This course explores some of the forms of human imagining (literary, artistic, political, social scientific) engendered by the notoriously hard to define entity known as "Europe." It does so by focusing on regions and populations that have been thought of at various times as marking Europe's inner and outer cultural and/or geographical limits. Topics addressed include: the relationship between physical geography, cultural memory, and the formation (or subversion) of identity claims; the reconfigured political landscapes of post-socialism and European integration; immigration, refugee flows, and the rise of far-right ethno-nationalisms; and the effects of pandemics past and present.
prereq: One course in [ANTH or GLOS]