Constructing a European identity : Yes, but how ?

Identities, national identities and identities per se, are products of the imaginary, though not necessarily in the sense of « inventions » by an individual or group acting deliberately to forge them and bestow them upon those whom it is intended for. They are the externalization of a politico-historical process of hypostesizing and concretizing certain assumptions, or of generalizing and aggrandizing some perceived truths.

Education is indeed fundamental in this respect, yet it is secondary to the primary narrative the intelligentsia must concoct. In other words, education will disseminate that which has already been canonized. Notwithstanding the technicalities of a harmonized or uniform education system, one may withhold judgement to consider whether questions have been posed as to the ultimate ends or the very need of an identity ; whether this problématique has been thoroughly and satisfactorily examined.

National identities performed the function of identifying the state, the rising state of modernity, with a given territory and a people, not only in present time, but as an extension and continuation of an historical presence. The historico-cultural context in which this process took place, has, arguably perhaps, changed substantially, implying that what applied to the past might not necessarily hold today, in the extent, content and form that it did.

Whatever the case, this seems to me as an inconclusive discussion. To place it in its broader framework, I may redirect the reader to two of my recent articles on this topic :

1) On the European identity and the nation-less democracy : http://www.protesilaos.com/2013/01/european-identity-democracy.html

2) On European meta-nationalism : A critique of the exogenous impetus to integration : http://www.protesilaos.com/2013/02/critique-exogenous-integration.html

Thanks and keep it up !

Constructing a European identity : Yes, but how ? - commentaires

Constructing a European identity : Yes, but how ?