Digital publication of the opening lecture by Pr Mieke Bal

Mieke Bal

A cultural dream : Europe in the plural

Europe brings together a wide variety of languages and cultures. At once one and plural, it conveys a cultural dream of integration. How can languages, literatures and cultures be made to live together, while respecting their diversity ? Mieke Bal tackles this question by examining notions of borders (geographical, linguistic, cultural), identity (which she rejects for its " fixity ") and identification. She takes us on a journey through the European semiosphere, following in the footsteps of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edvard Munch and other artist-thinkers, showing how their works give substance to the processes ofintergration she invites us to think about. Diversity, union : the debate around these issues is essential to the construction of Europe.

Bal M., Un rêve culturel : l'Europe au pluriel, Paris, Collège de France, coll. " Leçons inaugurales ",^no 312, 2023.

Mieke Bal is an art and literature theorist, cultural analyst and filmmaker. Professor at the University of Amsterdam, she co-founded the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA). She is guest professor at the annual The Invention of Europe through languages and cultures chair, created in partnership with the French Ministry of Culture, for the year 2022-2023.