EuroStorie Podcast

This episode is part of the Europe and the Crisis of Reason Conference series, which delves into the philosophical and intellectual responses to the crises of the twentieth century and examines how these ideas have shaped the post-WWII European project. The series also includes presentations from various fields within the theoretical humanities and social sciences, offering a multidisciplinary perspective on Europe's evolving identity.

In this episode, Nicolas de Warren from Penn State University presents his talk: The Afterlives of Europe: Nevermore.

Brought to you by the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity (EuroStorie), University of Helsinki.

In the last episode of this EuroStorie Podcast season, we get to talk with Natasha Wheatley about the relationship between law, time, and the state. How do we understand a sovereign state as being both a ”timeless” as well as a ”historical” political entity? What happens when a sovereign political entity suddenly dies? How does law relate to these questions? And can sovereignty transfigure time through international law? We explore these questions against the backdrop of 19th century Europe by focusing on some of the events that subsequently ensued: the collapse of the Habsburg Empire after the First World War and the process of decolonization after the Second World War.

This project is supported by the Academy of Finland funded Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives. Podcast hosts: Aada Pettersson and Floris van Doorn.

In this episode of the EuroStorie Podcast, we get to know Marco Piasentier, the new team leader of Subproject 2, Discovering the Limits of Reason – Europe and the Crisis of Universalism, who helps us unpack the concept of biopolitics. Drawing from the enquiries developed by Michel Foucault in the 1970s, biopolitics refers to perspectives concerned with the entrance of biological life into the sphere of political techniques. We ask questions such as: How has biopolitics emerged in the course of European history? And what is the relationship between biopolitics and the revolutions in scientific thought that occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries? Exploring the meaning of biopolitics in the present day and age, we also discuss its relevance to contemporary debates on the Covid pandemic and climate change.

This project is supported by the Academy of Finland funded Centre of Excellence in Law, History and the European Narratives. Podcast hosts: Aada Pettersson and Floris van Doorn.

In this episode of the EuroStorie Podcast we talk to Martti Koskenniemi about legal imagination and how it relates to the formation of international law as a discipline. Additionally, we discuss the different ways the basic structures of international power – sovereignty and property – have been conceptualized, and how the history of legal imagination can help us better understand the nature of these concepts and their uses.

This project is supported by the Academy of Finland funded Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives. Podcast hosts: Aada Pettersson and Karolina Stenlund.

In this first episode of the new EuroStorie Podcast season we dive into the history of East Germany, more specifically we tackle some of the narratives when trying to conceptualize “socialist justice” in the GDR. How did the judicial system of the GDR come into being? How did the GDR manage to engage people in upholding and supporting the moral values of the socialist legal system? More importantly, what role does the socialist “legal consciousness” (Rechtsbewusstsein) play in legal practice? University researcher and EuroStorie team leader Ville Erkkilä helps us answer these questions by giving perspectives on socialist justice through the examples of social courts and law on the protection of common property.

This project is supported by the Academy of Finland funded Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives. Podcast hosts: Aada Pettersson and Floris van Doorn.

Sustainability is a key goal in much contemporary social and political decision-making, from EU climate policy to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. But the term has many different meanings and uses. In this episode of the EuroStorie Podcast, legal anthropologist and sustainability specialist Professor Reetta Toivanen shares her insights on the concept of cultural sustainability, how it intersects with environmental protection and human rights, and how anthropologists approach the study of Europe.

The development and distribution of several effective vaccinations for Covid-19 means managing and living with the virus might finally be a tangible possibility. But the politics of ‘vaccine nationalism’ means distribution of the vaccine around the world has been highly uneven, while in Europe and other countries where they are widely available, there are many who worry about the safety, efficacy and accessibility of vaccinations. In this episode, we talk to Professor Pamela Slotte about her research on vaccine hesitancy and personal convictions, and connect the discussion to broader themes of public health, trust, and human rights in Europe.

What can architecture teach us about contemporary debates about national identity, Europe, and empire? Is early Roman architecture part of the legacy of Europe’s ‘common heritage’ as much as Roman law and politics? What makes a building look ‘Roman’, ‘German’, ‘Finnish’ or ‘European’? Juhana Heikonen will help us understand all these questions and more, drawing on his expertise as an architect and collaborator with the Law, Governance and Space project hosted at the University of Helsinki.

The longest-running international televised event in the world, the Eurovision Song Contest is famous for dramatic key changes and fiercely competitive bloc-voting. But what does it have to do with European cooperation and identity? How do stories of Europe and national identity play out on the musical stage? How can a contest that claims to be ‘non-political’ also claim to be part of the intrinsically political narrative of common European identity? And what is Australia doing in a competition for Europeans? This episode explores the history and politics of the ESC since it started in 1956, unpacking its dual roles in perpetuating narratives of Europe’s common heritage and in nation-branding, with plenty of the glitz, glamour and ridiculous costume changes of the contest along the way.

In this episode, Ali Ali talks to us about his research on the themes of belonging, community and solidarity in the lives of exiles and migrants who identify as queer or sexually non-normative. Critiquing dominant narratives of Europe as a place of security, freedom and justice, Ali explains what protracted processing periods and legal limbos, complicated state bureaucracies, and societal assumptions about the ‘authenticity’ or ‘deservingness’ of queer asylum claims do to people’s senses of safety, community, and self. He also shows us how intersections between the experiences of sexually non-normative migrants and other migrant experiences can shed light on how we understand national and regional identities, and the power politics that emphasise or hide certain parts of our selves.