Join Amanda and Cat as they begin to unpack Europe, the idea of it, and the origins of the word in different meanings. Europe as a monolith has meant different things, from a continent, a peninsula of Asia, a civilization, or a group of different civilizations. By examining Muhammad As-Saffar's account of Paris in 1845-1846, the audience is able to gain an outside perspective of Paris, a great French and European city at the height of its imperial power.

The works referenced in the episode include J.G.A. Pocock's “What do We Mean by Europe?” in The Wilson Quarterly (Winter, 1997) and Susan Gilson Miller's translation of “The City of Paris,” in Disorienting Encounters: Travels of a Moroccan Scholar in France in 1845-1846, The Voyage of Muhammad As-Saffar (Berkeley, CA.: University of California Press, 1992).