History
Geography
Identity
In this lesson we are going to find out:
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What is identity?
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Which factors determine our identity?
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Is there an European identity?
You will have to listen but most of all you will have to think and reflect, look in your interior and find out who you are, which factors influence you, which factors determine your identity, how can you choose among the inputs you receive...
Enjoy and find out who you really are!
DISCOVERING THE MEANING OF IDENTITY
We have already introduce this issue in class and found out some things that influence who we are or who we think we are.
In this online activity you are going to go deeper on this issue.
Watch the following video or click on this link to watch it on youtube.
In the video John Withmore develops and exercise with 4 questions (use John Withmore's questions and not Elsa Punse'ts activity). On a word document, write down the 4 questions, think about them and write your answers. It is important that you give long answers to express your ideas so that you cand discover who you really are and so that I can understand them. Use those answers to look in your inside and find out who you really are. You may find out that you think you are somebody or you present yourself to others in a specific way but you are somebody different.
By the end of the lesson, send the document to the teachers email.
Is it possible to define a European Identity?
Now that you are aware of the what identity is and we have reflected about national identity we are going to try to find out if there is such a thing as a common European identity?
Many Europeans are now part of an economic and monetary union, but do these elements alone bestow a "common" identity across a continent of peoples?
Is the idea of a shared European identity even possible in a continent of such diverse heritages and cultures?
Just as personal identities shift and move, notions of European identity both past and present also change and morph into something else; something new.
In today's activity we are going to compare and contrast several maps of Europe from different centuries in order to understand how Europe has been a place of constantly changing borders directly affecting the identitites of those living on the continent.
And reflect about the painting "Europe: Work in Progress" from the House of European History permanent exhibition.
Look at the maps and answer the following questions:
1. What do you see when you compare the 3 maps of Europe from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the 20th century? Are you surprised in any way?
2. What does the changing borders show? What do these changes indicate? How were they achieved?
Now, look at the painting "Europe: Work in Progress". You can see how the geographical contours of Europe are thick brush strokes:
1. What kind of impression does this technique create?
2. What do you think the artist has tried to say about the European Union by using this technique?
3. What are the similarities and differences between this image and the three maps of Europe you looked at just before?
4. Do these different maps make you think differently about your own national or European identity?