Alexandra Giroux

Europe is a civilization, a geographical, political and economic entity. But when it comes to identity, it becomes much more complex. What is won through enlargement is lost in cohesion. According to a survey (Eurobarometer, 2008) 91% of Europeans feel attached to their nations and only 49% to the European Union. In this context, the question to be asked is whether EU accession of individual nations deconstructs their national cultures and identities. The nature of nationality in a cosmopolitan Europe, the rights of citizenship, and the viability of a multicultural society across Europe are questions that have to be addressed. What is the role of Europe in shaping the community? How flexible the concept of national culture and identity are in order to avoid losing its fundamental features? Should Europe focus on a past historical identity or on a future political culture? Is Europe a melting pot or a salad bowl? This essay will show in a first time that European states all have their own identity and culture. Then, the effects of Europe on nation-states will be evaluated. To finish, it will be wondered whether the process of Europeanization can contribute to the construction of a post-national identity.

First of all, it can be stated that EU accession of individual nations does not deconstruct their national cultures and identities since it has been argued that a European identity does not exist. Symbols, cultural events or programs imposed upon people are not enough to talk about a European identity. Identity is constructed from outside and inside. European civil society cannot be created by a treaty but has to come from people. Europe cannot ignore the diversity of cultures when it comes to traditions, languages and history. The purpose of Europe is integration, not exclusion. “Cultural unity is also a construct; it masks the diversity in most cultures of rites, rituals, customs, and manners, while it systematically ignores cultural affinities that do not fit the nationalist logic” (Garvin, in Caplan and Feffer, 1996, p.200). Reconciling identities in conflict within each nation is already a challenge so creating a European identity might be a Utopia. An identity anxiety might be the result of a cultural alignment among members. Brubaker (quoted in Jenkins and Sofos, 1996, p.72) has cogently argued that “in the European setting citizenship is a last bastion of sovereignty; states continue to enjoy a freedom in this domain that they increasingly lack in others”. Europe needs a stronger identity. Without demos, there is no democracy (Fuchs and Klingemann, 2002, p.77). Demos would provide legitimacy.
In a context of Euro-skepticism, it seems that nation-states have more legitimacy than Europe. But national identity has to cope with collective forms of identity such as class, gender, race or religion (Smith, 1991, p.143) which means that at the beginning, identity is already a complex issue. The fundamental features of national identity are an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a common culture, common legal rights and duties for all members and a common economy with territorial mobility (Smith, 1991, p.14). A national identity is fundamentally multi-dimensional and it cannot be “swiftly induced in a population by artificial means” (Smith, 1991, p.14) which means that if a state is reluctant to deconstruct its national culture and identity, it would have to be taken as such. “Culture and social organization are universal and perennial. States and nationalisms are not” (Gellner, 1997, p.5). Some countries have recently seen the resurgence of patriotism and nationalism in reaction to Europe, like the Front National in France. Nationalism is “an ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity and identity on behalf of a population deemed by some of its members to constitute an actual or potential “nation” (Smith, 1991, p.73). Brutishness had to be reconsidered in twentieth-century Britain, regarding the construction and significance of national identity. Great Britain perceives Europe as a threat and wants to preserve its distinctiveness: defending national identity becomes a priority. It can be wondered what links nation-states to Europe. If some nations, especially from Eastern Europe, access to the European Union it means somehow that their culture and identity already has a European look-alike (Laitin, 2007, p.77). But nation-states cannot deny the shift that occurs in their identity once they integrate the EU.

Politics influences culture and national identities are shaped by Europe. National boundaries are transcended by Europeanization. The weakened nation-state has undermined its capacity to meet the demand of citizen and people tend to consider issues more globally. The contact between the different cultural groups leads to social changes, i.e. acculturation. (Berry, 1986, quoted in Florack and Piontkowski, 2002, p.2). European identity is hybrid. It has been constructed through common historical Christian myths, a shared political and legal history and the tradition of humanism (Jacobs and Maier, 1998, p.7). Immigration might be facilitated by the integration of the European Union and those new minorities challenge the national identity. Contemporary perceptions are shaped by European supranationalism but as well economic globalization and the end of the Cold War. Identity is not static but dynamic (Jacobs and Maier, 1998, .p.3). Many states do not have a national identity because of the diverseness of the people. The lack of European civic identity threatens cultural identity. Countries such as Spain or Italy do not have any ambition to play a world role and adapt more comfortably to the implication of Europe’s integration. Moreover, because of their weak central state institution, their national identity is more social or regional and accommodation to subcultures is necessary. Germany, as a federal state already deals with different identities, like a small projection of Europe. Central and Eastern Europe countries are in search of a European identity through European Union membership. To do so they have to rethink their politics. Nation-states who integrate Europe have to sign the acquis communautaires which will as a result shape a new identity. They have to conform to the rules of Europe.
In a world of multi-layered political communities comprising diverse levels of political action, it is manifest that national cultures and identities are limited. Jenkins and Sofos (1996, p.29) explain that “to the extent that localities, regions and supranational institutions are empowered and achieve democratic legitimacy, national consciousness may be reduced to its proper place, as one of a set of ‘multiple identities’ where citizenship and politics are no longer confined within the boundaries of the nation-state”. National identity is today more global and pervasive (Smith, 1991, p.143). “The major concern about Europeanization is that it may weaken national sovereignty and national identity.” (Winn, 2003, p.4) and that is why “it is now a commonplace to talk about a postmodern “crisis of identity” – a sense of alienation and disorientation that accompanies the decomposition of cultural communities” (Kaldor, in Caplan and Feffer, 1996, p.47). Some argue that “in the industrial age only high cultures in the end effectively survive. Folk cultures and little traditions survive only artificially, kept going by language and folklore preservation societies” (Gellner, 1983, p.117). But it is important to keep in mind that “it is (…) multidimensionality that has made national identity such a flexible and persistent force in modern life and politics, and allowed it to combine effectively with other powerful ideologies and movements, without losing its character” (Smith, 1991, p.15). The theory has to be confronted with reality as well: “the EU’s commitment to cohesion, cooperation and multiculturalism in Eastern and Central Europe is mostly a top-down elite-led process, whilst the integration of ethnic groups within states requires a bottom-up society-wide acceptance of new institutions“(Winn, 2003, p.6). But still, this process might contribute to the construction of a post-national or supranational identity.

When it comes to constructing a European Identity, two theories are in competition: neo-functionalism and inter-governmentalism. But people seem to agree on the fact that the spill-over of Europeanization is irreversible and a civil society is developing. For instance, in Europe, there is an international and trans-ideological youth culture (Gellner, 1983, p.117) and Erasmus exchanges promote polylingualism. Transnationality increases interactions among the different actors and challenges the notion of citizenship. European citizenship as defined by the Maastricht Treaty is the result of the common good offered by Europe. People can be Eurocitizen, have a national identity and a regional one, in the same time. Through their national identity, people can play in the pool of European Identity. Sub-national, national and post-national identities can go together since these nested identities are compatible. There is no contradiction in feeling both Dutch and European. A condominium of powers, new form of political association that is sui generis, might be able to coexist with national identities and even to reinforce them since cultural cross-fertilization can provoke renewals of national identity (Smith, 1991, p.153). It opens the possibility of a “heterophilic Europe of multiple and mobile identities and a gradual erosion of the difference between “them” and “us” (Amin, 2000, quoted in Hudson, 2000, p.420). While Jacobs and Maier (1998, p.6) state that post-national citizenship diminishes the importance of national and cultural identity and categorization of self and others, it has to be noted that national sovereignty is often curtailed by the accreditation of power to Brussels, evidence of a small step toward supranational transcendence. “For those who press for a political union of European states the national type of collective identity has ceased to be viable and desirable” (Smith, 1991, p.151). A “multinational nation” can be seen in the making since most states today are ethnically heterogeneous and plural (Smith, 1991, p.144). A common European consciousness might be crucial for the transformation of Europe into a genuine supra-national union (Jacobs and Maier, 1998, p.6). “Unity in diversity” was the motto adopted for the European Union by the Constitutional Treaty signed in Rome on 29 October 2004. Diversity is contained within a coherent cultural system. But the concept of post-national identity has as well its limits.
One can forge supra-national institutions but any attempt to create supra-national facts in unlikely to be successful on the cultural level (Smith, 1993, p.134). European construction is post-national rather than supranational: it recognizes pluralism of the states but does not project the idea of a nation-states upon members. “There is (…) little prospect of a European “super-nation” until the majority of each European nation’s population becomes infused with a genuinely European consciousness” (Smith, 1991, p.152). European public relations campaigns might try to introduce a variety of Eurosymbolism on people but identity cannot be imposed and comes from the people. “It seems that the best foundation for such an identity is the emphasis on a shared political future, rather than a shared national past” (Winn, 2003, p.5) On the Internet, the European library is a good attempt to give cohesion to European culture. But books of European history for school, meeting of European intellectuals or museums of European art might be Utopias. If there is deconstruction of identity, it does not come only from the accession of Europe. International migration, multi-ethnic societies, multi-states bureaucracies and other transnational institutions (Morris, 1997, p.194) play as well a role. “The importance of Pan-nationalisms lies in their ability to counteract, or at least suggest an alternative to, the fissiparous tendencies of proliferating ethnic nationalisms” (Smith, 1991, p.172) which undermines the concept of “family of cultures” where each state is a single bead on a whole necklace.

The European dilemma lies in the fact that unification relies on a plurality of nationals with rival and contrasting European identities more than it could rely on post-national citizen with a united self-consciousness (Deflem and Pampel, 1996, p.138). Europe needs a construction plan to stop looking like a patchwork but it should avoid standardization leading to a vanilla flavored society. Each country has its own views about Europe and European identity; Europe is for Germany a must, for Great-Britain a threat and for Spain a chance. Through construction and deconstruction, nation-states reinvent perpetually their culture and identity. Europe shapes national identities as national identities shape Europe. Bridges have to be built to leave together since culture is as much important as defense. Europeanization of activities is not Europeanization of identities and cultures. Multiculturalism might be what defines the best European identity to shape a concept of Pan-European identity. Europe is diverse and diversity is its strength. More than being about identity, the issue is about identification. Nation-states do not necessarily have to deconstruct their identity but they should definitely build a new form of identification to share the vision of Europe.

