24 - European Culture(s)

Summary

Just as Rome opened up its Pantheon to gods of every race and put men with black skin on the imperial throne […] Europe should declare itself ready, by virtue of these very roots, to include every other cultural and ethnic contribution, since openness is one of its most distinguished cultural features.’

As in Umberto Eco’s appeal to European cultural inclusivity on the basis of Roman history, Europe’s narrative about its culture(s) is almost as rich as its past. And it is similarly complex and convoluted, with the European Union (EU) appropriating the idea of ‘Europe’ as a unifying signifier that awkwardly balances the EU’s official motto ‘unity in diversity’, as it aims to be representative of the current twenty-seven constituent member states’ cultures. Yet this conceptual framework leaves out, for instance, European countries that are not EU members, as well as tendentiously the non-European ethnic and cultural minorities that have found a home on the continent and have historically contributed to the region’s culture and history.