Leerssen
1. Why does Leerssen call 'the logic of seeing Europe's identity as lying in its diversity [...]'
ramshackle? He identifies a similar logical problem with what he calls the 'typicality effect',
specifically related to nations' specific character. Please explain.
Leerssen argues that the identity of Europe can be found in the concept of democracy, which is an
attribute that unifies the continent despite the presence of a multitude of diversities. The typicality effect
represents the fact that all European cultures are known and recognized in other countries with ‘typical
traits’ which are peculiar to such a country. The typicality effect is related to the association of
stereotypes to a certain culture.
2. What does he mean by 'the modular view of Europe'? How does it relate to the political, and
to the cultural reality of Europe?
A modular view of Europe is the perception that Europe can be seen as a set of blocks of cultures and
nations which can be clearly divided by borders. This point of view can be highly criticized due to the
nature of these borders. Indeed, the idea of a nation and of a State which include peoples who share the
same cultural values and same history is quite recent, it is a product of the nationalist movements of the
XX century. This modular division of Europe can be observed in the linguistic map of Europe. From a
linguistic and cultural point of view, the continent is hard to divide into clear borders. The geographical
lines where a culture/nation has its end and another different culture takes place is hard to spot in
Europe. For instance, to divide the linguistic differences between Luxemburg and the eastern region of
Belgium is an impossible task to determine, given that the two areas belong to the same dialectical
continuum. Another instance is the example of Yugoslavia, where the languages Serbian, Croatian and
Macedonian are culturally identical, yet from the political point of view, these areas have been divided
into separate cultures and political borders have been imposed to those territories, without any linguistic
or cultural justification.
3. Explain what isoglosses are and how they function. Also explain that isoglosses map European
space in a fundamentally different manner than political borders do.
By the term isoglosses, Leerssen means a change in certain features of a language that a person can
incur to when travelling through a geographical region. For instance, an isogloss can be encountered
when a person travelling through Spain gets to hear multiple different languages such as Basque,
Catalan, Asturian, etc. Political borders often divide these isoglosses or unite them in a way which does
not reflect the cultural reality of the peoples who inhabit that territory. Basque, for instance, is a
language which exists both in an area divided into France and Spain. Yet, the language itself remains the
same and also the cultural identity, which is in turn fragmented into two different realities.
1. Why does Leerssen call 'the logic of seeing Europe's identity as lying in its diversity [...]'
ramshackle? He identifies a similar logical problem with what he calls the 'typicality effect',
specifically related to nations' specific character. Please explain.
Leerssen argues that the identity of Europe can be found in the concept of democracy, which is an
attribute that unifies the continent despite the presence of a multitude of diversities. The typicality effect
represents the fact that all European cultures are known and recognized in other countries with ‘typical
traits’ which are peculiar to such a country. The typicality effect is related to the association of
stereotypes to a certain culture.
2. What does he mean by 'the modular view of Europe'? How does it relate to the political, and
to the cultural reality of Europe?
A modular view of Europe is the perception that Europe can be seen as a set of blocks of cultures and
nations which can be clearly divided by borders. This point of view can be highly criticized due to the
nature of these borders. Indeed, the idea of a nation and of a State which include peoples who share the
same cultural values and same history is quite recent, it is a product of the nationalist movements of the
XX century. This modular division of Europe can be observed in the linguistic map of Europe. From a
linguistic and cultural point of view, the continent is hard to divide into clear borders. The geographical
lines where a culture/nation has its end and another different culture takes place is hard to spot in
Europe. For instance, to divide the linguistic differences between Luxemburg and the eastern region of
Belgium is an impossible task to determine, given that the two areas belong to the same dialectical
continuum. Another instance is the example of Yugoslavia, where the languages Serbian, Croatian and
Macedonian are culturally identical, yet from the political point of view, these areas have been divided
into separate cultures and political borders have been imposed to those territories, without any linguistic
or cultural justification.
3. Explain what isoglosses are and how they function. Also explain that isoglosses map European
space in a fundamentally different manner than political borders do.
By the term isoglosses, Leerssen means a change in certain features of a language that a person can
incur to when travelling through a geographical region. For instance, an isogloss can be encountered
when a person travelling through Spain gets to hear multiple different languages such as Basque,
Catalan, Asturian, etc. Political borders often divide these isoglosses or unite them in a way which does
not reflect the cultural reality of the peoples who inhabit that territory. Basque, for instance, is a
language which exists both in an area divided into France and Spain. Yet, the language itself remains the
same and also the cultural identity, which is in turn fragmented into two different realities.
