WHAT IS EUROPE?

(AND WHERE IS IT HEADING?)

The Goethe-Institut is pleased to celebrate the launch of the second updated edition of the book What is Europe? by Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou. She will be in conversation with German Consul General Thomas E. Schultze on Europe’s changing culture, identity and global influence.

This authoritative yet accessible introduction to understanding Europe today moves beyond accounts of European integration to provide a wide-ranging and nuanced study of contemporary Europe.

The concept of Europe is instilled with a plethora of social, cultural, economic, and political meanings. Throughout history, and still today, scholars writing on Europe, and politicians involved in national or European politics, often disagree on the geographic limits of this space and the defining elements of Europe. Europe is, therefore, first and foremost a concept that takes different shapes and meanings. At a given point in time, depending on the perspective we adopt and the situation in which we find ourselves, Europe may represent very different things.

What is Europe? explores these evolving concepts of Europe. The book is all the more timely as Europe responds to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Britain’s departure from the European Union, financial slump, refugee emergencies, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This conversation aims to take a closer look at our understanding of the concept of Europe, its culture(s) and European identity and diversity as well as power.

The book is co-authored by Prof. Ruby Gropas, Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges and Social Affairs Lead at DG IDEA in the European Commission.

Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou

Anna holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration, a $21-million seven-year program at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her main areas of research are the governance of migration, migrant integration and nationalism in analytical and comparative perspectives with a focus on Europe. Anna received her PhD from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and has since held teaching and research positions in Belgium, the UK, Italy, the US, her native Greece, and now Canada. She has worked as expert and evaluator for a variety of national and international organisations including the European Commission, the European Parliament, OECD and IOM.

Thomas E. Schultze

Schultze is the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Toronto. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer, Germany, as well as a law degree from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and has the qualification to be a judge in Germany.

He joined the German Foreign Service in 1993. Schultze served at the German embassies in Riyadh and Ankara, at the consulate general in Istanbul, and was civilian head of the German-led NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kunduz, Afghanistan. In the Foreign Office in Berlin, he held inter alia the position as head of the OSCE and Council of Europe division. Prior to assuming his duties in Canada he was ambassador of Germany to Croatia.

Moderated by Jutta Brendemühl

Jutta Brendemühl is the Goethe-Institut Toronto’s Program Curator. Her interests lie in a "together first" approach in multilateral networks and international cultural relations. 

Thank you to the Consulate General of Germany in Toronto for their partnership.

Part of the Goethe-Institut's focus on Europe