Bibliography
\ Caplan, R and Feffer, J. (eds.). (1996). Europe’s New Nationalism: States and Minorities in Conflict. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.
\ Deflem, M and Pampel, FC. (1996). “The Myth of Postnational Identity: Popular. Support for European Unification.” Social Forces 75(1): pp. 119-143.
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\ Fuchs, D and Klingemann, HD. (2002). “Eastward Enlargement of the European Union and the Identity of Europe’, West European Politics, 25/2, pp.19-54.
\ Gellner, E. (1983). Nations and Nationalism. Oxford UK and Cambridge USA: Blackwell.
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\ Jacobs, D.and Maier, R. (1998). European identity: Construct, fact and fiction. In M. Gastelaars and A. de Ruijter (eds.), A United Europe: The Quest for a Multifaceted Identity. Maastricht: Shaker. pp.13-33.
\ Jenkins, B and Sofos, S A., (eds.) (1996). Nation and identity in contemporary Europe. London and New-York : Routledge. 
\ Laitin, D. (2002). ‘Culture and National Identity: “The East” and European Integration’, West European Politics, 25/2, pp. 55-80.
\ Morris, L. (1997). “Globalization, Migration and the Nation-State: The Path to a Post-. National Europe?”, The British J. of Sociology, Vol. 48, No. 2: pp. 192-209
\ Smith, A.D. (1991), National identity. London: Penguin.
\ Smith, A. (1993) `A Europe of Nations – Or the Nation of Europe?. Journal of Peace Research 30(2): pp. 129-135 
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The last decades, there has been an interplay between the forces of globalism and nationalism, and between unifying and fragmenting trends (Smith, 1993, p.134). Nation-states have been the principal architects of global interconnectedness and the most successful actors in the international arena of the last two hundred years. But in a context of tension between centralization and sovereignty they now have to reconsider their role and functions because of their fragile structures. Their power have been challenged by European supranationalism, economic globalization and the end of the Cold War. Because of the problem, the cognitive and the hegemonic condition, international organizations such as the European Union have emerged. Europe is an interesting laboratory to study the nation-state and issues such as legitimacy, sovereignty or identity. The Wesphalian ideal of sovereign statehood is not buried but transformed by globalization, producing a disaggregated state. The question to be asked is whether nation-states should still occupy the political centre stage in world affairs. It will be argued that post-national entities such as the European Union might be better equipped to face and solve modern challenges. The central issue to be addressed is the relevance of nation-states in the 21st century. In a first part, some evidences of the pertinence of nation-states will be shown. Then, it will be argued that nation-states are sometimes less powerful than post-national entities. To finish, the idea of the necessity of international cooperation trough the example of Europe will be developed.
Nation-states can be largely defined as autonomous geopolitical entities inhabited by citizen sharing the same language, history and ethnicity. In the age of globalization, it can be asked if nations are “imagined communities”, to use Anderson’s famous formula (2006), or “communal images”. Nationalism has to be understood in term of sentiments, politics and ideology. Until the end of the Cold War, the trend has been an increase in the number of nation-states (Baylis, 2008, p.404). Alongside, one can observe a resurgence of nationalism showing evidence that self-determination, self-governance and nation-states are still relevant. After the end of the breakup of the Soviet Union, nations have claimed their power against the state. In France, the Front National, an extreme right wing party rejects the idea of a European supranational power revealing the eagerness to “preserve” French national identity. This kind of resurgence of nationalism might be seen as a a vain response to the post-modern anomic pressure and is evidence of the quest for meaning and identity. Building Europe is a challenge: the European constitution has been knocked off course and Great-Britain still refuse the European currency. Conventions, agreements and treating usually require ratification by the state. Relying on the state is reassuring since it provides security: they are usually responsible for implementation when it comes to operational activities within international organizations. According to the realist school, endorsed by De Gaulle or Machiavelli, the state is unified and self-contained: it is a major actor in international relations. Raison d’état matter more than the notions of friends of enemies. International organizations are seen as not very useful since each state uses it for its own purpose: they are only used as an instrument. International cooperation is difficult in the field of security since states assess their gains relative to others, and because of the low degree of transparency leading to trust reluctance. Moreover there is a legitimation crisis because for instance inability of governments to respond to minor groups within the state: it expresses the disillusionment of citizen with established elites and institutions. Legitimacy of Europe is also an issue for the nation-states since it ”requires a measure of internal homogenization; geo-political demarcations now take priority over other differences” (Smith, 1991, p.169).
Globalization, through transnational rights, by eroding sovereign territorial power and creating competing identities embodied in international organizations, undermines “state” and “nation” (Castells, 1997, p.244). “The nation-state is ceasing to be the overwhelmingly important power-container of earlier phases of global politics” (Breuilly, 2007, p.413). It is “fast becoming obsolete and nationalism, which expunged from human consciousness must be expunged from human consciousness or at least rendered forever harmless” (Smith, 1991, p.151). That is why international organizations have emerged during the 19th century. These post-national entities allow states to collectively broach common problems. The world economy has changed and have played an important role in the weigh of nation states on a global scale. Financial markets are now interdependent: there constant exchanges and zones with the same currency. The nation-state is in crisis, confronted to other flows of power in the network and is dependent on a broader system of enacting authorities. Moreover, “the international system resists the recognition of new states (and) many who legitimately consider themselves distinct peoples do not receive the regional and/or international recognition they deserve” (Young, 2000, p.254). The Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe broke new ground in intrusion in areas normally within state sovereignty: the postmodern system rely on balance even if it collapsed at an early stage. Cooper (2003, p.29) explains the basic incompatibility in systems that occurred: “the modern based on balance and the postmodern based on openness”. (Rittberger and Zangl, 2006, p.213) state that at the European level “integration has outstripped community building”. According to the idealist school, international organizations are the basis of an infrastructure that will enable the different states to work together. From a normative idealist point of view, societies are rather than states the central actors in international politics. The idealist theory is based on the hope that the hegemony of a world government or a collective-security system will replace the anarchy of nations. Pursuit of national interests can lead to global catastrophes like it has been shown during WWII. Thinking and acting more idealistically is the key to a more structured and peaceful world. Lately, imperialism has been dying slowly and there now increasing multilateral interdependence between nation-states. New technologies and increased knowledge toward the global character of major challenges had an important impact. International cooperation becomes a necessity in the post-modern era.
Because of wars, industrial expansion, world economic crises, human rights violations, developmental disparities and environment degradations, states have to solve together these problems. Globalization involves the transnationalization and regionalization of governance (Kaldor, in Caplan and Feffer, 1996, p.44). Global governance postulates the possibility of sustained cooperation based on international agreements. Different orientations have emerged from the global condition: “multi-state collaboration” which honors the sovereignty of the nation state; multi-state collaboration which erodes autonomy; and “international conventions” which override sovereignty (Morris, 1997, p.194). Each nation-states is in the same time independent of any central authority and interdependent. This model is very balanced since the global hierarchy is overcome without having to endure a world hegemonic order or founding a world state. International cooperation among sovereign states are encouraged and stabilized. Nation-states can form coalitions; are less and less sovereign but more and more components of an international policy. “The central functions of the nation-state will become those of providing legitimacy for and ensuring the accountability of supra-national and sub-national governance mechanisms” (Hirst and Thompson, quoted in Castells, 1997, p.304). In this postmodern era, the state system of the modern world is collapsing into greater order than disorder and moral consciousness has replaced the Machiavelic amorality. The Treaty of Rome (1957) is a successful attempt to go beyond the destructive extreme of nationalism and the nation state. Camilleri and Falk (1992, p.256) predict that “though the state will continue to perform important administrative and other functions, the theory of sovereignty will seem strangely out of place in a world characterized by shifting allegiances, new forms of identity and overlapping tiers of jurisdiction”. Product of a transnational aggregation of interests and policy preferences, new policy areas are increasingly being determined at the European level: this is what reveals the application of the concept of “Europeanisation” to the increasingly “com-munitarised” or “Brusselsized” EU governance system reveals (Winn, 2003, p.160). The world is moving away from the premise of having a unique hegemonic power to having different centers growing, more in line with Europe’s 19th century concept of power (Ashdown, 2007). The solution may consist is “re-legitimizing the state in its post-national reincarnation” (Held, quoted in Castells, 1997, p.303). The role of Europe on the international stage will depend of the future of Europe itself and “how far large-scale polyethnic states and regional groupings have taken root, where else may we look for that global interdependence that can underpin a cosmopolitan culture that transcends national limitations” (Smith, 1991, p.154). “But the end of the Cold War, the widening of the Union, the continued differences in the EU members’ strategic culture, ambitions, values, and historical relationships and the lack (…) of a European identity sufficient to permit delegation of sovereignty to centralized institutions mean that EU foreign policy cooperation will probably remain limited, fragmented and intergovernmental” (Gordon, 1997, p.100). Post-nationalism might be a myth. The European dilemma lies in the fact that European unification does not rely on post-national Euro-citizens but on a plurality of nationals with contrasting and rival identities (Deflem, 1996, p.138). Europe will require extensive and mutual trust within to nation-states to ensure compliance while a European identity might have to be built to bring more legitimacy to this post-national entity (Follesdal, 2000, p.503) and to create a single voice. A constitution is needed (Habermas, 2001, p.6) since only a political act foundation can give a power of symbolic crystallization so Europe can take hold in the consciousness of its citizens. Europe is an economic giant but a political dwarf.
International structure is moving step by step toward a global governance model where international organizations are able to stabilize and encourage sustainable international cooperation. Devotion, cultural recognition and transnational linkage are now more important since the sovereign nation-state is no longer central. It does not mean that nation-states will disappear but there will be a plurality of sources of authority. Nation-states are different but not obsolete, more similar to globalized states, introducing an inside-out element. Step by step, some international organizations are frank successes and give a great hope to further worldwide cooperation. Post national entities such as the European Union might remain in the future the central pillar of global governance. Cooper (2003, p.32) provides a good summary of the situation: “economy, law-making and defense may be increasingly embedded in international frameworks and the borders of territory might be less important, but identity and democratic institutions remain stubbornly national. This is the reason why traditional states will remain the fundamental unit of international relations for the foreseeable future, even though they might have ceased to behave in traditional ways”.

Bibliography:
Ashdown, P. (2007). Swords and Ploughshares: Bringing Peace to the 21st Century. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Baylis, J, Steve S and Patricia O. (eds.) (2008). The Globalization of World Politics, 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press
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Camilleri, J. A. and Falk, J. (1992). The End of Sovereignty?  The Politics Of A Shrinking And Fragmenting World. Aldershot (Hants UK): Edward Elgar.
Caplan, R and Feffer, J. (eds.). (1996). Europe’s New Nationalism: States and Minorities in Conflict. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press
Castells, M. (1997). The Power of Identity. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Cambridge : Blackwell.
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Rittberger, V. & Zangl, B. (2006), International Organization: Polity, Politics and Policies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Smith, A.D. (1993). “A Europe of Nations” or the Nation of Europe? , Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 129-135.
Smith, A.D. (1991), National identity. London: Penguin.
Winn, N. (2003) “The European Union’s External Face: The. Europeanisation of JHA and CFSP”, Perspective on European Politics and. Society, 4 (1):147-166.
Young, I. M. (2000). Inclusion and Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dans la mythologie grecque, Europe, fille d’Agénor et de Téléphassa, est une jeune fille de grande beauté. La beauté de l’Europe politique est une construction dans le temps. Qu’en sera-t-il en 2030 ? Née le 7 février 1992, lors de la signature du traité sur l’Union européenne à Maastricht par les douze États membres de la CEE, l’Europe ne cesse d’évoluer et de se transformer. Etape par étape, le traité de Maastricht (1992), le traité d’Amsterdam (1997) ou encore le traité de Nice (2000) sont des étapes majeures de sa transformation. Dans les vingt prochaines années, cette structure supranationale hybride empreinte à la fois de fédéralisme et d’intergouvernementalisme va évoluer. Elle sera nécessairement différente de la CEE de 1948. Cette union intergouvernementale et supranationale est actuellement composée de 27 États. L’Europe, en tant que Sui Generis, est une construction sans précèdent dans l’histoire. Son succès peut être noté du point de vue économique et monétaire : l’euro a résisté à la crise et évité de vivre une catastrophique dévaluation ou une crise de l’emploi pire que celles que nous connaissons actuellement. Les conséquences de l’européanisation ont un impact sur l’identité européenne, l’économie, l’action, la théorie, l’unité et la multitude. L’Europe a réussi à mener à bien un projet mêlant diversité et unité : le point de l’identité européenne n’est qu’une question de temps. Les défis de demain sont nombreux : l’identité nationale ne doit pas être remise en cause par l’Europe, le projet identitaire doit avoir une légitimité, les européens doivent se sentir plus liés et l’Europe doit avoir un unique plan plutôt que des opinions nationales divergentes.

Certes, l’Europe fait actuellement face à certaines situations difficiles telles que des problèmes économiques relatifs à la trop faible croissance ou au chômage, une commission qui est actuellement plus dévouée à la dérégulation qu’à la construction d’une Europe sociale, une présidence en Grande Bretagne qui ne suit pas l’ambition européenne ou encore l’impasse du traité constitutionnel. Mais l’Europe, c’est aussi une vision, un projet de société, des valeurs humanistes, c’est tirer profit de la diversité plutôt que de ne la voir comme un frein. Si l’on s’intéresse à la personnalité juridique, actuellement, il s’agit d’une organisation qui combine le niveau supranational et le niveau intergouvernemental, sur un champ géographique restreint mais avec un rôle politique propre et un pouvoir de contrainte sur ses membres plus importants. L’Européanisation est synonyme d’intensification du processus démocratique au delà des frontières des états. La politique domestique ne peut plus être séparée des exigences internationales dans un monde d’interdépendance. Il est possible que d’ici vingt ans, l’Europe atteigne un stade où le nombre de transfert de compétences rendra la souveraineté nationale moins pertinente. Une des questions majeures dans un futur proche touchera les questions de démocratisation, d’identité et d’intégration européenne.

