Does anyone know what European means? Manuela Boatcă thought she did, until a late 1990s move from Romania to Germany unsettled everything she had taken for granted. In this episode, she challenges mainstream ideas of “Europe” to show how its borders extend to the Caribbean (and beyond) – a fact that’s obvious if we acknowledge colonialism’s past and present, but is an inconvenient truth for some in political power.Alexis and Rosie ask Manuela: How has Brexit revealed the contradictions built into so much discourse about “Europe”? How does “Creolizing” theory differ from “Decolonising” it? And what is the legacy of early sociologist Max Weber’s leading question: why the West?Plus: a celebration of Immanuel Wallerstein’s World Systems approach, which decentres the nation state. With reflection on Stuart Hall, Edouard Glissant, Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih.Guest: Manuela BoatcăHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.Episode ResourcesManuela, Rosie, Alexis and our producer Alice recommendedArton Capital’s The Passport Index“Europe” travel guidesAntoni Gaudi’s Sagrada FamíliaDaša Drndić’s novel “Canzone Di Guerra”From The Sociological ReviewThe material effects of Whiteness – Aleksandra LewickiPuzzlement of a déjà vu – Nirmal PuwarThe ambiguous lives of ‘the other whites’ – Dominika Blachnika-Ciacek, Irma Budinaite-MackineBy Manuela BoatcăThinking Europe Otherwise(Dis)United KingdomCounter-Mapping as MethodWhat does British citizenship have to do with Global Social Inequalities?Further reading“Provincializing Europe” – Dipesh Chakrabarty“Poetics of relation” – Édouard Glissant“The Creolization of Theory” – Shu-mei Shih, Françoise Lionnet“Sweetness And Power” – Sidney Mintz“The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” – Max Weber“The Essential Wallerstein” – Immanuel WallersteinRead more about the work of Stuart Hall, Fernand Braudel, Aníbal Quijano, Enrique Dussel, Walter Mignolo, Fernando Coronil and Salman Sayyid.Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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