Abstract

The original link between the mythical figure of Europe and the continent is speculative. During long periods, “Europe” was far from being the essential designation for the geographic and cultural space the term refers to at the present time. Neither the Roman Empire nor medieval Christianity considered themselves as essentially European. Nevertheless, partisans of European unity tend to project their ideal into a distant past, thus creating a teleological narrative with the EU as the coronation of history starting in Ancient Greece. The period after World War II saw the final decline of a European domination that had reached its apogee in the colonial empires of the late nineteenth century. Independence movements referred to European values as a means of furthering decolonization. In a postcolonial context, “provincializing Europe” remains one of the most important intellectual challenges.