| This dissertation is an analysis of two cases of how cultural and legal discourses reinscribe the ethnic and religious boundaries around European identity. The first case is an analysis of the unprecedented European response to the Freiheitspartei's participation in the Austrian government, and the second case examines the Danish immigration law which bans forced marriages for non-European Danes.; Despite an official rhetoric of tolerance, Europe continues to have a problematic relation to its Muslim Other, I argue. Only today, the Other has also moved "inside" of Europe, and the Danish case is an example of how raced and gendered bodies of immigrants are not allowed full access to the European narrative. While they are often unable to return to a "homeland," they are kept in eternal Diaspora inside Europe.; By analyzing the two cases together in the same framework and by weaving together a set of theories from different academic disciplines (postcolonial theory, identity construction, international relations theory, feminist theory, and legal theory), I am able to point out some of the various ways in which European identity is constructed today. Despite their different level of analysis, my two cases converge in their particular use of European ideas, and in the construction of both the European and what I call the "Almost-European" Other (those who are geographically close to Europe but still foreign to it).; By relying on a Foucaultian notion of power as productive and affirmative rather than merely restrictive, I am able to tease out insights about European identity construction which, I believe, escape a more traditional analysis, namely that European identity is not only produced by European institutions but also as an unintended effect of very local politics. In other words, whereas the Austrian case was a conscious effort, on behalf of "Europe," to negotiate and come to terms with current issues in European politics, the Danish case suggests that these issues are more widespread and also take place below the level of recognition---in this case, in a piece of national legislation concerned with standards for how to marry properly. |
