Critical political geographies of Europe and the EU (1/2)
Abstract der Sitzung
In his monograph “L’invention des continents” French geographer Christian Grataloup (2009) has artfully laid out how not only nations and states but also continents are social constructs. The difficulty in defining where and what Europe is, is only one testimony to this observation and the ambiguity of Europe as social and historical construct.
Political geography has a long history in endeavouring in such attempts of definition – at its darkest times in shameful liaison with violent regimes in power and in form of purported scientific “legitimation” for imperialism, colonialism, racism and other oppressive ideologies of power. Nonetheless, political geography has also contributed to important anti-authoritarian and power-sensitive deconstructions of precisely such ideologies, discourses and structures of power and oppression. This includes critical scrutiny towards the system(s) of political organisation that govern European space – whereby such “European” space always entails a global dimension, since Europe is comprised of (formerly) imperial actors.
This session seeks to cover two broad fields related to Critical Political Geographies of Europe. First, it invites submissions that critically deconstruct the mechanism of unequal power projection that entail a “European dimension” – both within Europe as well as regards European power projections beyond “Europe” (however it is defined). The relation between “Europe” and “the EU” is particularly important here. While the latter is merely one amongst many political entities on the European continent, it is nevertheless a unique experiment of the political organisation of European space and, often, semantically synonymised with Europe.
Second, in line with the overarching theme of the DKG 2023, “Planetary Futures”, the session further invites contributions that are mindful of both Europe’s and Political Geography’s imperial pasts (and presents), but still venture into possible thought experiments of what the future for Europe, the EU or their respective positions and roles in the world might bring. If continents are indeed inventions, they are subject to be changed and influenced towards normatively “better”, less oppressive and more sustainable futures.
The list below offers a first indication of possible topics to be covered. Nevertheless, the session remains open and we welcome submissions covering a broad range of contributions roughly related to “Critical Political Geographies of Europe”. Possible topics of the session include but are not limited to:
- The war in Ukraine and its effects
- European management of the Corona pandemic
- Human mobility and migration in and around Europe
- European borders and the “European neighbourhood”
- Energy and resources
- Brexit
- Right-wing extremism, populism and conspiracy theories
- Inequality and increasing divisions in Europe
- Europe and/or the EU as geopolitical actor
- Territorial and spatial (re)configurations of Europe and the EU