February 27, 2004
On February 27, with 40 people in attendance, the Center turned its attention to Europe with a mini-symposium on “New European Frontiers.” Marc Abélès (Anthropology, Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique) opened the event with a wide-ranging talk on the tensions in the European Union between, on the one hand, ambitious conceptions of a united Europe and, on the other, the conflicts that such ambitions inevitably produce. Drawing on his own experience as an observer at the EU, Abélès argued that “Europe,” in fact, is not a concept. While the founders of European integration envisioned an irreversible process of integration, the political aims of the European project have never been clear. As a result, few European citizens identify with the EU and continue to define their identities in national or regional terms.
Daphne Berdahl (Anthropology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities) discussed the relationship between consumerism and citizenship in the newly reunified Germany. Since the fall of the Wall, former East German citizens have had to make the transition from a society centering on the production unit to a Western consumer society where many measure personal fulfillment and, indeed, full citizenship through access to consumer goods. Berdahl argued that this phenomenon, linked to global economic processes, has forced nation states to rethink the relationship between citizenship and the law.
The final speaker was UW-Madison historian Laird Boswell. His research on the French region of Alsace-Lorraine emphasizes its status as a border region as key to understanding the strength of the extreme right Front National of Jean-Marie Le Pen there. Integration (especially with adjacent German areas), internationalization, and even prosperity do not necessarily lead to greater toleration, Boswell suggested. Instead, change often makes people long for a mythical past when present-day problems did not exist.
To follow up on a very stimulating discussion, the Center hopes to publish versions of both Marc Abélès’ and Laird Boswell’s papers in its electronic Working Papers series this summer.
