Clara did her first semester in Groningen before attending the University of Strasbourg in the second semester. She just arrived in Osaka, Japan, for her research track. In the following article, she describes the academic lifestyle in Strasbourg, based on her and other Euroculture students’ experiences.
Strasbourg is a very vibrant student city with over 55.000 students, 20 percent of whom are coming from foreign countries. Situated at the historically symbolic French-German border, it hosts several European institutions and organisations. The Université de Strasbourg was first founded in 1621 and it emerges among Europe’s foremost research universities. What does studying in Strasbourg look like? To give Euroculture students an idea of what they can expect from academic life in France, this article concentrates on the teaching style, the courses offered for Euroculture students and the studying culture at the university in Strasbourg.
Strasbourg is known for its vibrant cultural life, and MA Euroculture students have had the opportunity to contribute to it by organizing a cultural event during their second semester.
This is the case for Clara, Eliisa, Emma, Ennio and Eva, who put in place an art exhibition at the Librarie Le Tigre on “feminist movements around the globe.” The event seeks to reflect the cultural differences that mark various feminist movements, particularly in contrast to the French feminist movement, which is better known to the people of Strasbourg. To arouse the curiosity of the public and to make them aware of the transnational character of feminist struggles, this exhibition showcases the work of three local artists from Strasbourg: Leontine Soulier, Manon Saumand and Wonderbabette.
About the Artists
Leontine Soulier is an illustrator and speaks of her history and the world around her. We see life, bodies, nature, and things that revolt or disturb her. With poetry and ever-present metaphor, she tries to finely instil ideas: to say a little, but not too much, to leave the reader free to read these images according to their own feelings, their experience, and their identity. For the exhibition, Leontine presented two illustrations in which she placed naked women’s bodies in curious positions, embedded in beautiful landscapes that remind us of the world abroad; without knowing exactly where this scenery takes place. It is hard to tell if those women are uncomfortable or peaceful: the artist wants to bring attention to the way that women need to constantly adapt to the world around them, wherever they go, keeping in mind their challenging position in a patriarchal society.
Manon Saumande is an artist and Master’s student in Plastic Arts at the University of Strasbourg. Her research subject is largely focused on the tensioning of the female body, as well as its strangeness. Particularly, Manon’s photographic work highlights the female nude through the self-portrait, using an intimate camera: the Polaroid. This kind of art can be considered controversial in some cultures as it challenges the boundaries of prudishness, and it exemplifies the variety of perceptions of and reactions to the female body in different cultural settings. It was the first time Manon participated in an art exhibition with her art, making this event a valuable opportunity for her to experience how it is to present self-made art to an audience, and an honour for the audience to experience her art for the first time.
Babette Rezicinier, aka Wonderbabette, is a multi-talented contemporary artist who conveys her candour and bubbly energy through her productions. She varies her modes of creations and never fails to surprise the public with her tender and witty way of interpreting the world and femininity. One of her installations is currently exhibited at the Librairie Le Tigre. In a tiny suitcase, you can find a screen that displays the injunctions of “good conduct” that used to shape women’s behaviour in relation to men. Whether the absurdity of those rules makes us laugh or leaves us sour, it is a relief to see that they have disappeared today; much credit and thanks to the work of feminist movements over the years.
The Exhibition Launch
On Friday June 3rd, 2022, two speakers were invited to the opening event of this exhibition and shared their expertise on the theme of transnational feminism with the public. The first speaker of the evening was Claudia Lam, a representative of the Council of Europe. With her experience as Deputy to the Director at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, she talked about the approach of the Council of Europe in terms of safeguarding women’s rights and promoting gender equality. By explaining complex concepts, such as the Istanbul Convention in rather general terms, she made her speech accessible for a wide audience to absorb and share. Lam concluded her talk by stressing the importance of intersectionality: the recognition that each individual has unique life experiences, and that the intersections of race and class, for example, with sex and gender must be taken into account when discussing discrimination and feminism.
The second speaker at the exhibition opening was Yvette Marcela Garcia. This expert is a cultural worker in the associative sector, has a doctorate in sociology without a post, is a lecturer at the University of Strasbourg, and a researcher associated with the Lincs Laboratory. Her research focuses on the sociology of social relations, feminist studies and the sociology of migrations. As a Franco-Chilean child of exile, she is interested in feminism in Latin America, especially in Chile. During the opening evening, Garcia gave an inspiring overview of the evolution of feminist movements in Chile, how they influenced and were influenced by other movements in Latin America. The point was to explore connecting cultures, and it was interesting to see that while feminism all over the world struggles with the same issues, there are still regional or cultural differences.
