i am a native foreigner

I am a native foreignerDealing with the change: communities, memories, narratives

ICOM Europe Annual Conference, Bologna, 14.11.2017

Night of the Greek referendum, 2015

The Catalan independentist leaders heading to Court, 2017

“A European collective identity is achievable

despite the lack of a ‘European people’. Collective

identity should be understood as arising through

conversations and narratives about identification

and belonging to a political community, undertaken

in a European public sphere. (…) In a European

public sphere, identities may be reshaped, and the

degree of attachment may be strengthened or

weakened through democratic processes.”

European Commission “The Development of European Indentity/Identities:

Unfinished Business” (2012)

“The European Union's fundamental values are

respect for human dignity and human rights,

freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of

law. These values unite all the member states – no

country that does not recognise these values can

belong to the Union.”European Parliament website

Member States are close in terms of

values:

• young 56% among 15-24 year-olds

• more educated57% studied beyond the age of 20

• top social scales62% upper middle and 57% upper

Struggling for free food, Athens, Greece

News of the terminal decline of NHS (or the benefits system), UK

Waiting to board a bus, Lesvos,

Greece

At the Hungarian border

Demonstrations in France because of the removal of a Roma girl from a school

bus by immigration officials, threatening to deport her.

The Catalan referendum

Czech legislative

elections campaign

Brexit campaign

“A woman’s adultery is a very serious attack on the

honor and dignity of a man. Societies exist where an

adulterous woman is stoned to death. In the Bible, we

can read that the adulterous woman should be punished

by death.”

“White Europe of brotherly nations”

“Pray for Islamic Holocaust”Nationalist march in Warsaw on Polish Independence Day, 11.11.2017

Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg, President of the European Commission

Marion Bloem, Holland, Writer, of indo descent (mixed Dutch and Indonesian)

Giannis Adetokunbo, Greece, Basketball player, son of Nigerian immigrants

Children of the Muslim minority in Northern Greece

Maria Vlachou, Greece/Portugal, Cultural Manager

Francisca Van Dunem, Portugal, Minister of Justice

Audrey Azoulay, France, ex-Minister of Culture, of Morrocan descent, Jewish

Anonymous, Britain, Muslim

Anonymous, Britain, trans woman

Conchita, Austria, Performer, a man in a dress

Anonymous, Spain, where a dictionary defines “Gypsy” as “swindler”

Elmedini, Roma, stateless

Shirin Ebadi Kurt Westergaard

National Museum of Archaeology, Lisbon

Grada Kilomba, Table of Goods, MAAT, Lisbon

Cypriot terrorists / resistance figherts

Ahlam Shibli, Phantom House

Jeu de Paume, Paris

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Cornelius van Harlaam,

“Bathsheba at her toilet”

(1594)

“(…) Because Bathsheba’s

maidservant is black, the

subtly erotic painting takes on

an exotic tinge.”

“Things have changed so much

that I often feel like a stranger in

my own country.”

Thank you

Maria Vlachou

mariavlachou.pt@gmail.com

Blog: Musing on Culture