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donate Decentring Europe
Focal point Contemporary European discourse on Europe often tends to be self-centred and, thus, to provide one more link in a long chain of ideological or mythological constructions. Any reinvention of the concept of Europe that takes into account the complexities inherent in Europe's place in a globalized world must contain a critique of Eurocentrism. Learning from the South, i.e. absorbing the full critical impact of alternative approaches may be a key element in the rethinking – and unthinking – of "Europe".
Eurozine has collected voices inside and outside Europe articulating this kind of perception, bringing in fresh and different perspectives into the discussion about Europe. The unchallenged centrepiece in this collection is a groundbreaking attempt by leading social theorist Boaventura de Sousa Santos to decentre thinking itself.
Beyond abyssal thinking
From global lines to ecologies of knowledges
New thinking Modern Western thinking continues to operate along abyssal lines that divide the human from the sub-human. One side of this line is ruled by a dichotomy of regulation and emancipation, the other by appropriation and violence. In order to succeed, the struggle for global social justice requires a new kind of post-abyssal thinking. [ more ]
Transmodernity, border thinking, and global coloniality
Decolonizing political economy and postcolonial studies
postcoloniality Postmodernism as an epistemological project still reproduces a particular form of coloniality. A decolonial perspective requires a broader canon of thought that would require taking seriously the epistemic insights of critical thinkers from the global South. [ more ]
Imagine Africa
Global justice "At the dark heart of global insecurity we will find poverty, endemic and grinding and growing worse." Breyten Breytenbach on global inequality and the predicament of Africa. [ more ]
Leave us alone!
Appeal to Europe "If anyone holds us back, makes it impossible for us to move forward, it must be Europe, as has been the case ever since slavery." An oral polemic. [ more ]
The presence of African literature
The evolution of literary criticism, publishing, and readership
Reading Africa Africa’s growing role in western European culture is reflected in the increasing interest in its literature. Soon Kourouma will be shelved between Kafka and Kundera. [ more ]
Africa says a quiet adieu to France
A special relationship? Africa is increasingly turning away from France. Why? The young, internationally educated African elite is interested in establishing a clear-cut relationship rather than seeing France hide its economic interests behind paternalist rhetoric. [ more ]
The long wait in Morocco
Fortress Europe For migrants waiting in Morocco to enter Europe, the situation is bleak. It will take more than asylum status and the Geneva Convention to solve Africa's human rights problems, writes Sophie Boukhari. [ more ]
Identities and the subversion of borders
Where are you from? The British-born Ghanaian travelled to his parents' homeland to find an answer to the familiar question: "Where are you from?" But far from getting away from the myth of European superiority that still resonated in the Britain of Eshun's youth, he found himself at its core. [ more ]
The last immigrant
A fable
Cultural influence Following the mass deportation of North African Arabs, words start mysteriously disappearing from the French language, turning France into a nation of stutterers... [ more ]
Melancholy and the "other"
The architectural "other" Freud analyzed melancholia as the ego's internalization of the lost object, and thus the loss of ego itself. Can the architecture of the "geographic other" be read for the symptoms of melancholy? [ more ]
The Muslim woman
The power of images and the danger of pity
Feminisms Western feminists who speak on behalf of "oppressed" Muslim women assume that individual desire and social convention are inherently at odds. But veiling should not be confused with a lack of agency or even traditionalism. [ more ]
The post-oriental condition
Serbs and Turks revisited
Neighbourhoods The Balkans and Turkey are a space on the borders of Europe marking a cultural encounter with the Oriental. Constituted as an undeclared enemy, this object of anxiety acts as a catalyst for collective cohesion, eliciting mythic narratives that call for exclusion from the symbolic realm of the European community. [ more ]
The navel of the world
Eurocentrism "What does he know of Europe who only Europe knows?" said Rudyard Kipling. A plea for looking beyond the borders of fatherland and mother tongue. [ more ]
Europe - nothing but a promise
A new narrative
Europeanization Wanderlust has made Europe into a transcontinental continent. Will the world and its cultures ever be able to disentangle themselves from their Europeanization? [ more ]
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More focal points
Changing media – Media in change
Media-technological developments are causing a fundamental re-structuring of the newspaper and book publishing sectors, with traditional media locked in fierce competition with online newcomers for market superiority. Yet media change is about more than the "newspaper crisis" and the iPad: property law, privacy, free speech and the functioning of the public sphere are all affected. [ more ]
The bonfire of the universities
The uni's burning! The slogan was everywhere in the German-speaking space last winter, as the protests at the University of Vienna set off a wave of similar strikes, first at Austrian universities, then beyond: in Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Marburg, Zürich... 2009/10 saw further protests at universities in Athens, Zagreb, Marseilles and London. The Bologna Process, one of the main points of contention, also marked its ten-year anniversary on 12 March this year by officially inaugurating the European Higher Education Area. Eurozine surveys a debate enflaming (not only) Europe. [ more ]
Climate of change?
