The European [revisited with Immanuel Kant]

This essay takes perspective into supranational European identity from humanistic and historical points of view. Immanuel Kant defines the Age of Enlightenment as a kind of coming of age, where a person learns to think for himself. The same development can be seen in the history of the European nation state and in the latest progress of the European union. By looking back at the history of Europe, we can highlight crises that have affected the European identity, much the same way as identity crises affects the growth of a person. Read how the Asterix comic novels can be related to these questions.

Introduction

The Age of Enlightenment, the great 'Age of Reason' – is described as the period of rigorous scientific, political, and philosophical awakening that characterized European society during the 18th century. The era includes several different developments that have irrevocably shaped the structures of European society, the way individuals think, and thus the European identity. Enlightenment undermined the domination of the monarchy and church, paving the way for the big revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries, although the ideologies of the Enlightenment have not generally been seen as instigators to direct revolutionary actions, it’s clear that they lay pavement for the formation of the nation states in Europe.

Speaking of graphic novels and graphic characters, quite often first ones to come in mind are the superheroes of American comic art, possessing weird powers and superhuman virtues. In the European comics the characters are most often of different type. The European characters tend to reflect stereotypes of everyday people. The artists cleverly catch, for example, the essence of different national features or political influences. Especially Belgo-Franco style describes the characters in the narratives naively, childlike behavior with jagged features and expressiveness of an immature character. The lead roles in Asterix are a sharp-witted combination of both superheroes and childlike characters, and the adventures have references to both historical events and contemporary culture and politics. That is why I chose Asterix to illustrate this paper.

When we read non-fiction literature and fiction, according to Louise Rosenblatt (1988), our reading can be recognized between what she calls ‘efferent’ and ‘aesthetic’ readings. Efferent reading is to gather information and facts, whereas aesthetic reading is to enjoy and experience the text with immersive and experiential stance. Even with these two definitions of reading, in each act of reading, readers tend to switch between them in a non-fiction/ fiction binary. Let’s try to apply this into this essay.

The Foundation

The name Europe derives possibly from the princess Europe of Greek mythology. According to ancient myth, Zeus fell in love with Europe and turned himself into a white bull among the herd of Agenor, the father of Europe. When Europe, with her girlfriends, was picking flowers on the meadow, she noticed the bull and decided to caress it, beautiful as it was, and finally got on its back. Zeus ran Europe to the seashore and swam to the island of Crete, where he revealed his true figure. They fell in love and Europe become Zeus' spouse. Metaphorically referring to this fable, Europe, our continent can be interpreted as a worldly abstract that symbolizes this divine union.

Historically, it is customarily said that the European cultural heritage is based on the influences of the Ancient Greek, the Roman Empire and of Christianity from the Middle East. ?Ancient Greek antiquity creates an ideal where the finest possible forms of all art flourish. This is evident in the fact that all our literature is inherited from the Greeks. Antiquity laid the foundation for everything that is written after it. Many consider the humanism and joyfulness in western literature and culture origin from the Ancient Greeks.

The desire for power, on the other hand, the foundation for European imperialism and the provenance for technical ability, derives from the culture of the Roman Empire. The Romans were the first to transfer cultural capital from one language to another, and to translate and modify the language. First the Romans conquered the tribes that inhabited their own peninsula, such as the Etruscans and the Latin and Greeks who immigrated to the area, and after this, they spread their power along the shores of the Mediterranean. The Romans conquered all that is nowadays known as Europe (All? No! Except the small village, located in the Armorica region in northern Gaul, the only settlement the Romans could not reach due to the typical indomitability of its inhabitants). The unparalleled idea behind the stretch of the Roman domination was to flexibly incorporate and mold the culture of the conquered region into their own culture. Rome was the first world power and therefore, their way of living, laid the foundation for globalization today.

