Debt: New and Old European Ties
A decade after the onset of the debt crisis, Europe is still suffering the consequences. This lecture cycle will analyse from the perspectives of sociology and philosophy, among others, how this situation has influenced our allegiances and imaginaries.
A decade ago, the collapse of the financial system exposed the fragility and unpredictability of markets and raised doubts about the pacts of solidarity that were assumed to be the bedrock of the European Union. The debt crisis revived debates about historical and moral debts, thus bringing to light the reductionism of economic discourse which underestimates the plural nature of cultural borrowing and exchanges that have woven the history of Europe and its peoples. This diversity of exchanges is still being enriched today with flows of people and, with them, ideas and values which are constantly toing and froing across Europe’s frontiers, creating communities and identities that go beyond political divisions.
This lecture cycle, organised around the European research project The Debt: Historicizing Europe’s Relation with the ‘South’, presents innovative ideas for thinking about the historical, social and cultural aspects of the phenomenon of debt.