This event has shown to be a mixture of two worlds where art and expertise came together. Even though both disciplines do not per definition have the same target group as audience, their combination has been proven a valuable opportunity to increase the number of interested people. Whether a message is conferred through paint, photos, installations, or speeches, at the end of the day it is about reaching people the best way we can – and a multidisciplinary approach can help us do so. Therefore, we encourage everyone to think about how art, music, theatre, literature, speech, and all other sorts of cultural activities can be combined to strengthen any message worth spreading.
This exhibition on feminism around the globe was on display from June 3rd until June 17th, 2022 at Librarie Le Tigre.
The Euroculturer is proud to introduce you to our new project: the Euroculture City Guides! In this edition, Céliane Breuyre (French) and Diego Gómez Pimienta (French/Mexican), currently studying their second semester at the University of Deusto, Bilbao, will tell you all about their first-semester homebase, Strasbourg in France, where they studied at the University of Strasbourg.
The City Guide Project is led by Paola Gosio and Felix Lengers.
Euroculturer Magazine (EM) Why did you choose to study and live in this particular city? (what inspired you about the city?)
Céliane Breuyre (CB): Strasbourg is a very beautiful city that I had already visited before starting the Euroculture semester. It is a very lively city as well, especially on the weekends. Unfortunately, Covid did not allow us to take advantage of this but normally, it is a student-friendly city. As one of the European capitals, Strasbourg also has a multicultural dimension.
Diego Gómez (DG): I always wanted to live in France, and Strasbourg seemed really nice to live in. Having the EU institutions there was certainly a bonus since I aim to do an internship there.
Choosing, starting, and managing a project often are daunting tasks. The Euroculturer conducted a series of short interviews to showcase some of the many projects Euroculture students came up with in the Eurocompetence II course. These interviews were designed to give current and future students an idea of what has already been done and to learn from previous experience.
We asked each student the same three questions: What was your Eurocompetence II project? Did you put it into practice? How was your experience?Here are their testimonials:
Virginia Stuart-Taylor – Uppsala 2017 – War on Truth
Our class in Uppsala 2017 decided to plan, fund, and run the ‘War on Truth’ international conference on the topic of fake news, bringing students and locals into contact with leading figures from academia, think tanks, the media, and start-ups from across Sweden and the Netherlands. Held in May 2017, only months after Trump’s 2016 election, misinformation and fake news were crucial issues, making the conference well-attended and a big success.
The hardest part of working together on the project was the ideation phase and picking a feasible, realistic, and sufficiently stretching project. We looked to examples of previous Eurocompetence II projects for inspiration and scope but also scoped out our own skills, interests, available resources, and pressing issues it would be worthwhile to address. Once we settled on running a conference, the division of roles within the team and execution of our individual responsibilities was easier, and regular meetings helped us make decisions, keep on track and manage the project. Overall it was satisfying to complete such a tangible project as a conference, with our post-conference report being a good physical outcome.
Choosing, starting, and managing a project often are daunting tasks. The Euroculturer conducted a series of short interviews to showcase some of the many projects Euroculture students came up with in the Eurocompetence II course. These interviews were designed to give current and future students an idea of what has already been done and to learn from previous experience.
We asked each student the same three questions: What was your Eurocompetence II project? Did you put it into practice? How was your experience?Here are their testimonials:
Arianna Rizzi – Groningen – 2018 – EU4Groningen
My Eurocompetence II project was named EU4Groningen, an initiative aimed at spreading EU literacy and raising awareness on what the EU does for the residents of Groningen, with the final aim of motivating the locals to go and vote in the European Parliament’s elections of 2019.
The project, which received funding from Europe Direct, mainly consisted of a digital communication campaign – on Instagram and Facebook – and a physical event in the context of Groningen’s European Village during the Liberation Day Festival.
EU4Groningen was my first, true project management experience – little did I know that I would end up working in this domain! Anyways, from planning through implementation to evaluation, the teamwork experience I had within EU4Groningen taught me that negotiation is fundamental to make an idea come true in a reasonable (and feasible) way: project management is indeed a very democratic process.
Thinking back at Eurocompetence II at my second university, I am glad that our teachers invested so much time in detailing every step of how to kickstart, manage and evaluate a project. I have quite a lot of lessons-learned that I still bear in mind and try to apply in my job as a soon-to-be Project Manager.
