Tracking Europe

"Tracking Europe" is a bold interdisciplinary critique of claims regarding the free movement of goods, people, services, and capital throughout Europe. Ginette Verstraete interrogates European discourses on free movement for everyone and a utopian unity-in-diversity in light of contemporary debates and practices in Europe, social and cultural theories, historical texts, media representations, and critical art projects. Before turning to contemporary tourism and migration, she considers ideas of Europe, belonging, and citizenship developed by Rousseau, Napoleon, Kant, and Derrida, and she explores the history of tourism in Europe from the eighteenth-century Grand Tour to the present. Verstraete examines the extensive, high-tech promotion of tourism undertaken by the European Union and member countries as well as by regions and municipalities. She discusses the rhetoric surrounding high-profile events such as the European Union's designation of nine cities as Capitals of Culture in 2000. Each city was expected to present its cultural uniqueness - from spirituality (Cracow) and creativity (Avignon) to nature (Reykjavik) and technology (Helsinki) - while also emphasizing unity through joint promotions and events. Europe's ongoing investment in tourism stands in sharp contrast to its treatment of immigrants and refugees. Increased migration has been accompanied by ever more stringent regulations concerning migrant labour, family reunion, and the right to acquire citizenship. Human smuggling has grown in response. Border control, security measures, and criminal investigations have heightened, abetted by the quick transmission of images and information. Verstraete studies these and other productions of mobility and immobility as they relate to the inclusions and exclusions of a European community. She concludes by examining video art projects that critique contemporary Europe; Verstraete was involved in B-Zone: Becoming Europe and Beyond, a video exhibit focused on Europe's expansion to the East.