Online Diffusion of Culture as Practice of European Citizenship

• • 
  • Presentation speakers
    • Roch Dunin-Wąsowicz, London School of Economics and Political Science

  Abstract:

  Since the European Union has embraced the idea of a cultural identity alongside political citizenship, the process of Europeanization received considerable scrutiny from the culturalist perspective (Sassatelli 2009; Favell 2011). This paper frames online diffusion of culture, produced in response to European integration, as practice of European citizenship. It claims that such culture introduces new symbolic repertoires of being European in the post-national milieu. Dissemination of cultural objects and the making of transnational networks of agency in the virtual sphere are investigated as examples of cultural production constitutive of contemporary experiences of European belonging. These meaning-making responses of social actors to EU culture legislation are an enactment of European citizenship in its cultural dimension. The modes of online artefact diffusion and interaction making in reference to culture show new ways of conceptualising European identity by independent agents vis-à-vis the EU. The examination focuses on the resonance of online libraries disseminating artefacts of European cultural heritage and the relevance of social websites of socio-cultural concern. Within the framework of normative European citizenship, it is studied to what extent these instances provide access to culture (rights) and catalyse voluntary social participation. The case study determines the degree of retrievability of cultural artefacts diffused online by outlets controlled by the European Union, as well as the degree to which independent actors facilitate transnational networks of agency under the common denominator of culture. The examined online diffusion of culture is claimed to exhibit symbolic meaning constructive of European belonging in the post-national context.

 

Related Presentations

 

The Role of "the Other" in Jacques Derrida's Perception of the European Identity

• Martin Rodan

The European Union Common Security and Defence Policy Re-visited. EULEX-Kosovo a Test for a Common Peace Educational Policy

• Nicasia Picciano

The Youth Discourses on EU-ropeanization in the New European Countries vs. the Margins of Europe

• Lia Tsuladze

“My Russian Speaking Neighbour - Who Are You? Why Are You Here?” The Different Roles of the Diaspora in the Integration Process of Russian-Speaking Migrants in Germany and Norway

• Ekaterina Bagreeva and German Mendzheritskiy

How cosmopolitan is European Identity?

• Alexander Kustov

ASEM: Interregionalism In Evidence of Normative Power EUrope?

• Roza Smolinska