Les enjeux de l’Europe de demain s’exprimeront à travers l’Union Européenne. L’Europe tend vers une configuration socio-politique d’un nouveau genre où les élites nationales et les gouvernements des états, et les bureaucrates renoncent à une partie de leur pouvoir au profit d’une entité plus puissante. Être citoyen n’est plus nécessairement lié à un état : on peut se sentir également citoyen européen. plus particulièrement, la mondialisation permet de se confronter au regard de l’autre et d’être perçus sur un autre continent comme une personne dite “européenne”. Cela montre l’unité vers laquelle nous tendons. Alors que la notion de citoyenneté est en train d’évoluer, la question des droits des minorités doit être posées, en l’occurence l’appartenence nationale. L’exemple de l’ex-Yougoslavie et de la Russie montrent à quel point il pourrait être dangereux de gommer les identités nationales au profit d’une identité européenne. La question de l’élargissement de l’Europe à la Turquie est un leitmotiv sur la scène publique. Il n’est pas nécessairement envisageable que cette hypothèse devienne réalité. D’une part, le gouvernement turc le souhaite mais pas tous les citoyens. D’autre part, beaucoup d’Européens ne souhaitent pas accueillir un pays grand, avec une forte démographie et une économie bien solide. Dans les prochaines années, l’Europe devra régler ce type de questions. Le socle commun, la clé de voûte doit donc être construite avec raison. Cette Europe n’est pas nécessairement construite par un patchwork de différentes nationalités, à l’inverse ce sont les gens qui construisent mutuellement cette métareflexivité en rapport aux autres et au monde. L’européanisation passe par plusieurs étapes. Le polyglotisme européen est parfois vu comme un problème car de nombreux interprètes et traducteurs sont sollicités au sein des organes politiques de l’Union. Au contraire, il faut voir cette diversité comme une atout, considérant qu’une autre langue, c’est aussi une manière différente d’envisager un problème, du fait même de la structure mentale impliquée. Utiliser uniquement l’anglais au parlement par exemple pourrait avoir comme conséquence de créer un ghetto linguistique où juste une élite pourrait participer aux débats, rappelant l’élitisme du latinisme par le passé. De plus, l’anglais qui est une langue de référence actuellement ne le sera peut-être plus dans les prochaines années, considérant l’émergence de nouvelles puissances. Le problème reste malgré tout que certaines langues telles que le catalan, même s’il s’agit de la dixième langue la plus parlée en Europe n’est pas reconnue officiellement dans les institutions européennes. Pourtant l’hypothèse Sapir Whorf montre que nous avons tout à gagner au multilinguisme puisque le langage reflète une compréhension particulière et unique culturellement, du monde.

La question de l’Europe des vingt prochaines années soulève le cas de la protection, au sens large. l’Europe garantit l’identité de chacun, culture langues doivent être protégés et mis en valeur. L’identité de l’Europe est construite de l’intérieur mais également par les influences extérieures. Le multiculturalisme est une force pour peu que l’on s’attache à unir et unifier tout en préservant les différentes identités. Chacun se doit avoir vis à vis de l’Europe une exigence sociale, civique et écologique. ces dernières doivent être défendues. Des pays qui s’influencent les un les autres : prendre exemple des pays nordiques sur leur politique équité parité genre et travail. L’Union Européenne doit travailler pour devenir plus légitime. Une identité européenne devra être créer afin d’avoir toujours la possibilité de jouer le rôle d’acteur au plan international. Le processus accéléré d’intégration a rendu difficile le travail sur l’identité, d’autant plus que chaque pays tiens à conserver la sienne. Mais identités peuvent être combinées, comme le théorise Habermas ou même le marketing avec le concept d’identité parapluie.

Concernant le pouvoir économique, la concurrence doit devenir équitable au sein de l’Europe et les pays doivent être aidés pour atteindre ces standards. L’Europe doit promouvoir la coopération plutôt que la compétition au sein des pays membres. l’harmonisation plutôt que le dumping. Un impôt unique sur les transactions boursières en Europe pour financer des projets européens tels que l’éducation et la recherche. Un SMIC européen pourrait également être crée. L’Union européenne a fonctionné pour l’Europe mais peut être qu’il n’en serait pas de même ailleurs dans le monde. L’Europe est un modèle mais il faut garder que tout comme certains pays ont été des échecs, certaines organisations peuvent m’être aussi. Espace et temps doivent être pris en considération. Les choses ont changé et si l’Europe devait être recréée aujourd’huin elle serait sûrement différente. Néanmoins, les organisations internationales de ce type semblent être une réponse à la mondialisation et permettent aux plus petits pays de gérer une plus grande compétition des grands pays, via les alliances. La monnaie unique, tout en préservant les identités nationales a permis une nouvelle naissance de l’Europe. L’adoption de l’Euro a été une étape majeure. Ce modèle économique a inspiré d’autres organisations internationales telles qu’ECOWAS en Afrique et dans les prochaines années, d’autres pays adopteront probablement également une monnaie commune. Bien qu’elle soit plus organisée et plus réglée que d’autres endroits du monde; maintenant il faut travailler à une union monétaire plus commune, plus intégrée. L’Union Européenne peut être à l’initiative d’une nouvelle régulation mondiale comme cela a été montré au G20. Le tourisme en Europe et plus particulièrement le tourisme culturel nécessitera dans le futur une grande attention. Il s’agit d’un agent majeur en matière de changement social et économique. De nombreux touristes sont attirés par la richesse historique et culturelle de l’Europe. Mais l’Union devra légiférer dans le futur pour contrôler les dérives du narcotourisme ou du tourisme médical, générateurs d’anxiété.

L’Europe de demain devra être une Europe plus active, plus protectrice, avec un véritable pouvoir économique. Il est nécessaire de se pencher activement sur la question du vote et de la représentation des citoyens européennes au Parlement. Les élections européennes sont extrêmement importantes puisque beaucoup de lois que les Etats implémentent ont comme source l’Europe. Il faut donc réhabiliter ses élections et faire que politiques médias et citoyens se sentent impliqués et concernés dans la campagne. Les élections européennes ne se jouent pas sur une opposition gauche droite ou sur des débats nationaux; au contraire elles ont une portée globale. L’échec de la ratification du traité constitutionnel doit être vu comme un épisode révélant la nécessaire réforme des institutions européennes. Il faudrait une réforme des institutions où un vote à la majorité suffit. La Convention a d’ailleurs proposé dans son projet de redéfinir ainsi la majorité qualifiée de cette manière : “la majorité qualifiée requise est constituée des deux tiers des États membres, représentant au moins les trois cinquièmes de la population de l’Union” (art. 24-2). Des institutions réformées permettraient d’éviter des moments embarrassants telles que le revirement de situation avec la convention sur l’avenir de l’Europe, quand Le Conseil européen, le 23 juin 2007 à Lisbonne, a mandaté une conférence inter-gouvernementale afin d’adopter avant 2009 le traité de Lisbonne. L’avantage des négociations intergouvernementales est la relative rapidité par rapport au vote avec ratification qui ralentit le processus. L’Europe n’est pas celle des bureaucrates de Bruxelles, elle doit être celle de tout un chacun. Il est nécessaire de construire une identité européennes si l’on souhaite renforcer le pouvoir politique de l’Union. Les citoyens doivent avoir la possibilité d’être informés sur les actions qui vont être entreprises et dans un second temps la manière dont elles ont été menées. Ils doivent être en mesure d’être représentés au parlement. Les délibérations doivent être rendues publiques, comme cela se fait pour l’assemblée nationale en France. Bien évidemment, le rôle de l’éducation est fondamental et des projets pédagogiques devront accompagner chaque le projet politique.

Des experts et observateurs peuvent avoir un rôle crucial dans le processus décisionnel. Il est également souhaitable que les organisations non gouvernementales et les organisations internationales telles que l’Europe travaillent mains dans la main pour solutionner les questions de santé, d’énergie où d’aide alimentaire dans le reste du monde. La question des immigrés politiques, économiques ou même climatiques devrait par exemple être adressée de manière Européenne. La questions de la sécurité et du respect des droits de L’Homme devrait être adressée par l’Europe travaillant avec, et non pas contre, des organisations telles que l’OTAN. Chacun a sa force. Par exemple là où l’OTAN est efficace sur le point militaire, l’Europe est efficace sur le plan de l’administration. Il faudra travailler à l’avenir à une sécurité européenne forte, similaire au conseil de sécurité des nations unies. L’ordre mondial de demain n’est ni à chercher du côté de l’anarchie internationales, ni de l’hégémonie mondiale, ni de l’état monde mais plutôt la gouvernance mondiale. Ainsi, l’Europe a et aura dans le futur un rôle important dans l’arène internationale. La vision institutionaliste des relations internationales et une école qui aide à comprendre quels liens entretiennent les institutions : elle est relativement pertinente pour analyser la probable situations mondiale, plutôt que réaliste ou idéaliste. Les pays ont tout intérêt à coopérer ensemble, au sein de l’Europe, afin de servir leurs intérêts. Travailler ensemble provoque une synergie, une valeur ajoutée utile pour gérer des problèmes globaux.

Avec la mondialisation, il est et il sera de plus en plus facile de voyager, et à bas prix, harmonisant temps et distance. La notion “d’étranger”, de “barbare”, risque de devenir floue, révélant du passage du salad mix au melting pot. Des programmes tels qu’Erasmus ou Socrates participent à l’échange d’idées en impliquant directement les jeunes. L’Europe devra par exemple dans le futur jouer un plus grand rôle vis à vis de la question du genre. Légiférer avec harmonie sur la pilule, l’avortement, le mariage homosexuel ou même la pornographie sont des points importants. La question de la prostitution devra aussi être harmonisée : aux Pays-Bas par exemple, les gérants des maisons closes sont tenus garants de la santé de leurs employées. Le modèle reproductif hétérosexuel normé qui est actuellement un idéal ne le sera plus dans un futur proche. Couples monoparentaux, homosexuels ou d’autres formes de familles sont en train d’apparaître. La société devra en tenir compte et un mariage homosexuel aux Pays-Bas devrait être reconnu en France, en tout cas il s’agit d’un des challenges des prochaines années. Le sport symbolise l’Europe en mouvement. Différents groupes luttent à ce propos pour leur propre intérêt, généralement économique. Le football, alliant compétition et coopération est une métaphore intéressant du chemin qu’est en train d’emprunter l’Europe. On peut se demander si le concept d’une unique équipe de football européenne serait possible. La télévision transnationale européenne, régulant la diffusion permet à tous les européens de visionner les grands événements sportifs. Mais ces régularisations peuvent aller plus loin. Par exemple, un système de quotas de programme européen à diffuser permettrait de préserver la culture européenne et d’éviter la dallassification de la culture.

Perpétuer la nation ou réinventer le vivre ensemble sont les questions que l’Europe devra se poser dans les vingt prochaines années. La construction d’une identité européenne sera un des défis majeurs de demain afin de créer un socle commun, tout en préservant les identités nationales. Politique économique et politique d’intégration doivent aller de paire. La culture doit servir de liant entre les différentes nations qui parfois divergent dans leur vision de l’Europe. Actuellement l’Union Européenne est vue comme une menace pour le Royaume-Uni, une nécessité pour l’Allemagne et une chance pour l’Espagne. Malgré ces différentes positions, les pays ont tout à gagner à construire ensemble l’Europe de demain pour que résonne mélodieusement l’ode à la joie dans les oreilles de nos enfants. L’Europe plus qu’un symbole doit devenir une réalité.

Foreword: My experience as an exchange student in the Netherlands has literally left its mark on my body through naturism. I discovered it by accident at the swimming-pool one Saturday morning. This day, I had a swimsuit in my bag like a “textile” that I used to be. But I ignored that I popped in at the schedule reserved for naturist people. I did not know that in the following weeks, I will start an unexpected intellectual journey, challenging my thoughts. I have been changed by my experiences at Overbosch the naturist pool, Vitalizee the sauna, Fuutlaan the naturist beach and Gravingen the naturist club. The first time, I was a bit shy, hiding my face with my swimming goggles since I believed like a child that if I was not able to see other people, they would not be able to see me. But soon I realized that no one was actually undressing me with their eyes since I was already undressed. In the following week, I felt that deconstructing my prejudices helped me to construct in the nude a new self, mens sana in corpore sano. This paper is the opportunity for me to share the findings of a research that I started thanks to the help of Bart Wijnberg, President Emeritus of the International Naturist Federation (INF). He supported me a lot in my reflection by introducing me to places where I would never have had the opportunity to go alone. Also he lent me more than four kilograms of books to help me to understand more the philosophy of naturism and I would like to thank him for that.

