This thesis is concerned with the investigation of how the tradition of European 'films of voyage' articulates themes of national identity in relation to questions of boundaries and cultural diversity in the European context. This work begins with an examination of literature on the nation and nationalism vis-à-vis questions of cultural diversity. This is achieved by exploring both the 'modernist' and 'post-modernist' trends which provide useful concepts and guidance for investigating national identity as a form of collective affiliation. It is argued that national identity has to be understood in terms of the relatively stable cultural boundaries that distinguish between 'us' and 'them'. This research goes on to explore the distinctive features of the European film of voyage' which developed within the post-war period. In this context, two sub-narratives are identified and examined: 'aimless journeys' and 'journeys-quests'. The specific films examined are fourteen 'films of voyage' produced in several national contexts encompassing almost fifty years. Three case studies are conducted for a closer analysis of a group of six films relating to three specific national contexts (i.e. the German, the Portuguese, and the Greek vis-à-vis the Balkan space). This aims to relate a detailed analysis of textually described elements to their historical and cultural contexts.

This dissertation offers an investigation of the discursive function of national identity in the project of European integration. Its focus is the discursive dynamics created in the context of European Union Enlargement to the former communist states, and its geographical locus is the Balkan region. Exploring the transformations of national identity narratives in two Balkan states – Bulgaria and Macedonia – the analysis aims to uncover the discursive mechanisms of accommodating national identity in the process of empowering Europeanization. In the theoretical and meta-theoretical frame of poststructuralist discourse theory and within the structure of a small-number comparative case study, the investigation selects six narrative groups. They are centred around key elements in the narration of national identity: nationhood, territory, purpose, statehood, language, minorities. Traditionally interpreted within the hegemony of nationalism, these elements are identifiable in the national identity constructs of both of the studied states. Using qualitative methodology based on discourse analysis, the empirical study traces variations in these narratives in the course of the democratic transition and the preparation for EU membership at the macro level – the state. The purpose of the investigation is to reveal the logic of reading national identity within the empowering discourse of Europeanization. The findings demonstrate that the discursive space of the European project upholds a positive, emancipatory, optimistic vision of national subjectivity. Marginalizing antagonistic interpretations of national identity narrated in the discourse of nationalism, Europeanization reveals the potential to significantly increase the credibility of national identity as a source of collective self-iden tification at the level of the state. This can stabilize the discursive space of European integration and ensure the political relevance of the European project. Where nationalist readings of identity succeed in challenging the hegemony of Europeanization, national identity appears more antagonistic and less compatible with the progress of integration in Europe. In this sense reading national identity emerges as the touchstone of the integration project.

Despite its supposed secularization, in the last decades Europe has witnessed the flourishing of neo-populist movements - commonly regarded as 'extreme right wing movements' - which are characterized by charismatic leaders who proclaim their world- rejecting Salvationist creed to a devoted following. Previous explanations of these movements have been primarily materialistic. While valuable, such explanations do not address the internal beliefs, practices and world-views that motivate these groups. This thesis uses extensive archival material, interviews, publications, speeches, and other empirical data from within two of the most successful such groups, the National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen and the Northern League of Umberto Bossi, to develop a more productive and inclusive model of charismatic political movements in the contemporary West. The thesis pays special attention to the non-material dimensions of these movements, focusing on the cultural frames that sustain the groups, sacralize them and provide them with a world-view and place in history. These findings are systematized and integrated into an ideal type, designated as "Missionary Politics." This missionary form of politics should be understood, following the methodological path of Emilio Gentile and Roger Griffm, as a cluster concept, defmed as a political religion, and characterized by a dynamic interaction between charismatic leadership, a narrative of salvation, outsiderhood and ritualization, and the creation of a moral community invested with a collective mission of battling 'conspiratorial enemies and of redeeming the nation from its current crisis. The thesis argues that the notion of Missionary Politics sheds light on non- material dynamics in contemporary radical populist movements that have previously been unnoticed or ignored by contemporary social analysis. Furthermore, current trends toward increased globalization, European integration, and Islamic immigration have the potential to increase the allure and potency of charismatic European faith-based movements proclaiming a politics of salvation.

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This thesis investigates struggles for meanings and social understandings of Europe taking place through cultural institutions, festival sites, and art projects. I claim that culture is a social field where meanings of Europe are made. I argue that meanings of Europe that emerge in these cultural sites are not prior or given, but are a result of struggles between the actors involved. They These meanings are to different degrees particular and autonomous, depending on the proximity of a given cultural site to the political structures of the state and the EU. This research identifies that actors who construct Europe’s meaning do so according to common patterns. Europe’s meanings evoke notions of unity – it is a symbol of coming together. At the same time, what different actors mean by Europe is an articulation of their particular ideals circumstances and aspirations, rooted in their direct contexts. In other words, in culture, there is but one Europe. There is not one Europe. This is confirmed by how Europe is understood by the immediate audiences of these cultural sites. It is perceived as relevant only when translated through familiar contexts – specific, local or national – and only then it is embraced. The background of the analysis is the significance of aesthetic culture in modernity, its role in making the nation, and its social imagining. This thesis examines the ways in which culture today demonstrates a similar capacity in regard to Europe, albeit in a micro scale. The methods employed are discourse and audience reception analysis, as well as participant observation. The empirical investigation comprises of a microanalysis of sites of cultural production. The case studies selected for this analysis, drawing on studies of cultural nationalism, include an online cultural outlet, an independent film festival and a transnational cultural festival, as well as a series of state commissioned contemporary artworks, all of which claim to be European in one way or another.