Later as the Roman Empire passed its peak and crumbled in Europe, the period of Migration began. During this period, several different tribes moved out of their former neighborhoods and changed the demographic and political conditions in Europe. The movement involved, among others, Germans, and Slavs, as well as Turkish-speaking and Iranian-speaking people. The movement was from the steppes of Eurasia and from Central and Northern Europe towards the Roman Empire, which was no longer able to defend its borders and maintain a central government. These migrations ranged from improvised fistfights and raids, to organized army movements molding the cultural and geographic foundation of Europe with external influence. Shortly after, the Islamic conquerors occupied the Eastern and Southern parts of Europe and brought their own cultural expertise and prestige to Europe. From 711 AD Muslims, Jews, and Christians were present in medieval Spain, creating eventually a culture of tolerance which ended in 1492 with the Emirati of Granada losing a battle. This was not to last, and Christianity re-emerged from the catacombs slowly becoming the dominant religion of Europe.

It is said that our ethics originate from Christianity. This, I hope, is not the sole origin, when looking back at the course of history from the shadow of the religious wars. Through the Middle Ages the model of a feudal society, supported by Christianity, spread from France to the rest of Europe. In Britain, a dispute between the nobility and the king over the division of power led to the writing of Magna Carta and the establishment of a parliament. The papal power grew, the Inquisition opposed heresies and Europe set out on a crusade. First Jerusalem and then the world. Christianity gave Europeans the mandate unlimited to conquer the world, and the shedding of blood was certainly not spared.

In the 15th century, The Renaissance, an era of culture, art, and ideology, began. Science opened the view past the religious boundaries and a desire for adventure and the pursuit of profit encouraged the exploration of the ends of the earth. European empires, especially Spain, Portugal, and later the Netherlands, France, and Britain, built large colonies in Africa, America, and Asia.

As a result of political, economic, and cultural changes, not to mention the competition of power, nation-states took shape in Europe. This development is often linked to the modern era and distinguished by its governance from the medieval feudal state and the absolutist state. Almost all states established in Europe by the end of the 19th century and later are nation states. Many of these have been established by merging states within a nationality boundary. Nation states and rivalry of power were the last kicks for the European expansion. The European way of living, getting married, breeding, trading, owning, inheriting, and dying, has since spread to almost everywhere in the world, apart from a handful of exceptions.?

European Civilization and Identity

Civilization generally refers to an individual's mental development or maturity. Therefore, civilization can be considered as the acquisition of knowledge; however, profound civilization is seen as something that one cannot simply read from books. Civilization is collective and has a social meaning. One can refer to example of a Nation's civilization or a Western civilization. In this way, civilization identifies itself with the concept of culture. Furthermore, civilization can also refer to the transition from a natural state to an organized society.

We Europeans, easily connect the concept of civilization to the enlightenment. Enlightenment can be defined in many ways, for example as an idea, as an era, or an action of criticism. Enlightenment can be approached from the perspective of communication history, in which case it is viewed through the development of reading and writing skills. The Enlightenment is a special epoch in that contemporaries already called it by this name. Also, Kant (1784) asks whether we are currently living in a time of enlightenment. This means that at least literate people could see and feel the rapid transformation of the society, it can also be interpreted through the development of the political publicity sphere. All the elements that can be attached under the name of enlightenment are not necessarily political, but the political dimension of enlightenment cannot be ignored or denied.

The word Enlightenment is a metaphor from ancient literature. It describes the idea of how after the time of darkness and shadows comes the time of light. When used in the 18th century, it was a completely secular concept that meant a change in a person's state of mind and understanding. As the sky brightens in the morning, enlightenment would bring the light of understanding. All belief in supernatural apparitions and magic would be wiped out

Civilization and identity are also a pair walking hand in hand. In a way, identity is an extension for civilization. It identifies who we are and where we belong, and at the same time, who we are not. A narrow definition is the difference between us and them, traditionally between nations or countries. National identity usually reveals itself in situations where we need to indicate clearly who we are. To be more explicit, to identify a range of cultural elements that are ours, such as capital cities, oaths, passports, national attractions, the countryside, popular heroes and heroines, forms of etiquette and ‘all those distinctive customs, most bizarre rituals, styles, and ways of acting and feeling that are shared by the members of our community.

We may choose to refer to a wider European identity, in situations where the national is not enough to describe our political and religious perspectives, open mindedness or larger entity where we come from. ?To move past the murderous divisions and conflicts and set the nation state as an institute in oblivion for a while. European identity is an extension to European civilization.

The value of this extension is highly significant. It varies considerably among countries, and this variation can be accounted for by the specific challenges that countries are exposed to. The most acute test of mass European identification is faced by those nations that will decide whether to join the EU, and by those having decided to exit it, such as the UK.