Gymnity has a material, psychological and social value. It promotes liberation of body and spirit, it can be seen as a result for women as a feminist practice. Challenging the corset war, the experience of naturism leads to a sensitive torpor. Without clothes, epidermic sensations stimulate women to rediscover their body, like a corporeal therapy. Regression or refinement, Eve’s outfit is considered as shameful nudity by some the Victorian inspired moralists or as true body freedom by some benevolent humanists. But nudity is not the issue whereas our perception of it is. Social nudity is non-sexual: nude is not lewd. The sexualized conception of nudity and modesty is ingrained and it has inspired Merejkosky who wrote in 1919 that women naturally chosen to hide their genitals in order to discourage men, especially from their families to have sex with them (Bologne, 1997, p.14). The breast and the penis have dominated the Freudian map of the mind and according to the psychoanalyst, breast-feeding is “the starting point of the whole sexual life” (Yalom, 1997, p.148) which shapes our current sexual representation of the body. The issue is more related to the humanization of the body that transcends the state of organic nature (Guindon,1997, p.147). Once this new freedom born of nature has been found, women can experience liberation, enjoyment and serenity. Interaction between people as well as the interaction between the body and the environment are challenged. Nevertheless, a gender gap is often noticed in naturist environments: 90% of the naturists are men (Varet, 1989, p.103). Individuals who practice this activity may define it differently but “naturism” is framed by the INF (International Naturist Federation) as a lifestyle in harmony with nature, expressed through social nudity, and characterized by self-respect of people with different opinions. It can take different forms and is acceptable within a specific context, indoors or outdoors: personal and family naturism, social naturism, naturist beaches, skinny dipping, nude snorkeling, nude diving, canuding, free hiking, free riding, naked yoga, sauna and so on. Women can practice naturism alone, in couple, while being pregnant or with their family as long as the environment is safe and healthy. Naturism might promote equality between genders since the traditional indifference toward female well-being is broken (Shorter, 1984, quoted in Kaufmann, 1998, p.51). Our society has to cope with the heritage of the Victorian regime where a series of prohibitions were brought to bear on the body of individuals, and especially women, surrounded by a culture of the alienated body and burdened by centuries of patriarchy. Breaking the body taboo requires courage, trust and independence of thought and despite the sexual revolution, the complex social conditioning-culturally embedded since childhood and doggedly persistent has to be overcome. Women tend to be more wary than men of clothing optional venues since for some of them it creates psychological tension. The fiendish punishment of the women is that she is an invisible victim. The way our culture deals with women’s body is an interesting reflection of culture itself that should be studied. The female naked body has to be analyzed since it provides essential keys to understand the position of women in society. It is important to wonder how naked women are usually depicted, why so few women practice naturism – vide supra, what can be the benefits of naturism for both genders and why the re-appropriation of women’s body is a crucial issue. Naturism is for women a bloom tool, both from a sociological and psychological perspective. Sociologically, family, age, equality, fraternity and pacifism are reinvested. Psychologically, sobriety, liberation, simplicity, rehabilitation, reconciliation, unification, truth, being, openness, sincerity, frankness, innocence, joy and reinsertion are reconsidered.

Modernity is characterized by the development of prudishness and negation of the body although history puts evidence that it has not always been the case. The Greek Olympic games used to be male and nude events and it is interested interesting to point out that the word “gymnastics” comes from “gymnos” (naked). The Digambar, belonging to an indian religion close to gymnosophy, remain naked though generally it is practiced by males. Nudity has a lot of positive virtues: according to Koch (1924), it can help to free the people from authority fixated conditioning which held proletarians in deference of their masters that are parental authority, paternalism of the church, the mass media and organs of law and order. Against body guilt, body objectification and body commodification, naturism that he saw as a means to eliminate them and encourage openness and end the repression of the human spirit. Women who are confronted to an imagery of a so-call perfect female body live sometimes with a feeling of deficiency or shame through social alienation and obscurantism when they think that it does not match this ideal. Modesty is a fear caused by a precise threat of anxiety that is the result of the fear to see the body judged. Phallocentric culture alienates women from their body. Women are determined by the manner in which their body and her cosmic links are modified through the action of others than themselves. A lot would not dare to practice naturism because they would be afraid to suffer from the pangs of social stigma. A significant number of women feel inferior because they think themselves as such and they envisage their body from the standpoint of a tradition of slavery and shame leading sometimes to narcissistic preoccupations. Normative femininity can be challenged by subversion and resistance. Descamps, (1987, p.180) reports the works of Maslow (1965) and Jourard (1964) developing the idea that naturism can provide a psychotherapy. From a psychoanalytic standpoint it could even promote a better ad-equation between body image and body schema (Descamps,1987, p.181). Kaufmann (1996) has studied the body of women linked to glance of men and also women since it is supposed to be less coercive and more acceptable, designing a sociology of bare breast. According to him, tanning topless on the seaside might be ruled by a secret language of segregation even if it seems to be a picture of liberty and tolerance (Kaufmann,  1998, p.103). Women who do not have a nice bosom do not have this practice or lie on their stomach to hide it, which is a shame, succumbing to the culture of the glance and the heritage of the Judeo-Christian moral tradition. Embodying the social order, the genderization of perception leads to a practice of localization that reproduces the structural principles of society: men versus women. Stout (2009) explains that “the mutual vulnerability of having nothing to hide somehow balances the power equation between sexes, and universal body acceptance facilitates a comfortable self acceptance”. Clothes differentiate within the body the areas offered to the other and since some parts are forbidden it creates an attitude of mistrust (Descamps, 1987, p.65). Without anything to hide, one can rebuild trust, genuineness and sincerity. Personal reconciliation has some repercussions on people around (Descamps, 1987, p.63). It promotes communication across gender, generational and genetic differences. A lot of women explain that they feel safer naked in a naturist environment rather than dressed in the street (Descamps, 1987, p.68). The experienced comfort can be reinvested elsewhere (Kaufmann, 1998, p.53). Despite of differences in age, body shape, fitness, and health, a lot of women who practice naturism feel more accepted for their entire being. “Body acceptance is the idea, nude recreation is the way” (TNS, 2005). Unity with humanity becomes more obvious with less regard to a person’s wealth, position, nationality, race, and sex. But obviously, posture, color of skin or language cannot disappear only by the simple action of undressing (Guillain, 1998, p.99). Nudity can still be seen as a political statement: in the Netherlands, the Naastenliefde, vrijheid en diversiteit party supports the idea to pass legislation to make public non-sexual nudity legal everywhere.

It is important to correct common misconceptions about social nudity and to promote the virtues and unexpected insights that it can provide. Naturism is not naturalism, exhibitionism, nudism or sexual tourism. Naturism is not nudity per se (Varet, 1989, p.79). It is a liberating practice that promotes both for women and men positive values such as hygiene, health, sport and even sometimes vegetarianism. “I did not feel violated; rather, I felt liberated from the repressive thinking that the body is an object that must continually be kept hidden from anybody other than one’s spouse or lover” confesses a convert girl who found in other female naturists some role models (Siruno and Toledano, 2006, p.27). It leads to relaxation, stress relief, positive body image, body acceptance and self esteem. Women are more self conscious of their body. This channel is a way to feed spiritual life, to fulfill the need for self-realization. In their every-day-life, women are encouraged to evade human growth in the name of femininity, to wear corset, rags of shame. It is about ethic as well as aesthetic, it promotes an existential euphony established on the model of a piece of art (Kaufmann,1998, p.148). Against gymnophobia and the puritan conception of body expressed with some artifacts such as tattoos or piercing, naturism proposes to get closer to a natural body. It redefines the notions of beauty and celebrates the naked body, as it is presented in several paintings and statues. Emancipated women have more chance to achieve a satisfying life. Naturism helps to understand social mutations. The fear of corruption of the individual body reflects more globally the fear of corruption of the social body. It redefines women’s perception about their body and the body of others. Nudity is not seen as negative but on the contrary as positive since it helps women to get close to their flesh that they usually hide. Being naked helps women to reconsider how to consider and to deal with issues such as shaving, menstruations, shape and so on. To shave or not to shave is one of the elements of a complex corporeal rhetoric (Urbain, 1994, p.316). Hairs can be seen as a cloth sub specie naturae apt to hide the body (Guindon, 1997, p.142). But the male gaze and especially porn movies tend to recreate a hairless aesthetic. Naturist women can escape the social constraint in the name of a legitimate bloom, far from the distortion of the dirty and sinful body. Women have to defend themselves, to emerge into the light of transcendence and the battle of sexes is not directly implied in anatomy of people. The liberation struggle and the struggle to defend the female body are closely linked and what is sometimes considered as women’s weakness is actually their strength. Identity is reconstructed in the light of a new personal insight and a benevolent vision of others. The body is a gift to be loved, appreciated and respected. The attitude women have towards the body somehow defines women themselves.

From a pragmatic point of view, all over the world, there is a large network of people practicing naturism such as the INF or the TNS (The Naturist Society). Also, many organizations, landed site directories and societies can provide more information about the topic. In art, the naked women imagery is quite rich. Hans Baldung is probably one of the best examples of a painter who depicted women linked to the notions of vice, seductive sexuality and even death (Guindon,1997, p.169). On the opposite Cézanne’s bathers or Manet’s Lunch on the grass provide a far more positive image of the naked woman. Bonnard and Sluijters depicted some women after the bath, Botero and Picasso some naked women reading. Judy Chicago with her “Dinner Party” allowed vulvic imagery to stand for common, with a disturbing essentialism toward Freudian misogynistic assumptions. Many feminist artists give interesting clues: Carolee Schneeman and her “Interior Scroll”, Cindy Sherman with “#228” who expresses men’s castration anxiety or Barbara Kruger with an untitled poster who writes “your gaze hits the side of my face”. Art is an interesting medium to gather more information about the naked woman. More theoretically, sociology of the body that studies the representations and social uses of the human body in modern societies. Naturism has as well its own thinkers: the Pudor’s Nacktkultur (1907), Doctor Carton’s healthy way of life philosophy (1922) or Koch’s Körperschülen (1932). Post-modern feminism provides as well keys to understand the female masquerade, the feminine stereotype and the gendered viewer to challenge the male’s gaze. Foucault (1976) locates the body in a political field and sees it as a central component in the operation of power relations. He created the concept of bio-power that is the practice of modern states and their regulation of their subjects through an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations. The control of women’s body is achieved by putting force to keep them dissatisfied with themselves. Simone de Beauvoir (1952, p.756) admits that “the males find in woman more complicity than the oppressor usually finds in the oppressed”. But where there is power, there is resistance. Naturism is a cultural practice that transcends the female body. Unfortunately, only a few have experimented this lifestyle since laws, institutions, public opinion, customs and the whole social context are not equal yet for men and women. Taylor Allen (2008) states that “despite all the progress that they have made, the women of the twentieth century did not advance into a utopia of equality and justice, and the struggle for gender equality must continue”. The naked truth is that women’s liberation brings with it men’s liberation. A human equality brought by naturism might be utopian idea but it is still an occasion and a symbol. But a happening such as Woodstock is an inspiring example of nudity serving solidarity, fraternity and harmonious behavior toward the body, the environment and the so-called other. Descamps (1987, p.69) summarized with brio that through naturism, a triple reinsertion occurs: from physic to psychic, from psychosomatic to social and from social to natural.

References:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am a woman, I am 23 years old and I am a French exchange student at The Hague University. I am very interested in interculturality. My mother is Polish and my father is French. My first experience about living in a multicultural environment was last year when I was studying in Scotland, surrounded by a wide range of nationalities. I really like sharing experiences and feelings with people from another culture. But sometimes, some misunderstanding can lead to minsinterpretation and miscommunication. For instance,  proximity between students and teachers is not the same depending of the country. It is by understanding it that we can cope better with it. I find the subject of  “proximity in multicultural classes” particularly interesting because when I was in Scotland, I was really surprised to see that some students were using “Hi + nickname” to greet the teacher. That would be impossible in France. One of my Chinese friend told me that in her country, when you give a homework to a teacher, it is better to use both hands and to avoid eye contact. I find fascinating the way proximity can vary from a culture to another and I think that each of us should learn more about this issue when living in a multicultural environment.

