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Brett Ashley Kaplan
Faculty Spotlight

Brett Ashley Kaplan

Brett Ashley Kaplan is a Professor of Comparative and World Literature and Director of the Initiative in the Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is also an affiliate faculty of the European Union Center. What is the focus of your current work and/or subject of your current research? I am currently working on a novel about mourning and planetary precarity entitled Rare Stuff. I've also written about Holocaust art and literature, monuments, and memorials, Philip Roth, JM Coetzee, Nicole Krauss, and...

EURO 385

EURO 385: Politics of the European Union

Considers the history of the European Union and its current functions and operations. Focuses on the ongoing process of political and cultural integration. Consists of sections in Illinois and abroad, interacting extensively via the worldwide web.

Europe and the Mediterranean

EURO 415: Europe and the Mediterranean

Examines the governments, societies, and cultures on the shores of the Mediterranean. Examines ideas associated with the Mediterranean and practices followed by its people and governments from the perspectives of a variety of disciplines, paying special attention to the region's relationship with the European Union.

Europe Palace

EURO 500: Dialogue on Europe

This seminar is a roundtable exploring a variety of topics related to Europe, transatlantic relations, the European Union, and the peripheries. Students will have an opportunity to participate in regular conversations about current issues ranging from cultural policies, migration, economic policies, bureaucratic politics, international security, sports, popular culture, and other topics of high salience to Europe and the European Union. Opportunities for guest speakers and readings on professionalization. Open to undergraduate and graduate students.

EU Parliament

EURO 501: EU Institutions and Governance

This seminar provides a multidisciplinary exploration of the institutions, competencies, policy areas, and governance modes of the European Union. By paying particular attention to the history and institutional arrangement of both Europe and the European Union, this course asks how it became possible for multiple, powerful, historically hostile nation-states to coordinate policies and eventually surrender elements of their sovereignty, sometimes in significant and meaningful ways. EURO 501 takes seriously the challenges that the EU poses to scholars in thinking about nation-states, sovereignty, and contemporary problems in Europe. The EU is often described as sui generis. The course uses this as a departure point to explore how unique the European Union is and how its structure has conditioned its responses to historical and modern challenges, both domestic and global. EURO 501 is a theory-driven course, and links between theory and practice will be frequently established. The relationship between “the components” and “the whole” of the European Union will be assessed. The relationship between the EU and other nations and regions of the world – particularly the United States and China - will also be considered. Finally, the course will also engage the students in thinking about policymaking and leadership at the European Union level versus at the member-state level.