The creators of Asterix both have an immigrant background, Goscinny was Jewish and Uderzo Italian. They both have faced racism integrating in French society. They used their own experiences to create the series in which they could present their outsider view of Frenchness [francité], the national French identity that they portrayed in a sympathetic and ironic way.

The boundary that citizens define between ‘us’ and ‘them’ no longer runs between different European nation-states but is instead constructed to divide the nations. In the last decade, right-wing nationalism has reared its head almost everywhere in Europe, and the basic values known as the cornerstones of the EU, on which the European identity is also largely built, have had to wrestle with parochial, cliquish, and racist thoughts.

When it comes to politics and decision making in democratic ways, this division becomes two-faced, who belongs to ‘us’ and who are among ‘them’. The boundary between who is included and who is excluded is an interesting turn on the European ideology. The search for like-minded people that extends across national borders changes national identity. Many scholars have claimed that the unity of Europe consists in its contradictions: its plurality, diversity, and inconsistency. Europe is the bouillon de culture.

In ancient Greece and in the Roman Empire it was clear who belong us and who was them. At the dawn of democracy, only a very few could enjoy the power of the people. During the national migrations, it was a matter of a mass movement, where culture and identity were shaped by large groups of people. Having said this, the foundation for European cultural heritage in my opinion lays more on the period of migration than Antiquity. What we face now as modern time migration is exactly of the same origin. To understand it and welcome it requires tolerance.?

Most of the?Asterix?adventures take us into other countries usually located in Europe. In the albums that takes place abroad, Asterix meets stereotypes for each country, and he always welcomes the cultural differences with highest politeness. The books treat history as a simultaneously occurring non-sequential series of events which took place not just relative to the series, i.e., before it or after it, but within its exact time frame. All historical events are treated as contiguous and are cited indiscriminately. In addition to this Goscinny and Uderzo are following the current time, with clear references to the cultural changes of time.

European Utopia

The way we see the world, and the supremacy of western order now a days, gives us an illusion of dominance of democracies. It is easy to forget that from global perspective Europe in fact was a latecomer when it comes to human civilization.

Let’s have a closer look: The rise of agriculture took place in the river valleys of Fertile Crescent, and the first real Empire-scale entities emerged in Asia and Northern Africa. Even the ever so highly praised Greek philosophy can be traced to Ionia, or Eastern Anatolia. And later, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Middle East regained its role as the Centre of civilization, and around 1250–1350 there were signs of a world system with its center of gravity outside Europe. Awakening of consciousness about European domination can be dated at around the 17th century, as a consequence of the Renaissance and the rise of modern science.

The Old Continent, the literary or historical way of referring to Europe turns out to be at least partly a misleading idiom. The truth is that we still live the early days of European history. Past the Enlightenment, past industrial revolution and after somewhat breathtakingly fast and murderous national movements, which compared to the development curve of the whole human civilization look like toddler defiance, we are again opposing a new era, wherein we can see an opening to more unified Europe. Already for a couple of decades, Western countries have been talking about the deterioration of democracy from global perspective. Voting percentages and the number of people participating political parties have steadily decreased. However, these crisis-aware speeches have not led to actions that strengthen democracy. Not even the financial crisis or the rise of populism have brought reforms. Until year 2016 changed the game. Great Britain's decision to leave the EU, the tearing election campaign in the United States and Donald Trump's ascension to the presidency defying all the usual patterns of politics have highlighted many pain points of democracy that require urgent treatment.

Let’s look back to history for more thorough perspective. Here is a tight fast forward to the history of European Union (EU) now juxtaposed with the references of the Asterix novels:

The Beginning Post WW2

EU: The Union is set up with the aim of ending the wars between neighboring nations, the latest being World War II. The goal was to "make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible". 1950 the European Coal and Steel Community begins to regulate industrial production. The founding fathers are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The 1950s was presided by the Cold War between rival superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States. In Europe, protests in Hungary against the Communist regime are crushed by Soviet tanks in 1956. In 1957, the Treaty of Rome comes to conclusion of the European Economic Community (EEC) creating the ‘Common Market’.