Euroculturer Magazine: You are currently doing a Schuman Traineeship at the EPLO in Budapest. Why did you choose this organisation? Dorottya Kósa: On the one hand, I felt I was getting comfortable with academia and research in general, and in order to move out from my comfort-zone I wanted to try my luck in the professional field as well. On the other hand, after spending many years abroad in various European countries, this time I wanted to make use of my knowledge in my home country. I just felt like working as a Schuman Trainee at the EPLO in Budapest was really my call. I perceived it as a perfect opportunity to incorporate my international experience into the local context, as well as a great chance to get involved in the vital work of the European Parliament.
Celia Onsurbe Castellanos (2018-2020) is from Tomelloso, Spain. She started Euroculture in Göttingen and spent the second semester in Strasbourg. She has a background in Translation and Interpreting, holding a bachelor’s degree from the Autonomous University of Madrid (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid). After graduating, she applied for Euroculture because she wanted to do a Master programme in European Studies where she could also live and experience Europe in different countries. During the third semester she went to Mexico for the Research Track (UNAM) and was able to do an internship afterwards at the EU-LAC Foundation in Hamburg, Germany, before starting her 4th semester.
Guillaume Hemmert (2018-2020) is French and has a BA in English Language, literature and culture from the University of Strasbourg, France. He stayed there for his first Euroculture semester, and then moved to the University of Uppsala, Sweden, for the second one. He chose the MA because it was a good match between his academic background in languages and culture, and his ambition to open to new fields of study and acquire deeper knowledge in new disciplines, such as European politics, economics, or human rights, for instance. In the third semester, he did the research track at the University of Strasbourg.
EM: What were your expectations when you applied/started the MA Euroculture? And does it match the reality at the moment?
Guillaume Hemmert: I actually didn’t have specific expectations when I started Euroculture, as this master was about something that was almost completely new to me. Maybe my only expectation was to find the European/International environment I had already encountered during my previous academic exchange, and with 16 nationalities represented over three semesters in Strasbourg and Uppsala, one can probably say that this expectation turned out to be a reality. This criterion really played a role when I chose to enroll in this program, as I always considered it a very favourable environment to study. It is especially the case of Euroculture, when we debate on subjects such as politics and society on a European and global level. On a more personal level, this is always a great opportunity to meet people from other countries and continents, and to have a chance to discover new languages, new cultures, great people and great food, of course!
Emilio Dogliani (2018-2020) is Italian and studied Euroculture at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and at the University of Strasbourg, France. Before applying for the master’s degree, he did a BA in European Languages and Cultures at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. He applied for Euroculture because the programme allowed him to combine politics and culture and gave him the opportunity to do an internship, but also because he wanted to study in Germany and practice his German. He chose the professional track for his third semester and did an internship at the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) in Brussels, Belgium.
Euroculturer Magazine: What were your expectations when you applied/started the Euroculture MA and does it match the reality at the moment?
Emilio Dogliani: When I applied for Euroculture, I expected the programme to be very strict and with in-depth and specific courses that would allow me to learn a bit more about political sciences and European institutions, in a very international environment. The international dimension of the programme certainly was there, I continued in fact to work and study with many people from abroad, as I had already done during my BA. The focus on political sciences and the depth of the courses lacked a bit, as far as I am concerned. I expected the courses to be very specific and the workload to be pretty heavy, since Euroculture is in the end a Master’s. However, I found that the interdisciplinary aspect of the Programme, which is a plus compared to other monothematic MAs, was in some cases a hindrance to the knowledge that we as students could acquire. I also expected the evaluation methods to be more strict and knowledge-based, as almost all students come from very different academic backgrounds, but in the end the skill-learning seemed to fairly prevail on the topics learnt.
Gulnur Telibayeva (2018-2020) is a Kazakh Euroculture student. Upon the validation of her Bachelor degree in International Relations at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University of Almaty, Kazakhstan, she applied for the Euroculture MA in order to delve further into the question of European integration. She spent her first semester in Strasbourg, France, and her second semester in Uppsala, Sweden. For her third semester, she did an internship at the headquarters of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria.
Euroculturer Magazine: What were you expecting from the Euroculture MA, and did it meet your expectations?
Gulnur Telibayeva: It was the first time that I moved so far away from my family and hometown for so long: it’s been a huge mix of emotions, expectations and fears. I remember how excited I was for the degree itself. Naturally, it’s a very comprehensive Master, so I had prepared myself to think about my own priorities. My aim was to focus mainly on the topics of politics and cultural diplomacy. Since there’s a wide range of classes and a lot of freedom for your research paper choice, I have been pretty satisfied with the knowledge I have been gaining. I guess I didn’t expected that much individual and independent work. But this is probably due to simple differences in education system backgrounds. It gets tough, but it’s completely worth it!
The Euroculturer 