This course aims at giving a broad and interdisciplinary perspective on some of the very diverse cultural and historical roots of European identity. It examines contemporary debates over contested identity in the light of long historical trajectories in which identities were continually (re)defined. It is conceived as an introduction to many of the courses in Princeton dealing with European issues. The landmarks are mostly, but not exclusively, written texts. They include writers like Virgil, Cervantes and Zola, but also artists such as Beethoven or Claude Monet.

This course will explore how democracy has evolved as a concept, a practice, and an ideology, in Europe from the end of the Second World War to the present day. It will study the different models of democracy that emerged in east and west, which had different ideologies and structures, but also shared the ambition to build a viable relationship between rulers and ruled and create new regimes of freedom and social justice. Democracy was never a fixed reality, but an evolving system, that responded to social and ideological challenges, as well as external events.

An exploration of the major features of contemporary Spain from 1939 to the present with particular attention to developing an understanding the concepts of cultural identity and difference within the changing global context. The course will address the recent processes that have left a mark on the history of Spain: the fall of Francoism, the particular and controversial transition to democracy, the financial crisis of 2008, the Indignados social movement, the nationalist trends in Basque Country and Catalonia, and the latest feminist wave, among others. Discussions and frequent writing assignments.