Asterix: 1959 the first appearance of "Astérix le Gaulois” in Pilote magazine, introducing the small atypical heroic figure who always wins with mere human intelligence against all odds an enemy that seems overwhelming.

Economic Growth 1960 - 1969

EU: The 1960s is a blooming period for the economy, by the fact that the Union abandons customs in trade. Joint control over food production is agreed on, and soon there is even surplus agricultural produce to export. European economy is growing faster than ever. The end of the decade brought with it nasty setbacks, Vietnam War, riots, student radicalism and political murders. The occupation of Czechoslovakia and the great French demonstrations tore Europe apart after it was rebuilt prosperously, democracy was completely lost for a while.

Asterix: 1968 Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield: Warrior chief?Vercingetorix?surrenders to?Julius Caesar. The Chieftain’s shield is lost, and only the wit of our heroes saves the Gauls.

A Growing Community 1970 - 1979

EU: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join the European Union 1973. Energy crises hit the European market following the course Arab-Israeli war of October 1973. The last right-wing dictatorships in Europe end with the overthrow of the Salazar troops in Portugal 1974 and the death of Franco of Spain 1975. In the year 1979, all European citizens can elect their members directly to The European Parliament. The energy crises of the 1970s changed the way we think about natural resources and inspired environmental advocacy. The EU adopts environmental laws and introduces the phrase the polluter pays for the first time. The fight against pollution intensifies.

Asterix: 1971 Asterix: The Mansions of the God: Idéfix appears as an environmental activist barking for the Romans cutting down trees.

The Changing Face of Europe 1980 - 1989

EU: In the beginning of the decade Greece, Spain and Portugal joined the EU. 1982 Britain defends clumsily its remaining empire in the Falklands war. In 1986 the Single European Act is signed. The Berlin Wall is pulled down in 1989 and the border between East and West Germany is opened for the first time in 28 years. This leads to the reunification of Germany, and to a new era in Europe and the whole world.

Asterix: 1983 Asterix and son: A baby boy mysteriously appears on Asterix's doorstep one morning.

A Europe Without Frontiers 1990 - 1999

EU: With the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism across Europe, Europeans become closer neighbors. In 1993 the Single Act is codified with the four freedoms: movement of goods, services, people, and money. Two major EU agreements are signed, the Maastricht’ Treaty in 1993 and the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999. Awareness of environmental issues is growing and at the same time concern for European military security. ?In 1995 the Schengen agreement is signed with three more new members: Austria, Finland, and Sweden. The agreement gradually allows people to travel without having their passports checked at the borders. Millions of students start studies abroad with EU support. Second wave of feminist movement begins. Communication blooms as more and more people connect using mobile phones and the internet.

Asterix: 1991 Asterix and the secret Weapon:?Parodies feminism, gender equality/relationships, education, and military secrets.

Further Expansion 2000 – 2009

EU: The euro is now the new currency in Europe. 911 becomes synonymous with the 'War on Terror' after terror attacks in New York and Washington. The EU converges to fight crime. Ten new nations join the EU in 2004, in addition to Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. In Finland this is a period of strong international and economic growth. Global recession paralyses trade in 2008.

Asterix: 2005 Asterix and the falling Sky: An alien spaceship appears above the Gaulish village, causing nearly all the people and animals to turn rigid.

Challenging times 2010 – Today

EU: The global recession strikes hard in Europe. 2012, the EU is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Croatia joins the EU in 2013. Leaders agree to reduce harmful emissions to tackle climate change. Eurosceptics are taking seats to a worrying extent in European Parliament elections in 2014. Religious extremists are igniting hotspots around the world. Russia invades Crimea, Europe faces an unprecedented influx of refugees and at the same time, terrorist attacks in Europe terrifying citizens. Corona virus spreads the world. Russia assaults Ukraine.

Astérix: In January 2015, after the terrorist attack against the satirical Paris weekly Charlie Hebdo, Astérix creator Albert Uderzo came out of retirement to draw two Astérix pictures honoring the memories of the victims. ”Je suis Charlie”

2019, Asterix and the Chieftain's Daughter: Julius Caesar has learned of Adrenalines existence and wants her taken captive and re-educated to Roman ways.

