Minutes from the Meeting of  Friday, April 25th

Deng Adit

             

 

1) On Friday, April 22, 2005, Professor Mahoney started by passing around the schedule for the presentation of seminar papers. Here is the schedule as follows:

Monday, April 25, 2005

 

Rose Couzens                          King Henry IV of France: The Man whose Religion of Conscience Changed History

 

Julia R Howe                            “Your Beethoven is not my Beethoven”: A Composer Portrayed as a Pervasive Symbol of Cultural Identity

 

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

 

Darrah Lustig                            The European Response to Germany’s Role in the Great War: Causation, Punishment and Redemption

 

Jake Pasternak                         “One day he'll be a great man. He'll do great work for Ireland": Michael Collins and his Influence in a greater European Context from 1916-1923

 

Cherise I. Brown Valera           The European Union and the Cheese Scandal

 

[Thursday, April 28, 2005 (3:30-5:00 PM, Waterman 501): European Studies Meeting]

 

Cherise I. Brown Valera           The European Union and the Cheese Scandal

 

Friday, April 29, 2005

 

Angi Baxter                              Europe and its Nationalistic Roots: Napoleon versus Hitler

 

Justin Brosnan                          The Battle for European Domination: Napoleon Bonaparte versus Adolf Hitler

 

Deng Adit                                 The East German Economy between the 1950s and 1975

 

Monday, May 2, 2005

 

Lija Amolins                             Latvia: Emerging from the Rubble of "Cold War"-Europe

 

Patrick Minella                         The Emerald Isle: From Bloodshed to Peace



2) After we signed up for the presentations, Professor Mahoney asked again about who would volunteer himself or herself so that he or she could give the presentation during the European Studies meeting. The meeting was meant for faculty, students, and staff, and the main purpose for the meeting is to increase the interaction between students and faculty, and staff as well. Only Cherise has signed up as a presenter at the meeting.

 

3) We then turned to the discussion of the following article: Thomas Risse and Daniela Engelmann-Martin, "Identity Politics and European Integration: The Case of Germany"  (The Idea of Europe, pp. 287-316). After World War II, the German government turned out to support European integration. For instance, there is a quote below. To be a“good German” means nowadays to be a “good European” and wholeheartedly support European integration. To be a “good European Germany” also means to have finally overcome the country’s militarist and nationalist past and to have learned the right lessons from history.

 

4) Professor Mahoney acknowledged in the class during the lecture on Friday, April 22, 2005 that the question of currency in Europe has been a major issue. Indeed, he mentioned that having the Euro as a common currency across Europe has raised some conflict within Europe. For instance, thirteen countries out of twenty-five countries are still keeping their currencies instead of having the Euro, but Germany in particularly is among the countries who gave up its national currency. However, Germany gave up its cherished Deutsche mark because Germans saw it as a way of binding to the European Union; objection to the Euro was seen as opposition to European integration in general and, therefore, as inconsistent with Germany's European identity.

 

5) Overall, social identity is also another unifying feature after the Euro. In other words, groups of individuals perceive that they have something in common, on the basis of which they form a community. For instance, a group of Europeans might perceive themselves as fellow Europeans when dealing with Americans, yet emphasize national differences when interacting mainly with each other.