Young Minds Rethinking the Mediterranean

Throughout history, much has been written on why wars and crises occur and why human beings kill each other or are often so ready to do so. While some blame human nature, state structures or the anarchic order within the international system, others hold prejudices and the "othering" or dehumanizing of those different from us as being responsible. The region in which we live has particularly suffered a great deal from these violent processes. Nationalist ideologies, most of which were defined in opposition to one another, alienated "others," abstracted them from their humanity, and made them subject to various kinds of tyranny. Turks, Bulgarians, Greeks and many others had their share in this process of mutual alienation. Across the Euro-Mediterranean region throughout history immigrations have been imposed, publics extorted, crises fomented, and interventions and wars suffered through. The study in your hands sheds light on the processes of "othering" and alienation in large part responsible for this troubled history. It serves as a tool through which the past and the future can be understood. And it examines prejudice, the largest obstacle facing Turkey on its path to EU membership, while touching on various issues such as minority rights, the notion of culture, the role of symbols and other visual images in politics, the narration of culture within the capitalist order and its political outcomes, and finally the EU's Mediterranean politics.