Popular Culture in Europe

This intensive unit uses popular culture as a prism for the cultural, social, and political history of Europe from 1945 to the present. Drawing on the disciplines of history, media studies, literary/cultural studies, and anthropology, this unit examines the ways Europe rebuilt itself after the ravages of war, faced Cold War divisions, and continued to grapple with defining what it meant to be European after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The specific modes of popular culture under examination may include topics such as popular music, literature, fashion, and film, as well as cultural exchange, including through mega-events such as the Eurovision Song Contest and the Olympic Games, which serve both as platforms for national identity express and forums for crafting a pan-European identity. How did nations choose to represent themselves—to themselves and to one another? What is Europe as an idea and as an identity, as seen through the lens of popular culture?