European Identity and Culture

'An inspiring and welcome new addition to the literature on European identity and culture by a distinguished group of interdisciplinary scholars. All authors engage with the question of transnational European belonging and European integration in a series of empirical case studies, making the volume as a whole an interconnecting exploration of the different processes and practices of cultural identity formation.' Ulrike Hanna Meinhof, University of Southampton, UK 'A valuable addition to the debate about European identity, filling in many of the gaps in the meaning of the term. The contributors come from multiple disciplinary perspectives and offer new insights into the formation and manifestation of European identity, with a particularly useful emphasis on the too-often overlooked role of political culture.' John McCormick, Indiana University, USA '... a very timely volume. It brings together academics from a variety of humanity and social science backgrounds to challenge our understanding of identity and its formation. Throughout, an emphasis is placed upon the cultural aspects of identity formation. The book’s main conceptual contribution lies in its advancement of the processural character of transnational identity formation. Unlike much of the literature before it, which is still wedded to a predominantly statist as well as static paradigm (p.2), this volume’s authors present a more dynamic conception of transnational identity, one which is in flux and changing over time. In doing so, the authors set out to elucidate some of the more subtle, shifting dynamics that evade quantitative static analyses of identity formation (p.3). They have certainly achieved their aim... These findings ought to be read by anyone thinking about how a truly transnational European public sphere might be developed... While there are no simple answers to Europe’s identity crisis, I would thoroughly recommend this book to those brave enough to take up the chall