Symbols and narratives of europe: Three tropes

Abstract

Throughout history, attempts have been made to identify europe as a geographical, political, social, and cultural en-tity. recent efforts to establish key symbols and narratives of europe have focused on a set of central signifying elements, even if there is a wide and contradictory range of ways to de-fine, structure, and interpret them. an introductory remark on the current debate on the need for renewed european self-re-flection paves the way for some conceptual clarifications of my approach to concepts like culture, meaning, identity and medi-ation. a methodological reflection accompanies this on how to use semiotic tools in cultural studies based on critical her-meneutics. the concept of culture used here is based on the signifying practice of mediating meaning-making, linking imagination to communication in a triangular dynamic be-tween texts, subjects, and contexts. examples are given from two research projects on a broad and diverse range of european symbols and narratives, illustrating such interpretive research results. european identifications are crystallized and spun around three dominant tropes: supreme universality, res-urrection from division, and communicative mobility. their in-tricate tensions and interrelations attest to how deeply europe remains a highly contested and dynamic meaning cluster.