Contemporary Challenges in Europe Europe Semester 2012

2

IS 125 Drs. Pointer & Pointer

Contemporary Challenges in Europe Europe Semester 2012

4 units

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

A study of selected challenges or problems facing current European societies. Issues to be examined will include migration and immigration, religious vitality and secularization, extreme nationalism, the debt crisis, environmental protection, political and economic consolidation (the European Union), and racism. Emphasis will be placed on understanding these challenges in the context of Europeans’ relations with one another and with the rest of the globe.

IS 125 and General Education:

IS 125 fulfills Westmont’s General Education requirements in Understanding Society and Thinking Globally. According to the college catalog, thinking globally courses “introduce cultural, religious, or economic issues and traditions from a comparative global perspective to equip students to be informed agents of redemption and justice in the world. Such a perspective entails encountering and understanding various ‘ways of thinking’ (other world views) that are different from the student’s own, and exposure to a range of methodologies that extend beyond Western/North American approaches.” This course will seek to enable students to think globally about contemporary Europe by exposing them to a range of comparative perspectives on politics, economics, and society, placing European affairs in a global context, and considering how issues of justice are at stake in the “contemporary challenges” being examined. Understanding society courses, according to the catalog, “develop students’ understanding of social phenomena analyzing and explaining a wide and varied range of human behavior and social institutions and practices. Students should recognize the dynamic interplay among individuals, societal infrastructure, and public policy intention and resultant activities. Students should also understand the processes of the political economy, the nature of technology and innovation as social phenomena, and the interaction of private enterprise and the public sector.” This course will seek to enable students to understand society better through exposing students to a range of social scientific methods for studying, and a range of European and non-European perspectives on contemporary Europe’s politics, religion, economies, technology, social structures (including the family and schools), geography, and environment. Emphasis will be placed on gaining greater understanding of the public policy dimensions of the “contemporary challenges” being examined.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

1.  Students will be able to articulate how a particular topic is approached in at least two different cultures or distinct geographical areas.

2.  Students will be able to identify major sources of political, economic, and social division within Europe today

3.  Students will be able to explain the pros and cons of European consolidation

4.  Students will be able to describe the state of religion in Europe today

COURSE PURPOSES:

1.  To gain greater understanding of the character of European societies in the twenty-first century through awareness and analysis of current political, economic, religious, social, and cultural patterns.

2.  To become more familiar with contemporary sources of conflict and lines of division within Europe, including those rooted in ethnic, religious, gender, social class, educational, and political differences.

3.  To deepen understanding of twenty-first century European relationships with the rest of the globe and to consider both European and non-European perspectives on those relationships.

4.  To consider the issue of individual and collective identity – cultural, religious, ethnic, national – within Europe today as a source of both cooperation and conflict.

5.  To reflect on how our study of contemporary European society might inform our Christian faith and how Christian faith might inform our study of contemporary European society.

6.  To encourage a lasting enjoyment of and intellectual curiosity about European society

CERTIFICATION CRITERIA FOR THINKING GLOBALLY:

IS 125 will meet all of the certification criteria for the General Education requirement in Thinking Globally. Here is how:

A)  Describe differences between at least two cultures (one of which is nonwestern)\ and can offer explanations or historical contexts for those differences – Many of the contemporary challenges to be examined in the course require examination of Europe in relation to other parts of the world politically, economically, religiously, and culturally. A particularly striking example of that is the focus on recent patterns of migration and immigration in Europe, and the associated developments of a renewed extreme nationalism (embodied in many political parties) across the continent and persistent racism (as evidenced in the recent riots in Great Britain). The face of Europe has literally been changed in recent decades as a result of immigration from North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. A significant portion of those newcomers are Muslim. Students will investigate the character and consequences of that immigration through required readings (Economist articles, Buruma text, and many sources in course reader), class discussions, student debates (based on student research – two debates dedicated to immigration and Muslim religious and cultural expression, respectively), lectures, guest speakers, site visits, and personal observation in numerous European cities and communities. They will read and hear varying perspectives (including African and Asian ones) on the multiple issues relating to recent immigration including religious pluralism, ethnic conflicts, the rise of extreme nationalist groups, security concerns, employment patterns, racism, and national identities. Some attempts will also be made to compare the immigrant experience in Europe with it in other parts of the world. As historians, the two instructors will work hard to provide appropriate historical explanations for these contemporary issues and to situate them in contexts within and beyond Europe.

B)  Recognize the value and significance of other cultures without romanticizing – IS 125 provides students with a thorough introduction to many of the challenges and problems facing Europeans today, as well as giving them daily opportunities to witness and participate in the richness of many European cultures. Our hope is that students will develop a critical appreciation for the various expressions of European culture from northern, western, southern, and central Europe. Their City Report and Journal assignments ask them to become very familiar with many different aspects of contemporary European life and reflect upon them in oral and written communication. In particular, the portion of their Journal completed during the fall in Europe requires them to be a participant observer of European culture throughout the semester. Student journals from Europe Semester 2007 demonstrate that they were indeed able by the end of the semester to “recognize the value and significance of other cultures without romanticizing.”

C)  Identify ways in which cultures influence formulations of knowledge. They will identify ways in which they personally are affected – IS 125 course readings, lectures, guest presentations, and site visits will demonstrate to students various ways in which national identities, religious traditions, and cultural commitments impact views of reality. For example, we anticipate lining up a set of guest lecturers similar to the ones we used on Europe Semester 2007, though we will be in a number of different locations so the particulars will be different. They included guest lectures in Northern Ireland on the Troubles from both Catholics and Protestants, guest lectures in Bosnia from Bosniaks and Croats, guest presentations at the International Atomic Energy Association in Vienna, guest speakers on religion in Poland from secular and Catholic perspectives, and multiple presenters (and perspectives) at the European Parliament in Brussels. More informally, as students encounter “ordinary” Europeans on the street everyday across 14 nations, they have opportunities to learn about the distinctive perspectives on history and the present that people in Europe from all types of backgrounds, including many immigrants, offer. They will record and analyze those perspectives in their assigned Journal as well as in class discussions and debates.

