Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

The module provides an introduction, by a variety of case-studies focused on France, Germany, Italy and Spain, to issues of identity, nationality, and language which have been of central importance to the development of Europe.

The module will explore fundamental conflicts between nationality and 'Europeanness'; centre and periphery; regions and nation-states; cultural and historical particularism and a shared European heritage and identity.

It will draw on research expertise in the Department and offer students a combination of approaches embedded in specific languages and cultures which they are unlikely to have experienced before. It will ensure that students in European Languages have the opportunity to acquire some understanding of the broader European picture into which their chosen language(s) fit(s). It will provide a non-language-specific general preparation for subsequent study of society, politics, language and culture of all the languages taught in the Department. It will be open to students outside the Department and presupposes no linguistic competence.

The module is deliberately 'thin' in order to allow students, over the duration of the module, to assimilate the ideas concerned and to deepen their understanding of the underlying general themes.