), "Listening After the Holocaust"

10 REMAKING EUROPE TODAY

  • 5/30 Virpi Zuck (Germanic Languages and Literatures), "Voices from the Margins: Scandinavian Women's Responses to a United Europe"
  • 6/1 Evlyn Gould and John McCole: Conclusions

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Spring 1999 Course:
Prof. George Sheridan, History

FIRST WEEK: EUROPE AS AN IDEA

  • "Introduction" and "Universal Ideas of Europe," George Sheridan (History)
  • "Relocating Europe," Alexander Murphy (Geography)

SECOND WEEK: COMPLEXITY OF IDENTITY IN THE EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE

  • "Church, State, Citizenship: The Three Plus Europes" Ronald Wixman (Geography)
  • "Back to the Future: 'Fuente Ovejuna' and the Re-invention of Spain in the Early 1600's," David Castillo (Spanish Literature)

THIRD WEEK: ROME AND EUROPE

  • "The Idea of Rome and the Idea of Europe," John Nicols (Ancient History and Classics)
  • "Empire and the Ends of History," Steven Shankman (English Literature and Classics)

FOURTH WEEK: LEGACIES OF CLASSICAL EUROPE

  • "The Greeks and European Science," Malcolm Wilson (Classics)
  • "Roman History and Roman National Identity," Mary Jaeger (Classics)

FIFTH WEEK: NON-EUROPEAN IDEAS OF EUROPE

  • "A Chinese Idea of Europe," Stephen Durrant (Chinese Literature)
  • "Europe after 1492," Leonardo García-Pabón (Latin American Literature)

SIXTH WEEK: MAKING MODERN EUROPE: BORDERS AND EXCHANGES

  • "The Europe of Political Economy," George Sheridan (History)
  • "From Province to Nation: On the Trail of the Wandering German" Kenneth Calhoon (German and Comparative Literature)

SEVENTH WEEK: WITNESSING EUROPE

  • "The Ethics of the Witness," Massimo Lollini (Italian Literature)
  • "Listening After the Holocaust," Robert Kyr (School of Music - Composition)

EIGHTH WEEK: AMBIGUITIES OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

  • "Wagner," Marian Smith (School of Music - Music History)
  • "A New Europe in the Wake of the Holocaust," Evlyn Gould (French Literature)

NINTH WEEK: EUROPEAN UNIFICATION

  • "A Gendered Response to European Unity," Virpi Zuck (Scandinavian Literature)
  • "Uniting Europe Through the European Union," Robert Darst (Political Science)

TENTH WEEK: EUROPE'S WOUNDED CENTURY

  • "Voices of Silence in the Second World War / Un silence équivoque: Relecture du Silence de la mer," Françoise Calin (French Literature)
  • "Voices of the 1990's: Europe East and West," George Sheridan (History)

In addition, the course meets for a one-hour discussion of the week's
lectures and readings. In order to foster dialogue and to provide
scheduling flexibility for students, Friday discussions are scheduled for
two different one-hour blocks; each student enrolls in one of these.

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