D)  Recognize global inequities, injustices, and/or inter-religious issues and commit themselves to thoughtful, concrete responses growing out of their Christian faith – IS 125 focuses upon numerous topics in which global inequities, injustices, and inter-religious issues are front and center including the plight of immigrant communities, environmental concerns about global warming and nuclear energy, various sources of ethnic conflict across the continent, and instances of both religious cooperation and conflict amongst Christians, Muslims, Jews, and secularists. Students will encounter these issues through course readings, lectures, discussions, guest speakers, and student debates. In particular, the assigned book, Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Toleration details a recent infamous case of contests in the Netherlands over these matters. Students will be asked to thoughtfully reflect on the sources of conflict and appropriate Christian responses. In 2007 we were able to augment that assignment with a guest lecture from a Christian professor from the Free University of Amsterdam who helped students further process the dynamics of religious and political tolerance there. Hopefully, we can arrange for something similar in 2012.

E)  Recognize the limits of their global understanding – Introducing students to the complexities of religious, political, environmental, economic, social, and cultural realities in contemporary Europe will include many reminders that our grasp of any of these issues will be just that – introductory. It will also include explicit efforts within lectures and discussions to think Christianly about these matters; such efforts will include appropriate pleas for intellectual humility as we study this part of the globe. Moreover, the act of moving across the continent and experiencing many different peoples and cultures within some of the most cosmopolitan places on the globe provides daily reminders to students that their grasp of the complexities of the world is limited indeed. Having witnessed this process with four prior groups of Europe Semester students, and having experienced it myself repeatedly, I am confident it will happen again.

F)  Student Learning Outcome: Students will be able to articulate how a particular topic is approached in at least two different cultures or distinct geographical areas – As explained in points A and C above, students in IS 125 will be asked to understand how persons from multiple regions of the world understand a range of issues facing contemporary Europe including the changing character of Europe’s workforce, efforts to revitalize Christianity in post-Christian Europe, the rapidly growing Muslim presence, ongoing racism against non-whites, the breadth of the European Union (e.g. should Turkey be admitted?) and the threat from terrorism. Course exams, essays, oral presentations (debates), and class discussion will all hold students accountable for developing this skill.

CERTIFICATION CRITERIA FOR UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY:

IS 125 will meet all the certification criteria for Understanding Society. Here is how:

1.  In regard to the five basic societal structures (Family, Religion, Education, Government, Economy), students will be able to identify foundational theories of the discipline that offer explanations of social phenomena. As a team-taught, interdisciplinary course, IS 125 will expose students to theories of understanding contemporary Europe from multiple disciplines, not simply one. The two professors bring expertise from history, political science, and religious studies. Among key theories to be introduced will be secularization theory, various social scientific theories of modern nationalism, world systems theory (core-periphery issues within and beyond Europe), and theories concerning European democratization. Students will encounter these theories while studying topics and themes such as religious vitality and secularization, energy resource development and allocation, migration and immigration, political and economic consolidation during and after the Cold War, and racism. We will visit and re-visit these themes as we travel across Central, Western, and Southern Europe. Students will likely be exposed to additional theories from guest lecturers. We anticipate scheduling a series of expert guest lecturers similar to the robust line-up we had in 2007 that included scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines including history, religious studies, political science, law, and sociology. They addressed issues such as ethnic conflict and postwar recovery in Bosnia, religion and politics in the Netherlands today, the character of the European Parliament, reconciliation in Northern Ireland, the role of Catholicism in post-Communist Poland, and the politics and science of nuclear energy in contemporary Europe. Course exams, journal assignments, oral presentations (debates), and class discussions will all hold students accountable for understanding and applying the theories presented in lectures and readings.

2.  In regard to the five basic societal structures (Family, Religion, Education, Government, Economy), students will be able to articulate dimensions of individual, group and institutional dynamics in society, paying attention to issues of diversity and media where applicable. The contemporary challenges to be examined in IS 125 have been selected because they confront European peoples and nations across the continent. As a result, each of them will be studied both through national case studies and more broadly as phenomena that transcend national boundaries. For example, the overlapping issues of immigration, religious pluralism, and the growing Muslim presence will be explored in particular depth in relation to France and the Netherlands. Their respective governments have responded to many of these issues in quite different ways. Those issues will be explored at the public policy level but also from the standpoint of particular ethnic and religious communities, and through the lens of specific individuals. Issues of diversity and media are core to this conversation, and captured powerfully for our students in the required reading of Ian Buruma’s Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance. Van Gogh was a controversial Dutch filmmaker murdered by a Moroccan immigrant for his hostile depictions of Muslims. Students will have further opportunities to gain perspective on individual, group, and institutional dynamics in society through assigned readings in The Economist, the British news magazine that offers intelligent, interdisciplinary assessments of European developments every week. And their own interactions with locals throughout the trip will afford occasions to sample individual European perspectives on many contemporary questions. We have students think and write reflectively about those interactions with local peoples and cultures in the journal they keep while in Europe. As indicated by the thorough set of topics and issues we expect them to be thinking about as they engage with Europeans (see IS 125 Journal instructions), they will finish the course able to speak and write intelligently about various aspects of the complex dynamics of European society.