Europe from Below: Notions of Europe and the European among Participants in EU Cultural Initiatives(38 European Studies)

In this book, Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Katja Mäkinen, Viktorija L. A. Čeginskas, and Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus scrutinize how people who participate in cultural initiatives funded and governed by the European Union understand the idea of Europe. The book focuses on three cultural initiatives: the European Capital of Culture, the European Heritage Label, and a European Citizen Campus project funded through the Creative Europe programme. These initiatives are examined through field studies conducted in 12 countries between 2010 and 2018. The authors describe their approach as ‘ethnography of Europeanization’ and conceptualize the attempts at Europeanization in the European Union’s cultural policy as politics of belonging.

About the Author :
Tuuli Lähdesmäki, PhD in Art History (2007), University of Jyväskylä, and DSocSc in Sociology (2014), University of Eastern Finland, is an Associate Professor at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. She has led research projects and published studies on EU cultural, urban, and heritage initiatives and policies. Katja Mäkinen, PhD in Political Science (2012), University of Jyväskylä, is a Senior Researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research focuses on citizenship, participation, identities, cultural heritage, and a conceptual approach to analysing EU programmes. Viktorija L. A. Čeginskas, PhD in Cultural Heritage Studies (2016), University of Turku, is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research focuses on narratives of (multilingual) belonging and transnational mobility in a European context, identity politics, and cultural heritage. Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus, DSocSc in Media and Communication Studies (2016), University of Helsinki, is a Lecturer at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She specializes in media and communication, identity, critical geopolitics, and European studies in the EU context.

Review :
'How ordinary EU citizens understand and connect with the idea of Europe has long been something of a black box in research. Drawing on an ethnographic approach, this book makes an important and timely contribution to debates on Europe from below. By analysing the meanings that visitors at EU-funded cultural events give to Europe and the European, it provides valuable insights into cultural Europeanisation and the politics of belonging.' - Cris Shore, Professor of Social Anthropology, Goldsmiths University of London 'The authors highlight key issues and concerns shaping people’s conceptions of Europe and point to the tension between diversity being seen as preventing a European identity while also considered core to it, acknowledging mobility as both “an answer and a challenge to politics of belonging”. In doing so from an insightful interdisciplinary perspective, they are diagnosing a major issue for future research across the broad field of European Studies.' - Ullrich Kockel, Professor of Cultural Ecology and Sustainability, Heriot-Watt University '‘Europe from below’ is at least as relevant and much less recognized than institutional Europe; this book is a great companion to effectively grasp cultural Europeanization in its diverse manifestations. An important contribution to scholarship on European cultural identity and policies.' - Monica Sassatelli, Associate Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication, Università di Bologna 'We speak more than ever about identity politics. This book will be the most authoritative study of the European Union’s effort to provide European citizens with a European identity through its cultural policies. With its ethnographic approach, the book takes us beyond the top-down policy studies and analyse the many different ideas of Europe expressed by ordinary citizens.' - Jan Ifversen, Associate Professor of European Studies, Aarhus University