Diversity of perspectives on Europe: ambiguities around the distinction between the ‘internal’ and the ‘external
Diversity of perspectives on Europe: ambiguities around the distinction between the ‘internal’ and the ‘external

Summary/Abstract: Trying to reconstruct and understand different perspectives on Europe and European identities, initially we made a distinction between the ‘internal’ and the ‘external’. In the course of the research process, however, this distinction proved to bring more ambiguities than it was supposed to resolve. Analysing the autobiographical narrative interviews with people born, raised and living in Europe, on the one hand, and those born on different continents and now living in Europe, on the other, we realised how complex the process of identification with Europe can be. The diversity of perspectives on Europe cannot be brought down to rough distinctions between the ‘internal’ and the ‘external’ as much as European identities cannot be brought down only to people, or to all the people, living on the European continent.

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