An endless sequence of unfortunate events. Looking back at the short history of the EU, it is easy to say that we may not be facing a very bright future any time soon either. If we think these crises from different frame of reference, we can correlate this to identity crisis or identity diffusion of an individual. These issues with identity are often characterized by a lack of commitment to goals and values; the person lacks a basis for making consistent choices and decisions. Crisis are a consequence of loss in control.

Jürgen Habermas was primarily interested in crises of social systems, but there is a strong resemblance to individual development. He proposed that there are two kinds of social identity crisis, which he called ‘legitimation crisis’ and ‘motivation crisis′ A legitimation crisis for community is a failure to fulfill hopes, demands and expectations it has placed on itself. In the behavior of citizens, this is reflected as dissatisfaction with the prevailing conditions and disbelief in the future. Legitimation crisis in Europe can be seen as a democratic short fall. The system has failed.

This short fall leads to motivation crisis. Lack of motivation is obvious, when the reality seems harsh, education, hard work, building a career, voting and other social activities do not seem to lead to success, starting a family and leading to active, prosperous, and happy life. Especially young people and lower social classes, including immigrants, are unwilling to pursue the development of the system towards the common goals, since these goals are seemingly reachable only for some citizens.

As a union of sovereign states, or if we like as a federation, Europe is maybe not anymore in its infancy, but clearly still not past puberty. This means that identity crisis will continue also in the future. The European identity stems from European history and current phenomena at the same time, creating national, transnational, and supranational features in everyone’s own identity. We live in interesting times from the point of view of democracy and inclusion. European utopia looks again harder to reach. No one knows for sure, what Western democracies, their institutions and international organizations will look like even in five years. That is why it is more challenging than usual to paint concrete pictures of the future. It is possible, that we are moving towards with digitization, data, and artificial intelligence super-democracy, where every person is easily involved in decision-making, and we see representative and direct democracy emerging alongside new tools of influence. Klick, klick klicketyklick your opinion, demand and vote is counted in, and you can see the change emerging immediately. Or we may as well be on our way to time, where democracies fight for their existence against authoritarian rule in front. This new uncertainty is mirrored to our identities for sure.

What we perhaps can learn from this reading, is to understand the underlying social message in Asterix graphic novels. Utmost important is to recognize that it’s not Asterix or any of the individual characters that represent the heroic image of the Gallic people. The village, the whole community, brings strength against oppressive powers. The Asterix comic books can be read with both ways described earlier, with ‘efferent’ and ‘aesthetic’ reading. This way the reader gets an explanation for the storyline. Some philosophers claim that understanding is the goal of explanation, but that too is very subjective, especially since the explanation is invisible in the graphic novels, it is left to the reader to understand and interpret it. This writing at hand is my understanding and interpretation, hopefully it raised some thoughts in you too.

**Since its creation in?October 1959 (René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo in the magazine?Pilote) each new Asterix release is an important event in Europe, especially in France. The comics have?been translated in all European languages and totally into 111 languages in the world. To celebrate the?60th birthday in Octobre 2019 Asterix published the 38th edition “Chieftain's Daughter” introducing the first main female character, '' Adrénaline. The latest novel, ''Asterix and the Griffin''?released 2021 is the 39th book in the?Asterix series.

Literature:

Beard, Mary. 2002. “Going for Gaul: 40 years of Asterix.” The Guardian: Asterix, London Review of Books. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/feb/14/londonreviewofbooks.

Heikkil?, T. & Niskanen,S. (2004) Euroopan synty: keskiajan historia. Helsinki: Edita.

Kajanoja, J., Koskinen,Y.(2016) Hajoaako unioni? : kirjoituksia EU:n kohtalonkysymyksist?. Helsinki:Into.

Kant, I. (1784) "An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?" ("Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufkl?rung?")

Kokko, H. (2010). Sivistyksen varhaista k?sitehistoriaa.?Kasvatus & Aika,?4(4).

Menocal, M.R. (2002). The Ornament of the World. How muslims, jews and christians created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain. Back Bay Books.

Morin, Ed. (1987) Penser l’Europe. Paris: Gallimard.

Oulton, H. (2021) Astérix and the impossible text. Adaptation and intertextuality in Historical Fiction, Academia Letters.

Rosenblatt, L. (2005) Making Meaning with Texts: Selected Essays.?Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Smith, A. (1991) National Identity, London: Penguin.