INTRODUCTION
Living in a multicultural environment is not that easy even if Mc Luhan’s expression of “global village” could presume that time and space compression have been totally achieved. Cultural differences remain and they can become important issue when they lead to misunderstanding. The benefits of intercultural communication are “healthier communities, increased commerce, reduced conflicts and personal growth through tolerance” (Neuliep, 2006) but communication is sometimes made more difficult. Power distance, physical contact or etiquette can cause noise in an intercultural context. Intercultural communication has to be motivated, knowledgeable, skilled and sensitive. In this essay, it will be wondered how proximity is experienced within teachers and students in a multicultural class. Several sub-topics will help to answer the problematic: How does a culture influence proximity and power distance? What are the main proximity differences within international students and teachers? What are the main misinterpretations that can occur? How should people deal with proximity to avoid cultural clash? Different issues will be taken into consideration: proximity and power, individualistic and collectivistic cultures, low contact and high contact cultures, proxemics and power distance. This will be the basis of some recommendations on how to become intercultural.

PROXIMITY AND POWER
Proximity is the distance between two points. Applied to intercultural communication, it is one criteria for the classification of nonverbal communication. It occurs through body gestures, touch, space, physical appearance, vocalics, olfactory system and chronemics. These subcodes have different functions such as identification and self-presentation, control of the interaction, relationship of interactants, display of cognitive information, display of effective information and display of deception. When it comes to studying proximity, it is necessary to be aware of different aspects of non verbal communication: paralinguistic clues (how someone looks, gestures or adopts a particular tone of voice), proxemics (the study of spatial distances between speakers in different cultures and situations), haptics (the study of the sense of touch applied to communication), oculesics (the study of eye contact),  olfactifs (the study of body smell) or even silence and turn taking (how the interaction is dealt with). Proximity and power distance are two notions closely linked. Hofstede (quoted in Neuliep, p.76) explains that “power distance” is “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country, expect and accept that power is distributed unequally”. In 1985, Wubbels, Créton have Hooymayers elaborated a “Model for Interpersonal Teacher Behavior” (see: Appendix, Figure 1). In this model, teaching is described in term of proximity (cooperation or opposition) and influence (dominance or submission). This theoretical framework is a good starting point to analyze power relations within a classroom. But it becomes even more interesting when it comes to a multicultural environment including different kind of people, from individualistic to collectivistic cultures.

INDIVIDUALISTIC AND COLLECTIVISTIC CULTURES
Dimensions of cultural variability and barriers have to be considered since individualist and collective cultures shape people differently. Individualism is “the opposite of collectivism; together they form on of the dimensions of national cultures. Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family only”. Collectivism “stands for a society in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty” (Hofstede, 1994, p.261). Proximity does not obey global rules. Territoriality, Contact, interpersonal distance, touch, sensory involvement differ from a culture to an other one. Kluckhohn and Strodbeck have theorized value orientations: relations with other people depends on the culture (individualistic or collectivist), the power distance (hierarchical or democratic), they are neutral or convey emotion. High-context communication often corresponds with communitarian settings, while low-context communication often occurs in individualist settings. In high-context cultures, silence is more valued because it means mutual understanding.  Neuliep (2006, p.51) explains the consequences of individualism versus collectivism on a communication level: in the US, it is said that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” while in Japan, “the tallest nail gets hammered down”. Culture-specific face and face maintenance has an impact on negotiation outcomes. In China (collectivistic, interdependent-self, and high-context culture) it is is presumed to manifest other-oriented and mutual face concerns, and remedial strategies, like avoidance and hinting in face-threatening situations. On the opposite, in America (individualistic, independent-self, and low-context culture) it is assumed to show concern for self-face and to enact self-face related remedial strategies like aggression or clarification. Gudykunst and Kim (2003, p.78) give an interesting example of the dimension of role expectation depending of the culture. In the USA, there is some degree of hierarchy between students and teachers but not as much as in Asia where students are expected to take notes without challenging what the teacher says. They take the case of an American student in China, asking a question to the teacher who does not answer. If an asiatic teacher avoids  answering a question and advices the student to find the answer in a book, he might look unhelpful and lacking of knowledges from an American point of view. But the teacher may on the other hand perceive the student as a trouble maker because he should not talk during the class.

HIGH CONTACT AND LOW CONTACT CULTURES
Gudykunst and Kim (2003, p.253) explain that “close” and “far” mean different things depending of the culture: a high-contact culture will consider more closeness as something positive. People from a low contact culture tend to avoid eye contact. In South Korea it means “I will not attack you”, it is a mark of respect from the student to the teacher. But it can be interpreted as rude, aggressive, disrespectful, or flirtatious, if someone does not maintain eye contact, depending on the culture. Sensory involvement such as smell or touch is preferred by high contact cultures. Mehrabian (1971) defines “immediacy” as “the evaluative dimension of meaning, and it involves judgments of close-far, positive-negative, and good-bad” all these things are used to indicate psychological closeness to others. Immediacy is associated with: close conversational distance, direct body orientation, forward lean, direct gaze, positive facial reinforcers, postural openness, frequent gesturing and touch. The way people interpret a message is a knowledge and this “message about the message” is called metamessage.

PROXEMICS

Space
Proxemics reveals that people handle space differently, depending on the type of culture they come from. If personal space is violated, people from individualistic cultures may react actively while people from collectivist culture may adopt a passive stance. It is crucial for students to understand more about how physical space is dealt with in different cultures if they do not want to experience feelings of exclusion for instance. A Moroccan student in Japan would have to adapt his behavior otherwise he might be labelled as “weird”, “homosexual” or “abuser”. Knowing some proxemics cues is important to increase peoples’ comprehension and expression. Personal space is the space surrounding a person into which intruders may not come. This space is different according to the culture. In a classroom, when personal space is violated, people can react with shift of postures, attempts to move away or defensive gestures. Hall (1959) has defined three types of space: fixed-feature, semi-fixed feature and informal (see: Appendix, Figure 2). The space configuration of the classroom can be described in terms of fixed-feature. The use of the classroom space influences the way students talk, behave, feel and work.

Distance
Hall distinguishes four types of informal distances: public (with unknown people), social-consultative (professional and unofficial social occasions), personal (between friends) and intimate distance (with close relationships). Southern European cultures are known to appreciate relatively close personal space compared to Northern European cultures. Once again, each culture has its body boundaries and the space bubble or body language can be misinterpreted. Axtell (1997, p.40) classifies cultures as follow: “high contact” are touching cultures (Middle East, Latin American, Greece,…), “moderate contact” are middle ground (France, China, Ireland,…) and “low contact” do not touch (Japan, US, England,…). Students and teachers need to be sensitive to these differences since a body gesture can appear personal or intimate depending on the culture of the person.

Territory
Territory refers to any socio-graphical area that someone consistently defends against conspecifics. People tend to protect their territory against. territory invasion. Territoriality (Attman and Chemers, quoted in Gudykunst and Kim, 2003, p.254). Territorial behavior involves control or ownership of a place or object on a temporary or permanent basis. Within the primary, secondary and public territory, the attitude provides identity and status. One can distinguish public territories, home territories, interaction territories (the classroom) and body-territories. Students usually unconsciously choose a territory by sitting all the time at the same place. If someone sits at a place where he usually does not sit, a problem may arise: seating rules are strong enough that they represent social norms and it can be considered deviant to violate them. The territory of the teacher depends of the kind of class and the culture. In the Netherlands, during lectures, the teacher sits in front of students, sometimes on a platform. During seminars, it can happen that the teacher will sit with the students, in a circle. In a classroom or during a meeting, the place where people sit reveals a bit of their function: boss, middleman, side-liner, opponent or outsider. Proxemics give some clues on how much power each person have.

POWER DISTANCE
Power distance refers to the degree of hierarchy and the way organigrams are set-up. Power distance affects verbal and non verbal communication. People from individualistic cultures tend to have a small power distance whereas people from collectivist cultures have a bigger one (see: Appendix, Figure 3). Gudykunst and Kim (2003, p.83) show that intimacy of in-group relationships is rated 5.72/10 in United States and 3.34/10 in Japan. In Asia, when people bow round to salute each other, the way they do it gives clues about their social rank. People from high-power distance cultures accept power as part of society and are more submissive like in Mexico or Brazil. On the opposite, the Netherlands, Sweden or Germany are small power distance cultures. Gudykunst and Kim (2003, p.77) explain that “the formality of student-teacher relationships in some cultures is summarized aptly by and Egyptian proverb: “whoever teaches me a letter, I should become a slave to him forever”. Depending of the culture, power is distributed differently. For instance, in the Netherlands, there is a two way stream model: both teachers and students can talk and quite often, student sit in circle to make exchanges easier. Even if things are changing, the French model tend to have a teacher, sitting in front of the students, a bit upper and making the lecture. Students can talk but they need to raise their hand and what they have to say must be “more important than silence”. In China, students are not supposed to talk or it could be perceived as something rude, disturbing the class. Students and teachers have to be aware of these aspects in order to live in harmony with each other.

BECOMING INTERCULTURAL
According to Adler (2007, p.84) there are different sources of cross-cultural misinterpretations including subconscious, cultural “blinders”, a lack of cultural self-awareness, projected similarities and parochialism. It has been shown that that students perceive teachers in multicultural classes higher on the “influence” and “proximity” dimensions than students in monocultural classes (Houwen 2006). It is important to understand these mechanisms since an attitude leads to an emotional, cognitive and behavioral response from the other party. In international groups, both students and teachers have to adapt their way of thinking and to shift to an intercultural behavior. Some recommendations can help teachers and students to understand more each other and to improve their relations. According to Bennett, there are different attitudes toward cultural differences: denial, defense, minimization (ethnocentrism), acceptance, adaptation, integration (ethnorelativism). It is important for students and teachers to know their own culture in order to understand how to deal with some issues involving people from other cultures. Different behavior can help to accelerate the process: adaptation, education, getting rid of stereotypes ethnocentrism and prejudices, being mindful,  changing our expectations of strangers, changing in attitude toward the group as a whole, switch code, interpersonal synchronization and to finish personal and social communication. Proximity can be a tool used to well-manage classroom and decrease problems. Joule and Beauvois (2002) explain that teachers who touches their students tend to make them more cooperate. Touching people is even on a wider perspective a good way to obtain things from them. The two researchers did the following experience: they left some money in a phone box, let someone taking it and then said to the person that they forgot some money inside. Without touching the person, 63% gave the money back. When body contact is involved, they were 93% to give it back. Touching increases scholar performances, creates a positive attitude in the class room and reduces the stress of people. Of course, there are some limits: it is socially acceptable to put one hand on the shoulder of a student but more could be seen as inappropriate. In a multicultural, the teacher should move a lot, circulating around the room to make students more engaged and involved. Interactive with and monitoring students is a must. And it provides a good feedback to the teacher who can adapt his or her behavior. Students are more aware of the teacher’s presence and it keeps students more on their task, especially if the route is unpredictable. A sense of order is naturally preferable to an oppressive supervision. Each teacher is free to pick-up his or her favorite posture toward students: the expert and the greens, the guide and the actors, the conductor and the performers or the reader and the clarifier. To sum up, reading, interviewing fellow students, observing, taking parts in role plays can be good opportunities for students to learn more on how to deal with proximity.

CONCLUSION
Living in a multicultural environment requires an adjustable behavior since a communicational conflict can occur when people do not understand each other. This essay have shown how proximity is experiences within teachers and students in a multicultural class by focusing on proximity and power, individualist and collectivist cultures, low contact and high contact cultures, proxemics and power distance. Recommendations and answers to the questions came from the research. It has been shown that culture influences the way people behave and more specifically proximity and power distance. People from high-contact culture will touch each other a lot and people from individualistic culture will dare to challenge power, especially the power of the teacher, since their position does not have any repercussion on the whole community. In places where power distance is small, this behavior is usually acceptable. In a multicultural class, space, distance and territory are not experienced the same way by each actor. Some students might appear cold and uninterested by their lack of eye contact while in fact it means that they show respect to the teacher.  Similarly, depending of the country, greeting a teacher can be very formal or more informal. Culture programs the mind of people but it is important to avoid ethnocentrism in order to live harmoniously. One’s body belongs to oneself so it is important to deal with proximity in a way that people are not hurt. Getting to know each other leads to a better understanding.  It is necessary to become more culturally aware, more sensitive to other cultures and more skillful in intercultural communication. The right balance have to be found, following the norms of respect but avoiding to create an aseptic world. Fighting haptephobia is probably the right things to do to make the classroom an pleasant place to be and to learn.

