A FLAS Fellow's Semester Abroad in Amman
Audrey Dombro, an agricultural and consumer economics student and 2019-20 FLAS fellow, reflects upon her experience studying in Jordan.
Master of Arts in European Union Studies
The European Union Center at the University of Illinois offers the only Master of Arts in European Union Studies (MAEUS) program in the Western Hemisphere. Learn more here.
Nuclear Energy and Its Environmental, Policy, and Security Implications
On Earth Day 2022, the EU Center organized a symposium on the future of technology, energy, and security in Europe, featuring prominent scholars and policy makers from France, Germany, and the U.S.
Conversations on Europe
Watch the collection of online roundtable discussions on different EU issues sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh.
Accelerating Climate Change Mitigation: Policy Statements on the Road to Sharm-El-Sheikh and Beyond
Bruce Murray, Resident Director of the Illinois Program in Vienna, presents a series of student-written policy statements for accelerating climate change mitigation.
Videos of Previous Lectures
Missed an EUC-hosted lecture? Our blog's video tag has archived previous EUC-sponsored lectures.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Mahir Şaul-Edited Book on Judeo-Spanish and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century Published
Friday, October 18, 2013
The Duality of Economic Convergence in the Eurozone
A video of the lecture can be viewed below or by clicking here:
The Duality of Economic Convergence in the Eurozone
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Hip-Hop à la Française
Elements of American culture abound in France, and vice versa. But that doesn't mean we are all doomed to cultural homogenization. Take hip-hop music, for example.
There are few cultural forms more American than hip-
hop, and yet it has taken firm hold in France. Over the last three decades, France has grown to become the largest market in the world (behind only the United States) for the production and consumption of this genre. But French hip-hop is not a copy of its American precursor. On the contrary, it is a rich scene of French artists who rap in their national language (and local argot) and narrate their own unique socio-political realities.
Unbeknownst to Americans, the French were among the first to embrace hip-hop. In 1984, the world's first regularly and nationally broadcast hip-hop television show made its debut on France's largest television channel, TF1 — long before any equivalent would appear in the United States. Later, the French minister of culture Jack Lang, whose mission was to promote and cultivate "French" culture, proclaimed that "intellectually, morally and artistically," hip-hop was a movement: "Even if in the beginning it drew inspiration from America, I believe it has found its originality here in France." In a decade, hip-hop went from being a fun, foreign, American import to being recognized as a source of French cultural pride.
The story of hip-hop in France makes clear that culture — and sometimes, in particular, presumed "national cultures" — are malleable and fluid. The borders that are constructed around a set of cultural practices and mark them as truly "French" or "American" only reflect the concerns of a given moment. And although hip-hop's historical roots are undeniably American, the music is now a lingua franca that speaks as powerfully to realities in France as it does in its country of birth.
Samir Meghelli is a professor of African American studies and French at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is writing "Between New York and Paris: A Transatlantic History of Hip Hop" and is on Twitter.
This post was originally posted on the New York Times Opinion Pages on October 14, 2013 as part of the Room for Debate series "Is France Becoming Too American?"
Hip-Hop à la Française
Monday, October 14, 2013
The German Elections: Outcomes and Impacts Video Lecture
The video can be viewed on YouTube or below:
The German Elections: Outcomes and Impacts Video Lecture
Friday, October 4, 2013
How the International Community Is Already Intervening in Syria and Must Continue to Do So
Lost amidst recent debate1 of whether the international community should militarily intervene in Syria are all the ways in which intervention has already happened.
As of late September, the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) had allocated nearly €1.8 billion to provide support for the over 6 million Syrians either registered as refugees or internally displaced since the crisis began in 2011. Funds originate from the EU humanitarian aid budget, as well as individual member states—the UK (€ 473 million) and Germany (€205 million) being the largest donors. The US, in 2012 and 2013 alone, provided nearly $1.4 billion in assistance.
Compare with the tens of millions of dollars Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the House of Representatives that limited airstrikes in Syria would cost. Even if we assume that costs would be much higher, say in the hundreds of millions and perhaps approaching $1 billion (the approximate US contribution to the Libyan intervention), the numbers still don’t amount to the funds already poured into the crisis by the US and EU—albeit for more virtuous humanitarian assistance. This is not to say that the US or the broader international community should approve military intervention in Syria. But, it is to say that the isolationist refrain, heard recently across the US and perhaps parts of Europe, that tax dollars cannot continue to be wasted on conflicts in the Middle East is a bit off-base. For better or worse, the US and EU are already heavily invested, having already spent tax dollars in greater sums than a limited military intervention would likely require.
Fortunately, diplomatic negotiations have progressed, and military intervention now appears less imminent. Still, the humanitarian crisis on the ground continues to worsen. Even before the chemical weapons attack in late August, the UN had already increased the 2013 humanitarian appeal from $1.5 to $4.4 billion—the largest humanitarian appeal in the history of the UN. So, if there’s one certainty about the current crisis, it’s that the international community must continue to provide substantial monetary assistance. The stability of a region teetering on the brink depends on it.
Refugee camp in Turkey (Source: Creative Commons) |
1 The European Union Center (EUC) at the University of Illinois co-hosted a Teach-In on Syria on September 18, where professors from departments across campus addressed key issues concerning the conflict in Syria and held a robust dialogue with the audience. A video of the teach-in may be viewed by clicking here.
How the International Community Is Already Intervening in Syria and Must Continue to Do So
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Özge Zihnioğlu Writes New Book on EU Civil Society Policy and Turkey
Zihnioğlu was a Visiting Scholar at the European Union Center during spring 2012. During her stay, she taught a course on EU civil society policy and gave a public lecture on the "Europeanization of Turkish NGOs."
Her new book is an important contribution to the current scholarship on EU-Turkey relations. Earlier in September, it was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Ankara Agreement between Turkey and the European Economic Community. The Turkish Studies Program at the University of Illinois offers language courses at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels, as well as culture courses offered in English and faculty-led study abroad programs.
Özge Zihnioğlu Writes New Book on EU Civil Society Policy and Turkey