1. Do we always apply the right label?
2. What happens if we don't apply the right labels to the right people , nations , places ?
A term that many times was the subject of confusion and misinterpretations is "european" . Many would tend to use this term to describe the nations that are found in the between Europe's geographic limits .
If we would label this statement as true a number of questions would come in to discussion , we will try list this question and maybe if we would find a reasonable answer to each of them we will finally put and end to our dilemma .
Q : 1. Why we often hear statements like " Ukraine is making rapid steps in its integration in Europe" ?
We are tempted to assume from the start that the sentence has no validity . Every person that so at least once Europe's political map , noticed that Ukraine is positioned in eastern side of the continent , bordering the following states : Russia , Belarus , Poland ,Hungary , Slovakia, Romania and the Republic of Moldova .
A: Actually here the notion of Europe is used to describe a cultural space . In some contexts the term Europe is used describe the continent (as a physical entity) , in other it is used with a cultural meaning . Scholars from the english speaking world use this cultural connotation to refer to the states of Western Europe , those excluding the states of the former communist block .
Q : 2. How can we interpret this statement " The population of Texas is made up of europeans , blacks and hispanics" ?
A : Here we see a other connotation of this term , that of a racial group . In some situations the term european is used as a synonym for white/ caucasian . Even though today this usage is not that popular anymore , in last centuries this connotation was used in the states that gain independence from the British Colonial Empire to describe people who belong to the caucasian race .
"European race" - is quite a controversial term , do to the fact that it use to describe the caucasian race but it the same time it excludes from this family subraces that have darker skin tones , like the ones in the Middle East and North Africa.
Q: 3 .The notion of european identity traditionally comes hand in had with the notion of christianity . What about countries like Albania , Bosnia , Kosovo and Turkey ? They are predominant muslim nations but in the same time they are part of the european continent from a geographic view point.
A: It's almost impossible to give a single answer here , especially in the case of Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia , do to the fact that 100% of the territories of this states are on the european continent .They can be classified as european if we take in consideration the linguistic , historic and geographic aspect .
As for Turkey , it can be classified as noneuropean country do to the fact that most of it territory is in Asia , this from a geographical perspective . It can be considered a european nation as a result of the fact that it is the successor of the Ottoman Empire , a nation that had a huge impact on european history and culture.
Q: 4. Define the following term : Western Culture .
A: It is used to describe the industrialized nation of the First Word . This term in not limited to Europe , it also groups nations from North America ,Australia and sometimes South America. On the other hand it excludes the industrialized nations of Asia and Africa.
Conclusion : After looking at all the questions and answers from above, we can tell that there is not a single way in which we can define the idea of being european . But we can give a couple of dimensions to this notion:
1. European - as a racial group , that incorporates only the light skin subraces.
2. European - being part of the european continent .
3. European - synonymous with Western Culture.
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