APPENDIX
Figure 1. The model for interpersonal teacher behavior
Retrieved Apr. 2, 2009, from Web site:  HYPERLINK “http://www.fed.qut.edu.au/projects/asera/PAPERS/Image1.jpg” http://www.fed.qut.edu.au/projects/asera/PAPERS/Image1.jpg
Figure 2: Diagram of Edward T. Hall’s personal reaction bubbles
Retrieved Apr. 2, 2009, from Web site:  HYPERLINK “http://www.thuanngo.com/lasalle/images/references/reaction-bubble-by-edward-sm.gi” http://www.thuanngo.com/lasalle/images/references/reaction-bubble-by-edward-sm.gi Figure 3: Individualism and Power-distance
Retrieved Apr. 2, 2009, from Web site:  HYPERLINK “http://www.emeraldinsight.com/fig/3010020301002.png” http://www.emeraldinsight.com/fig/3010020301002.png

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When it comes to contemporary media coverage of politics, some thinkers come up “the media malaise theory”, pointing out the public disenchantment toward the leaders and the institutions. In our visual society, politics build their image through television, playing with the boundaries of “infotainment”, satisfying people who watch news as entertainment. It is often suggested politics has become a minor form of show business, which is a vernacular term for the business of entertainment. Some people answer to this argument that all the voices should be represented in a democracy, which is the justification of the existence of some show business programs. The question to asked is then how should the media contribute to the functioning of a representative democracy. And how should the media position themselves between the state, the market, and the society. It can be wondered whether there is a risk of feeling more than thinking. This essay will consider the media-ization of politics and see to what extent the criticisms have been justified and how the system has responded. The responsibility of the media will be pointed out to understand to what extent the concept of the citizen has been replaced by the consumer. In the battle of “romantic pessimists” versus “pragmatic optimists”, it will be showed that some kind of regulations play the role of safeguards. To finish, evidence of ways to resist will be put forward since the medias are not the only to blame in the media-ization of politics.

In a way of thunking, it can be argued that politics has become a minor form of show business because of the media-tization of it. The signifiant role played by the media in contemporary Western politics raises the question of whether there is a crisis of public (or civic) communication. Defenders of democracy are sometimes pessimistic and point out the commercialization and the commodification of politics by the media, the rise of infotainment or the tabloidization of political leaders. In 1997, when Diana, princess of Wales died in a car accident caused partially by the paparazzi, the media coverage was massive. The way that the media dealt with this political figure was more similar to a way to deal with a pop idol. In the new publicity game, it can be wondered if there is still an ethic. Roles have shifted and politicians who are looking for the best visibility sometimes have to take part in some entertainment shows. In 2003, Blair appeared on MTV for his campaign regarding the war against Iraq. It can be stated that this strategy was good to reach some people who do not watch political programs but the debate is necessarily less interesting in this kind of situation as tough questions are just non existent. In a tabloid fashion, politics is sometimes treated by the media sensationally, including scandal, tending to “newszak” i.e. news converted into entertainment, degrading public discourse. It is inevitable that politics should be commercialized because it is the way that the media work: the change in the economics of media impacts change in politics. The media want to maximize their profit and their audience size: to achieve these goals and to not bore the audience they sometimes turn politics into show-business. Pseudo events become a prominent part of political news coverage, leading sometimes to the bias of the news. Politics is turned into melodramas. Exoo (1994, p.53) explains that political news are sometimes dramatized, pointing out “the horse race of preference polls”, “the handicapping of the race”, “the soap opera of attack, gaffe and scandal” and “the hoopla of pseudo-events and photo ops”. Murdoch’s motto could be sum up in five “s”: sun, sensationalism, sex, scandals… and more globally scandology. It can be wondered who chooses this system. The hegemony theorists state that television is an instrument of capitalist theory that is narcotizing diversion from the real world of serious problems. Marketplace democracy theorists think that popular culture is chosen by the masses because it serves their interest and their needs. Hegemony theorists consider that rather than being proactive, the public is reactive. He totally agrees with the fact that News Corporation is in the entertainment business. Politics is often closely linked to popular culture: Blair appeared on photographs with Bono or Galagher, said that he loved the Beatles, did a speech on Bowie’s music in 1966. He is perfectly embodying the concept of endorsement and typifying the belief that politics is becoming a minor form of show-business. The idea is that the popularity of these pop idols will rub off on politicians such as Blair. Politics is as well a reality show program on the internet now with the “youtubification of politics”. While entertainment influences politics, politics influences as well entertainment: a lot of authentic events has been the basis of numerous synopsis. Among them, The Queen (Frears, 2006), JFK (Stone, 1991) or W (Stone, 2008). There is as well an infiltration of media actors in politics such as Reagan, Berlusconi, or Stalone.

There is no correlation between news density and news quality. There are more and more publications but obviously it does not mean that the content has a better quality. The media still have to have a code of conduct when it comes to publishing some stories. They are sometimes accused or not being responsible enough, forgetting that they should perform different functions such as information provision, electoral mobilization or watchdog. Relaxation of regulatory regimes, consumerist decisions making, growing power of advertisers and big volume that journalists have to produce make sometimes the responsibility of the media vanishing. The freedom of the press have necessarily to be pointed out, but the media are still responsible about their content. The dilemma opposing consumer sovereignty versus public service reveals that some private channels consider that the viewer is king and that TV should serve the interest of the individuals. In a competitive market, some regulations are sometimes necessary to constrain the media to have quality programs. “The basic ingredients for the renewal of the policy debate over press regulation are still there: a competitive and shrinking newspaper market; journalists’ fascination with human interest stories; and public obsession with the lives of celebrities and elite figures” (Deacon, 2004, quoted in Kuhn, 2007, p.140). Hallin’s model theorizes where the debate can take place: he distinguishes the spheres of consensus, controversy and deviance. It is about how much the media are willing to talk about and how much the audience can handle. For instance, Diana’s last pictures has never been published in a magazine even if it is not true on the Internet since it is very difficult to monitor the internet due to its transnational nature, the amount of data uploaded and the diversity of the users. On one hand, it can be argued that popular news seeks to provoke and question power. But on the other hand, it can be wondered whether it is responsible to deal with politics in a show business fashion. The tabloidization of politics has damaged public life since entertainment removes the real question from discussion. Blumer and Gurevitch (1995, quoted in Kuhn, 2007, p.264) analyze what is the bad consequences of the poor responsibility of the media: “The watchdog role of journalism is often shunted into channels of personalization, dramatization, witch huntery, soap-operatics and sundry trivialities. It is difficult for unconventional opinions to break into the established “market place of ideas”, and political arguments are often reduced to slogans and taunts”. Politicians must accept to become show business figures if they want to introduce the system and to have the possibility to express their political views. So, it can be asked whether democracy is in danger. People tend to pick up what culture has already defined for them and understand politics with those ready made stories, without sometimes understanding how public institutions work. Exoo (1994, p.75) is quite pessimistic about the situation since “the relative deprivation of knowledge leads to the relative deprivation of power”. If some lower status group do not perfectly understand the ins and outs of the issue, manipulated by political marketing, they will be less able to vote as a result in their own interest. There are alternative perspectives of the media. Dahlgren and Sparks (1991, quoted in Wheeler 1997) explain that from a liberal point of view, there should be a free market, a self-regulation and the media should distract the people. From a marxist point of view, the media system is capitalist, non reformable and they have an opiate perception of entertainment. Communists are in favor of public ownership, they want a liberalization reform and prefer enlightenment to entertainment.

The bright side is that thanks to the growth of the media, new channels of communication has been opened up between politicians and the public. Politics is not only dealt in a “show business” way. The sources of information has been expanded while the diversity of content have increased and the access has been widened. The media raise important issues of public concern, communicating, informing and having an agenda-setting function. The medias sometimes publish some newsworthy stories relating to malpractice or corruption. It is as a result more and more difficult for a politician to manipulate the people and to hide some inglorious aspects of their life. In France, the CSA, “Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel”, a French institution regulates the various electronic media in France. More globally, public service broadcasting has the role to provide quality programs, it has an important democratic role in terms of its educational and information functions. Social values, quality, range and balance and diversity are according to Ofcom (quoted in Kuhn, 2007, p.177) the basic objectives of public service broadcasting. The CSA used to be a separate organ but now its president is nominated by the French president, which rises again the question of the link between the media and the politics. But the government has to work hard to dominate the news agenda. Sometime, they might even be satisfied that the medias took a show business standpoint so people will forget about more serious issues. For instance, in France, while all the newspapers were talking about the justice minister, Dati’s pregnancy, more serious issues such as the desperation of the examining magistrate were committed.

Some people argue that it is not that clear that politics has turned into show business. Brants (1998, quoted in Kuhn, 2007, p.271) states that while “we might see a slight tendency towards a popularization of news, there is little evidence that politicians and politics are dramatically more personalized and sensationalized than before”. According to him, a wide range of programs can be regarded as legitimate outlets for civic communication. Some kind of programs, such as chat shows may even be better than other more formal kinds of program in order to see what are the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate, considering that personal characteristics of a politician has to be considered as well during an election. Diversity in kind of programs and point of views should be the main criteria to judge quality of political journalism. Legitimate programs are not only the ones that are considered as mainly informational. A pessimistic argument would even be that lots of people will not even bother getting some serious informations about candidates during an election and will base their vote on non rational aspects, without even soliciting the media to get some information. That is why a wide range of programs are available, in order to inform, entertain and emphasis civic engagement. Nevertheless politics is about performance and politicians have understood very well that making image a key factor. Kennedy was the first politician who used the TV as a mass communication tool. He managed to be more popular than Nixon by working on his ‘young man in a hurry’ image and this is partly how he won the election. He is often compared to James Dean and the rumor states that he had a really close relationship with the glamorous Marilyn Monroe… Nowadays, it is totally common that parties and politicians market and package themselves, seeking to please the media. In an age where image is extremely important, political parties are often personalized into one single person who is highly exposed in the media. Foley (2005, quoted in Kuhn, 2007, p.204) calls this phenomenon “leadership stretch” to describe how political leaders have stretched away when it comes to popular awareness and media attention. It is almost like the politicians have no choice: they are public figures and as a result they are sometimes drawn in the show business sphere. Thatcher, leader of the Conservative party in the seventies, learnt with the media guru Reece how to come over well on television. The media-ization of politics benefits to the politicians since it often works as a leadership projection. Annual party conferences are well packaged and they have become “spectacles designed for the maximization of positive press coverages” (McNair, 2003, quoted in Kuhn, 2007, p.208). The politicians apply marketing strategies and performing personal branding. They accept and benefit from the system. But political marketing results in a couple of negative consequences such as the repetition of a single message rather than an engagement in a more global debate for instance. This is a toned down politics. It has to be wondered as well to what extent it is possible to talk about politics. For instance, in France, in 2008, Sarkozy’s divorce has been hugely covered my the medias. Some of them where accused to enter to far the private life of the president but they answered that the issue was political since the private life of a president has an influence on his professional life. If some people lost faith in the politics, it may be linked with the way that the media deal with politics. If we admit that there is a media-ization of politics, it might be a good thing. Far from a paternalistic pedagogy, different kinds of programs just sprang up and allowed all the voices to be heard. But pedagogy should not turn into demagogy. A liberal system is not a justification to mediocrity. Obviously, the media are not the only one to blame. The users should regulate their own usage of a medium and they should be more responsible. Fortunately, it is still possible to watch some quality programs that resists the flattening formula or other popular shows, especially since the growth of the cable and satellite TV. There are still some solutions to avoid this system i.e. alternative media or more globally alternative lives. Those counter-culture are a kind of micro power challenging authority.