Social agreement about the necessity of radical ecological change may be unprecedented, yet rhetoric and reality go their separate ways. As ambitions for a legally-binding agreement at the Copenhagen recede, serious doubts arise about the efficacy of multilateral climate deals and the assumptions behind cap-and-trade.[ more ]
Dilemma 89
Twenty years after 1989, most former communist states in central and eastern Europe are members of the EU. Yet the transition from closed to open societies is far from "complete". '89 not only historic moment of liberation, but also political and social dilemma for the present day. [ more ]
Media landscapes
Those in central and eastern Europe who in '89 took the commitment to free expression seriously, who saw the media as the handmaiden of democracy and the conventional watchdog on political and commercial power, today have become targets for new and subtler forms of censorship. [ more ]
Olympic indifference
The Beijing Olympics 2008 are unusual insofar as not one country has boycotted them. This, despite the fact that the political dimension of the Games has seldom been more controversial. Are we seeing a new kind of "Olympic indifference"? With this in mind, Eurozine compiles articles on sport, politics, and protest. [ more ]
Shared space, divided society
Migration is part of modern society, meaning more and more people of different ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds live together in Europe. The multitude of perspectives and experiences represents an enormous resource, but as cultural conflicts inherent in today's urban societies become visible, doubts are also raised about the value of diversity. [ more ]
1968: Beyond soixante-huite
Forty years on, the differences between the 1968 uprisings in western and eastern Europe move into ever sharper focus. "In retrospect, the great event of '68 in Europe was not Paris, but Prague. But we were unable to see this at the time." Including articles on '68 in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, France and West Germany. [ more ]
Illiberal Europe?
Parliament or the soapbox? Populist politics are enjoying renewed success in Europe, above all in the former socialist countries. Ivan Krastev, G.M.Tamás, Ralf Dahrendorf, Jacques Rupnik and others investigate the rise of "democratic illiberalism". [ more ]
Cultural citizenship
The concept of cultural citizenship responds to the multicultural context of contemporary societies, in which the concern with equality is increasingly being complemented with a concern with difference. Contributors include Gerard Delanty, Axel Honneth, Rainer Bauböck, Ivaylo Ditchev, Charles Taylor, Rada Ivekovic, António Sousa Ribeiro. [ more ]
The future of war
Are wars that are fought between nations a thing of the past, and are the future challenges more a case of ethnic strife, break-up of failed states, secession and civil wars? In a special focal point, Eurozine analyzes the changing face of warfare in the twenty-first century, in which terrorism and new security threats have profoundly transformed the way wars are conducted. [ more ]
The city as stage for social upheaval
From the western European city to the Third World megacity, one is able to observe how a single principle asserts itself in the social structure of the urban space. That principle – privatization – is geared towards the concentration of wealth and assets on an increasingly global scale, a manoeuvre its beneficiaries seek to naturalize. [ more ]
Big Brother goes global
Post 9/11, governments are increasingly tailoring "international standards" to ratify domestic policies that intrude on civil liberties. Welcome to the phenomenon of "policy laundering". [ more ]
Changing Europe
As political Europe turns 50, the questions about its future are as open as ever. A special focus featuring some of Eurozine's most outstanding contributions on the European project: From analyses of the current crisis to a hilarious parody of Brussels' literary ambitions. [ more ]
Post-secular Europe?
Is religion a public or a private matter? Can there be such a thing as a European Islam? If so, what characterizes it? What role can religion – or religions – play when it comes to the emergence of a European solidarity? [ more ]
European histories: Towards a grand narrative?
In order for there to be solidarity within the enlarged EU, it will be necessary to develop a broader historical consciousness that includes both western and eastern experiences. [ more ]
Europe talks to Europe: Towards a European public sphere?
The European integration project has made the discussion about transnational spaces for cultural and political debate acute. Can there at all be a common Europe without a pan-European public sphere? [ more ]
Politics of border making and (cross-)border identities
Have borders become irrelevant with the project of a united Europe? No, just the opposite. On the dilemmas of border building and cross-border cooperation in the EU and its neighbourhood. [ more ]
Documenta 12 magazines
Eurozine is participating in the Documenta 12 magazines project, which links over 90 print and on-line periodicals worldwide. Read Eurozine's contributions to the documenta leitmotifs "Modernity" and "Bare Life" here.[ more ]
Freedom of speech and the Danish cartoon controversy
Free speech is a fundamental human right and a central tenet of democracy. Or is it? Reactions to the Danish cartoon controversy show that liberals are re-evaluating what the right to free speech entails. [ more ]
Politics of translation
Translation today is as much about the translation of cultural, political, and historical contexts and concepts as it is about language. [ more ]
Conferences
Changing places (What's normal anyway?)
The 20th European Meeting of Cultural Journals
Sibiu, 21-24 October 2007
Under the heading "Changing places (What's normal anyway?)", the Eurozine network conference 2007 in Sibiu, Romania, addressed the challenges facing societies, literature, and the media as the need for change meets the urge for normality. Read the conference texts here. [ more ]
Friend and foe. Shared space, divided society
The 19th European Meeting of Cultural Journals
London, 27-30 October 2006
Speakers at the 19th European Meeting of Cultural Journals opened up the discussion on cultural diversity in two directions: first, as it is experienced in the physical urban space, and second, as it is reflected in the mirror of the media. [ more ]
Neighbourhoods
The 18th European Meeting of Cultural Journals
Istanbul, 4-7 November 2005
Contributions on the notion of neighbourhood and the Turkey-Europe question from a range of intellectual and geographic perspectives. [ more ]
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