Founding myths of European Union Europe and the workings of power in the European Union heritage and history initiatives
Abstract
Along with the European Union’s (EU) increased interest in a common European culture and past, narration as a means to create and communicate about them has gained new momentum. By applying the Discourse-Mythological Approach, I explore how the EU narrates the story of the origins of EU Europe in two recent EU heritage/history initiatives. The analysis brought out three storylines in the mythmaking of EU Europe. While the first storyline emphasizes temporal continuity, shared cultural roots, and preservation and transmission of a common legacy, the second focuses on the idea of a break and a rebirth of a civic/political community. The third storyline highlighting founding figures and key heroes functions as a mediator between these two narratives. The founding myths seek to justify the political aims of the EU, that is, strengthening European unification and multilevel integration, and presenting these aims as choiceless and morally and ethically legitimated.
Main Author
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2019
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Sage
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202001131135Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1367-5494
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549418755921
Language
English
Published in
European Journal of Cultural Studies
Citation
- Lähdesmäki, T. (2019). Founding myths of European Union Europe and the workings of power in the European Union heritage and history initiatives. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 22(5-6), 781-798. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549418755921
Funder(s)
European Commission
Research Council of Finland
Funding program(s)
ERC Starting Grant
Akatemiatutkija, SA
ERC Starting Grant
Academy Research Fellow, AoF
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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Additional information about funding
This work was supported by the Academy of Finland under Grant SA274295 (EUCHE) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant 636177 (EUROHERIT).
Copyright© The Author(s) 2018