There is no universal definition about the classification of infotainment programs or tabloid coverage. The frontier is then a bit blurry. As a result, perception, unlike reason, is the only mean to know how deep was the shift. It is then hardly possible to be precise about the extent of any alleged changes in the media’s coverage of politics. Media have become the main political arena. They are now the key institution of the public sphere and the quality of both are intimately linked one to the other. But the media are not the only parties involved in the public sphere: citizens have to act responsibly as well. One should not take as granted everything seen in the media, rather show business or more serious coverages. Like Baudrillard has stated, hyperreality – i.e. the incapacity of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, is not reality. “Will they not take these shadows to be reality?” Plato asks in the cave allegory. Nowadays, politics cannot be confined to news and current affairs programs anymore. Contemporary political journalism is more focused than before on performance aspect of political communication. Rather than being good or bad, legal, economic and social contexts has to be taken into account to understand fully the issue. Behind the media-ization of politics, if it is the relationship between the voters and the politicians that is considered to be not satisfying, politics may have to be redefined. Some sources of potential reforms such as the development of new technology, mainstream media practices and public policy initiatives might be a solution. To sum up, vigilance is the most important aspect that citizen should develop since they are all watchdogs.

Bibliography

Barelli, P. (2008). NiceRendezVous. NICE PRESSE Pipolisation de la vie politique française Actualité de Nice France – Information Nice Daily News, info actus de Nice, agence de presse NICE, journal en ligne,annonces,météo,flash,rencontre,. Retrieved Mar. 27, 2009, from Web site: http://www.nicerendezvous.com/FR/NICE-PRESSE-PIPOLISATION-DE-LA-VIE-POLITIQUE-FRANCAISE-n-3524.html
Callahan, L. (2009). Reality Heroes» The Ugliest Election Ever? – Politics, religion, and stuff that matters. Retrieved Mar. 27, 2009, from Web s ite: http://www.realityheroes.com/?p=36#more-36
Cockerill, M. (1997). Politics – it’s a screen test – UK Politics, UK – The Independent. Retrieved Mar. 27, 2009, from Times Online Web site: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/politics–its-a-screen-test-1274605.html
Epelboin, F. (2009). « Nous sommes tous dans une série de télé-réalité en politique » | ReadWriteWeb France. Retrieved Mar. 24, 2009, from Web site: http://fr.readwriteweb.com/2009/02/25/entrevues/tele-realite-en-politique/
Exoo, C. F. (1994). The Politics of the mass media. Minneapolis: West Publishing Company.
Faure, G. (2009). La Californie ressemble à la France (c’est pas un compliment) | Eco89. Retrieved Mar. 24, 2009, from Web site: http://eco.rue89.com/2009/02/22/la-californie-ressemble-a-la-france-cest-pas-un-compliment
“Jean Baudrillard (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)”. Retrieved Mar. 26, 2009, from Web site: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/baudrillard/
Kreis, S. (2000). Plato, “The Allegory of the Cave”. Retrieved Mar. 26, 2009, from Web site: http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html
Kuhn, R. (2007). Politics and the media in Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mainville, E. (2009). Obama pipolisation : Crise dans les médias. Retrieved Mar. 24, 2009, from Web site: http://crisedanslesmedias.hautetfort.com/archive/2009/02/25/obama-pipolisation.html
Nouvelobs. (2008). Ségolène Royal au Zénith : les socialistes agacés, Politique – NouvelObs.com. Retrieved Mar. 27, 2009, from Web site: http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualites/politique/20080928.OBS3095/emmanuelli_raille_le_rassemblement_de_royal_entre_showb.html
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Wheeler, M. (1997). Politics and the Mass Media. Oxford: Blackwell.

Within Rio de Janeiro, about a third of the population lives in a favelas (Favelas, 2009). The rich and the poor live directly next to one other, which creates a dramatic contrast. In the favelas, houses are made of wattle-and-daub and people live in constant shortage of utilities since electricity and water are often hard to access. Discrimination, violence and no chance of participation characterizes this place. The environment has a direct effect on the life of people, especially women. Living in a degraded place means that women must find more energy to struggle with the environments and have less time for education. Environmental degradation impoverishes women’s and children’s health. These hidden-victims have little control on this condition. The Dutch foundation “She Moves” is a network that starves for social change, locally and internationally. This report will evaluate how it is possible to fight for change, in Brazil but also in other countries. From this point, some suggestions will be set out.

In the Netherlands, even if women have access to high education, only 3% of them are on the top position in the public sector. People involved in the foundation “She Moves” can then get inspired by helping. The main project is to raise funds to support education. There are no school in the favelas, which means no support from the environment. Parents often have no education and they do not see why their children, especially girls, should prepare the “pre-vestibular” to access the free public universities where only the best students can go. People who are living in the favelas have sometimes a great potential but it is wasted since they have no hope and no role model. Mayra Avellar is a young Brazilian girl who won the children peace award 2008 for her successful battle against extreme violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. She is a proof that things can change and that it is possible to refuse the situation. Some other initiatives are more discreet. In Rio de Janeiro, the photograph JR takes pictures of women affected by the environment and sticks them in public places “transforming the towns in which these women live into testaments to their strength and forbearance” (Sociological Images – Art as social commentary, 2009). These individuals initiatives are powerful since they raise the awareness of the public toward this issue.

Living in strongly patriarchal rural communities makes it hard for women to manage their lives and their education. Women should be involved in environmental and educational decisions, which should benefits for each interest group, so women can control the direction of their own lives. Ecofeminism might be a way to explore since it reveals how oppression of nature is related to the oppression of women and promotes the establishment of life-affirming, consensual relationships. “Women’s income can also create the conditions for expanded opportunities, choices and autonomy – all of which advance the larger goal of gender equity and equality” (UNPFA, 2001). That is why education plays an important role in letting women redefine gender relations and access more easily to information and service. The Brazilian government has established a quota program for women. Each political party should for instance involve 30% of women but to date, this quota has never been met (Brazil – Are quotas goof for Brazil, 2009). It can be pointed out as well that leaving this environment is not necessarily the solution for those women since they are vulnerable to economic and sexual exploitation. The position of women in Brazilian favelas is definitely accurate to be addressed since it shows that even in harsh situations, things can still evolve by initiatives such us Mayra’s or “She Moves”’ ones.

References:

AIUK : Brazil: Women-The ‘hidden victims’ of the favelas. Retrieved Mar. 15, 2009, from Web site: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17727

Avitus. The Children’s Peace Prize. Retrieved Mar. 15, 2009, from Web site: http://www.childrenspeaceprize.org/en/

Brazil – Race: Are Quotas Good for Brazil? – Racism in Brazil – March 2002. Retrieved Mar. 15, 2009, from Web site: http://www.brazzil.com/cvrmar02.htm

Favela documentary – Mayra Avellar wins Children’s Peace Prize. Retrieved Mar. 15, 2009, from Web site: http://www.faveladocumentary.com/wp/?p=63

Favelas. Retrieved Mar. 15, 2009, from Web site: http://www.macalester.edu/courses/geog61/chad/thefavel.htm

Idiarte, M. (13 March 2009). Workshop “She Moves”. Den Haag: The Hague University.

Rooyen, v. M. (2008). Mayra.

Sociological Images » ART AS SOCIAL COMMENTARY. Retrieved Mar. 15, 2009, from Web site: http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/03/15/art-as-social-commentary/

She Moves.  Retrieved Mar. 15, 2009, from Web site: http://www.shemoves.info/

UNPFA. (2001).The State of World Population 2001 published by United Nation Population Fund, Chapter 4: Women and environment.

When it comes to women and health, a paradox has first to be pointed out: even if women tend to live longer than men, they report more illness and distress. Approaching healthcare from a gendered standpoint is important since both sexes do not cope the same way with it. This rule applies for chronic health problems to more concerning diseases. In 2007, 30.8 million adults worldwide were living with AIDS (Avert, 2009). Among them, half were women and 98% were living in developing countries. Because of women’s vulnerability, both social and biologic, women and AIDS is a concerning issue. It took a long time for international organizations to consider the case of this pandemic in developing countries and the reasons for that can be wondered. From a pessimistic point of view, more than empathy, it might be the fear of Western countries to see the disease spreading in the rest of the world. The pharmaceutical lobbies play an important role since they sometimes argue that patent rights are superior to patient’s rights. The drama Yesterday (Roodt, 2004) tells the story of a South African woman who find out that she is HIV positive and have to struggle with family issues, environment and poverty. It raises the awareness of the public, especially on the fact that support rather than stigmatization should be the attitude toward sick people. Having introduced the subject , this film will lead us to evaluate and comment it.

Sexual violence, difficulties to find condoms or lack of education play a role in the spread of the disease. Illiteracy rates leads women to have a low self-esteem; they say yes to sex and yes to the HIV. Ill women are victims more than guilts even if some religions tend to consider AIDS as a punishment. But through history, women have often be judged as responsible for the spread of venereal diseases. During World War II, in America, soldiers were warned: “She might look clean but… pick-ups, “good time” girls, prostitutes, spread syphilis and gonorrhea”. In the film Yesterday, the woman is beaten up when her husband finds out that she has AIDS even if it is suggested that he was probably responsible since she has always been faithful. Countries have different policies regarding the way they deal with illness and gender. To reduce the burden of the epidemic among women, several things can be done. Education, international organizations and governments can all play an important role. WOZA (Women in Zimbabwe arise) or UNIFEM (Women’s fund at the United nations) are two examples of organizations that are already active in a wide range of fields. To avoid misconceptions, it is very important as individuals to learn more about AIDS and even to be active to change our sights. Education can lead people to understand more about the issue, to get rid of some of their fears and as a result to stop considering sick people as outsiders. Especially women should get more attention since they are usually responsible of children. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is not addressed in the film Yesterday even if Beauty might be contaminated by the virus as well.

Watching a movie such as Yesterday makes the people more sensitive to the issue of AIDS in South Africa because, far from the rationality of statistics, it displays emotions. In some African countries where there is only a poor education, a lot of dangerous myths lead people to have sex with a virgin to cure their disease, to wash their genitals with products that they think will protect them from the virus, or to exclude an ill person from a village because the inhabitants are afraid to be contaminated. But even in Western countries, there are still a lot of misconceptions about AIDS. Those are sometimes used in a second time to stigmatize ethnic minorities, drug users or homosexuals. Women should realize that they have the right to say yes to safe sex as much as they have the right to say no to diseases. Venereal diseases can all be painful and dangerous. On a different scale, it is thought-provoking to point out that the lack of lubrication of the vagina, resulting from a lack of excitation, can lead to the development of the candida albicans, i.e. thrush. Women should remember as well that intercourse is not the only form of sex and that they can enjoy other practices that are even sometimes safer than reproductive so called traditional sex.
References:

AVERT. (2009). Women, HIV and AIDS.Retrieved 11.03.09 from AVERT website: http://www.avert.org/women.htm

Howden, D. (2006). Dead by 34: How Aids and starvation condemn Zimbabwe’s women to early grave. Retrieved 11.03.09 from The Independant website: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/dead-by-34-how-aids-and-starvation-condemn-zimbabwes-women-to-early-grave-424669.html

International women’s health coalition. (2009). Retrieved 11.03.09 from IWHC website: http://www.iwhc.org/

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD) – March 10, 2009.  (2009). Retrieved 11.03.09 from Women’s health website: http://www.womenshealth.gov/nwghaad/

Roodt, D. (2004). Yesterday. KwaZulu-Natal: Distant Horizon.

UNIFEM. (2008). Transforming the National AIDS Response: Mainstreaming gender equality and women’s human rights into the “three ones”. New-York: UNIFEM.

Financial independence is an important part of the process of women’s emancipation. But being a woman and working is not an easy combination since it rises several specific problems such as the double burden, the glass ceiling or the pay gap. Women, who have been told that they belonged to the private sphere, i.e. the household, have to find their place toward a productive or reproductive work. Women might face different issues in their professional life such as maternal guilt, lack of ambition, or social positioning. Sometimes, women have to choose between being liked or being respected (Williams, quoted in Belkin, 2007). Today in Europe, at all education levels, employment rates are lower for women than men (Eurostat, 2008, p.102). A gender gap study reveals that some countries are doing better than others: Sweden, Norway and Finland are on the top whereas Chad and Yemen are at the bottom. When it comes to women and work, the issue, more than being linked to the individuals, has to be considered as something global. From the theory, an evaluation of the issue is necessary in order to consider the problem further and to rise some questions that matter. The international spheres provides some interesting examples on how women can achieve both a satisfying private life and a successful career.

