The Hellenic American University in Athens, Greece, hosted the third biannual International Conference on “Europe in Discourse” from September 23-25, bringing together 200 academics and professionals from more than 20 countries to explore what is unique about Europe and why “Europeanness” matters.
With the theme “Tracing Identity Through Values, History and Borders,” the third rendition of the conference picked up momentum from its prior two through conversations about the future of Europe and its identity. The conference gave rise to lively discussions between keynote speakers, panelists and delegates about issues pertaining to the European Union, especially the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rise of populism and populist rhetoric.
“Europe in Discourse” functions as an open call to political analysts, communication experts, diplomacy and security experts, public leaders, historians, economists and policymakers from a variety of fields to engage with the conference themes and submit written abstracts. Of the 240 announcements submitted this year, 82 were accepted.
“Ambiguity,” said Hellenic American University President Leonidas Koskos, characterizes all the texts concerning Europe. Koskos said ambivalence reflects the lack of a strong narrative about Europe and the lack of interest or information among European citizens about issues concerning other European countries or peoples.
“The purpose of the International Conference ‘Europe in Discourse,’ which is repeated every two years, is to demonstrate the problems of Europe in their essence,” Koskos said. “That is why not only linguists, but also experts from other academic subjects, as well as practical people, participate in the conference.”
Niovi Rigou, head of the European Commission office in Athens, opened this year’s conference by speaking about the importance of the European vision.
The main speakers of the conference were Professor of Linguistics and Communication Michał Krzyżanowski (Uppsala University); internationally renowned geographer, geopolitician and diplomat Michel Foucher (Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme); author, historian and academic, Soti Triantafyllou and professor of European Affairs Christian Lequense (Sciences Po School of Political Science).
Professor Juliane House (Hellenic American University – Director of the Doctoral Program); Professors Evanthis Hatzivasileiou (EKPA), George Prevelakis (Panthéon-Sorbonne University), George Pagoulatos (Athens University of Economics) and Federico Romero (European University) participated in the individual plenary panels.
Other participants included Evangelos Livieratos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki); professor Effie Pedaliu (LSE), MP and professor Dimitris Kairides (Panteio); Tasos Hatzivasileiou MP and professor (Hellenic American University), linguist Samuel Bennett (Adam Mickiewicz University); professors Nano Ruzhin (American University of Europe); Nico Carpentier (Universita Karlova); Mario Pezzini (OECD development Center) and Arnaud Leconte (Centre International de formation Européene).
The next “Europe in Discourse Conference” is scheduled for September 2024. For more information about the conference, visit the website.
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