There are lots of things to learn from the different nations. Northern countries and communist countries for instance should be an inspiration for others. There, the notion of gender equity is more developed than elsewhere, which tends give more chance to women to go to the top. The problem has to be addressed more than in an individual or a familial perspective. The society should be responsible to provide some structures such as child day care services to allow women to have a professional life, since womanhood is often linked to childbearing. Maternity leave breaks can sometimes be as well a carrier break (Grunell, 2007). Recently, in the news, Rachida Dati, the French Justice minister has been criticized a lot for returning to work just five days after giving birth, which shows how difficult it can be to work while you are a mother. Sometimes, women have to deal with other issues in the workplace such as religion, race or age: working with a headscarf is allowed in the Netherlands but in France things are slightly different. Companies have a lot to gain from women and should make their integration easier. According to the newsworthy McKinsey and Company report, “companies with a higher proportion of women in top management may perform better” (2007).

The traditional familial scheme is changing and there are more and more mono parental families or homosexual couples, which leads to a redefinition of the role of women. A woman who wants to climb the social ladder should have other alternatives than having to master male codes. Some solutions exist to find a right balance between private and professional life: flexible hours, self-employment, working at home, and so on. This process is long and the issue is particularly concerning for each of us since the work of women have a repercussion on the whole society. It is definitely a subject that matters. Theatrically, gender equality is a fundamental right of the European Union but how is it implemented on the ground? But how the European Union can stimulate the countries to increase their efforts? How efficient are the initiatives like the charter called “Women on top” signed by forty organizations in the Netherlands 2008?

References:

Belkin, L. (2007). The Feminine Critique. New-York Times.

Bina, V., Hamersveld, I., Smithuijsen, C. (n.d.). The Netherlands : Gender equality and cultural policies : Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe. Retrieved February 24, 2009, from http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/netherlands.php?aid=4210

EBSCO. (2007). The new mommy track.

Eurostat Statistical books. (2008). The life of women and men in Europe: a statistical portrait. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Gallagher, C. (2000). Going to the top: a road map for success from America’s leading women executives. New-York: Viking.

Grunell, M. (2007). Gender and career development — Netherlands. Retrieved February 24, 2009, from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn0612019s/nl0612019q.htm

Idrissi, K. (2009). Headscarf Award for fighting discrimination Radio Netherlands Wordlwide. Retrieved February 24, 2009, from http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/090223-polder-headscarf-mc

McKinsey&Company. (2007). Women matter: Gender diversity, a corporate performance driver.

The Economist. (2007). Tied to the kitchen. The Economist.

My Bed, 1998, Tracey Emin
Mattress, linens, pillows, rope, various memorabilia
79 x 211 x 234 (31 x 83 x 92)
Saatchi Gallery, London

My Bed is an installation realized by Tracey Emin. Tracey Emin (born 3 July 1963) is an English artist of Turkish Cypriot origin. She uses in her art really different mediums: needlework and sculpture, drawing, video and installation, photography and painting. It is important to point out that the artist is a woman. Woolf (quoted in Isaak, 1996, p.225) explains women’s absence from history and from cultural production in terms of the metaphor of the mirror: “Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size”. The question that feminists on both sides of the mirror are now considering is what it would look like if women had to take power, women have perfected through centuries of service to men and turn it to reflect the figure of woman at just its natural size. This is quite close to the guerilla girls’ discourse. Really often, the Emin Tracy likes to be part of her artworks but for My Bed, there are no picture, no written note, no physical trace of herself.  Anyway, Tracey Emin is at the same time present and absent of My Bed. For instance, the after pill may refer to the artist’s personal experience toward maternity because he had two abortions. In 1999, she was a Turner Prize nominee and exhibited My Bed. The bed refers to a place where people might be born and might die. It is a place that can be related to pleasure (la petite mort, the little death) or pain (la mort, death). The bed is often first associated with the idea of having a rest but here, the artist transforms it in a place of fear, pain and anguish. Body fluids have opposite meanings as well. For instance, menstrual blood has really powerful meanings. A woman who menstruate proves her ability to have children but in the same time it means that she is not pregnant at this time. Blood refers to life and death, health and disease. Since the modernity, we tend to hide the body functions. “The body is where the power bearing definitions of social and sexual normality are, literally, embodied, and is consequently the site of discipline and punishment for deviation of those norms” (Fiske 1987, p.248). People refuse the identity proposed by the dominant ideology and use the body as a material against morality, discipline and control. Tracey Emin choose subversion by displaying all these disturbing objects. This bed has an international resonance. The syncretism transcends the cosmological ceremonial from a factual approach. The viewer can feel that Tracey Emin has been influenced by people such as Edvard Munch and Egon Schiele. “Gender and sexual preference – together with nationality, ethnicity, politics, and religion – all seem to have some impact on the meaning of art” (Freeland, 2001, p.148). External facts, like internal facts, are important to understand this artwork. My Bed has a meaning grounded in both culture in general and in the specifics of this historical context. Jameson (1991, p.54) states that “the political form of postmodernism, if there ever is any, will have as its vocation the invention and projection of a global cognitive mapping, on a social as well as a spatial scale.” Mixing genre and using intertextuality can be seen as a new attempt to democratize art, where modernism has failed.
Focusing on the artwork makes some themes and symbols popping out. Brown (2006, p.100) writes that once, the artist has explained that this artwork looked like a “crime scene where someone had been fucked to death”. Signs of chaos coexist in a terrible jumble. Metaphysic themes are referred to, such as out of fashion themes. The bed is the punctuation of our lives. It is related to pleasant souvenirs such as tragical ones. It is the place where the viewer may had had his last relation with his or her partner, it can be the place where a member of the family is dead. On the opposite it can be the memory of a delectable nap or the birth of someone. The wooden bed surrounded by dirty clutter is a stylish artwork with a minimalist design, far from some other over-dramatic pieces of art of the artist. The sheets are stained with urine, a fluid used in many contemporary pieces of art like Piss Christ by Andres Serrano in 1989. But here the aesthetic of the fluid is negative since it is linked to incontinence and by extension, emotional troubles and psychological disorders. Several objects are lying on the floor, next to the bed: a toy, bottles of alcohol, bandages, used tissues, rotten food, cigarette ends. Several objects are linked to women; knickers soiled with menstrual blood, contraceptive pill, after pill, pregnancy test, bloodied condoms and tampons. The artwork has evolved since there were a few differences in the way the things were displayed, between two exhibitions.
The context gives to the viewer some important keys to understand the artwork. This installation was first shown in 1998 in Tokyo’s Sagacho Exhibition Space. Although these early events caused Tracey Emin to be well known in art circles, she was largely unknown by the public until she appeared on a Channel 4 television program in 1997. It was an ostensibly serious debate show about that year’s Turner Prize, and the artist appeared completely drunk, swearing, insulting the other panel members and saying that she wanted to go home to her mum. Two years later, in 1999, Emin was shortlisted for the Turner Prize herself and exhibited My Bed at the Tate Gallery. There was considerable media furore about this, particularly as the sheets of the bed were stained yellow, and the floor surrounding it had items from her room such as condoms, empty cigarette packets, a pair of knickers with menstrual stains and other detritus including a pair of slippers. The bed was presented as it had been when she had stayed in it for several days feeling suicidal because of relationship difficulties. It is important to precise that two performance artists, Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi, jumped one day on the bed with bare torsos in order to “improve” the work, which they thought had not gone far enough. They called their performance Two Naked Men Jump Into Tracey’s Bed. The men also had a pillow fight on the bed for around fifteen minutes, to applause from the crowd, before being removed by security guards. The artists were detained but no further action was taken. My Bed was bought by Charles Saatchi for £150,000 and displayed as part of the first exhibition when the Saatchi Gallery opened its new premises at County Hall, London. Saatchi also installed the bed in a dedicated room in his own home. Neal (2006, p.97) points out that this installation reminds the viewer of other different works of the artist: “These include the reassembled beach hut The Last Thing I Said to You was Don’t Leave me Here (The Hut) 1999; once used for holidays with Sarah Lucas, and also destroyed in the Momart warehouse fire); the helter-skelter Self Portrait 2001, a seaside pier Knowing My Enemy 2002; a fairground roller-coaster It’s Not the Way I Want to Die 2005; and Salem 2005” because they are made from wood and refer to the threat of collapse. Tracey Emin had as well used the topic of the bed with her sleeping Tent or her text Always Glad to See You. Artworks by other artists can be point out as well since the topic of the bed had previously been an inspiration for Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Frida Kahlo, J.M.W. Turner, Edvard Munch or Eugène Delacroix. Because of intertextuality and cannibalization of the past, the viewer can come across some issues such as sensation of déjà-vu, vacuity or nostalgia. This installation is the one for what Tracey Emin is the most famous even if she did not win the Turner Prize in 1999 when it was exhibited in The Tate gallery. Craig Brown wrote a satirical piece about My Bed for Private Eye entitled My Turd. Emin’s former boyfriend, Stuckist artist Billy Childish, stated that he also had an old bed of hers in the shed which he would make available for £20,000. Tracey Emin is not the first artist to exhibit an installation so the public already know this kind of art and is not totally shocked.
Art would not be art if there was no observer. This bed reminds me of mine. This object has an big importance in my life because it is the place where I am born, where dream, sleep, have a rest and have sex. But in the same time, it is as well the place where I stay when I am ill (like in a Virginia Wool’s novel On Being Ill), when I feel lonely and maybe it is where I will die. We live in a world of signs and our enjoyment of art comes from other knowledge that we have but all the people do not have these knowledge so it can be wondered if sometimes, postmodernism is not a bit elitist. On the other side, postmodernism expresses the idea that each person has something interesting to say. And each of us can have his own sensibility, his own approach and understanding. It is all about emotion – the emotion coming from art, not from reality. “Lyotard’s sublime is a self-consciously post-modern mode in which all striving for correspondence between real and concept is abandoned: the aesthetic is to be preserved in the form of a non-utilitarian autonomy.” (Waugh 1992, p.115). And it is dangerous to try to do an academic rank of art; each attempt to create is an inscription in a mode of representation. “As Deleuze argues with respect to Plato, the attempt to distinguish between good and bad copies of reality may be seen to found a system of moral defense against the principle of simulation which governs all forms or representation” (Zurbrugg 1997, p.129). The issue goes further than the own taste of the viewer. Habermas (cited in Huyssen 1987, p.206) argues that “postmodernism is not so much a question of style as it is a question of politics and culture at large”. Winterson (as quoted in Freedman, 2006, p.6) states that: “Arguments that begin, But is is art? miss the point. The point is that Tracey Emin has done more for public awareness of art, both as a force in its own right and as necessary part of life, than any other living artist”. At first sight, the viewer can associate this bed with other well-known ready made such as Wahrol’s Brillo box or Duchamp’s Fontaine. But this is more than a non-art object placed in a fine-art context even if it looks like conceptual art. Our way of seeing can shift to a traditionally, like a mordant Dutch still life. Many transformations have occurred and the bed is not displayed like the artist bought it in IKEA. Rather than “beauty”, the emotion that people may feel is more disgust. The purpose is not a canon of ideal nor an object of desire. If according to Kant, beauty is immanent, one must say that this artwork is not “beautiful” but in the same time the viewer may feel other emotions that are as valuable. This artwork does not display any text from the author, while other works of Emin do. So, the viewer is free to has his or her own reading of the installation. This artwork reminds us of our potential decay, through the consumption of drugs, lack of hygiene, risky behaviors. It talks to the viewer, wherever he or she comes from: there are some foreign coins lying on the table, the health warning of the cigarette packet is written in Polish and the candle holder is labelled with a price in dollars. The idea of separation and travel is symbolized as well by the suitcases. This artwork makes sense in a globalized world. But maybe “internationalization” would be more appropriate than “globalization”, because the last word has a negative echo (Abedini, 2008). The bed experience for the body can be linked to a microcosm of the universe. The making of art is then close to a spiritual content. There is a cosmological dimension to her work although she as a unique experience was the starting point. Morgan (quoted in Robertson and McDaniel, 2006, p.208) states that “the potential for artwork to manifest some form of mystical communication that transcends our ordinary reality is great. Abstraction lends itself naturally to this goal, since many of the concepts of spirituality are by nature abstract (such as ‘infinity’). As a conceptual piece of art, I think that it is really important for the viewer to be aware of the theory behind it in order to really appreciate My Bed. When I watch it, I experience something unique. It is important for me because it raises my perspective in life. Tracey Emin might have expressed different things from what I actually perceive but I appreciate the possibility of this unique experience. I regret not to have seen the real “bed”. It is a bit sad that I can only see this installation through a medium which is photography.

References

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