*** DANIELA ELSNER, LUTZ KÜSTER, BRITTA VIEBROCK (Eds.): Fremdspachen-kompetenzen für ein wachsendes Europa. Das Leitziel "Multiliteralität". Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Kolloquium Fremdsprachenuntericht" series, No. 31. 2007, 330 pp, €48-80. ISBN 978-3-631-56632-9.
This publication follows on from a conference at Bremen University (Germany) in June 2006 organised by the Langscape group, a European network of linguistic researchers wishing to focus on multilingualism in education and stress the importance of language in people's cultural identities. The conference was held in English and German, with contributions in Spanish and French, and involved participants from many different countries, languages and cultures in Europe under the heading "Multiliteratism and its impact on the education agenda in Europe". This is a new concept and some explanation is required. The idea comes from the English-speaking world, where it was mooted by the group of US researchers called "The New London Group" (New London referring to a small agglomeration in New England), which published a manifesto in 1996, "A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures," which set the learning process against the backdrop of a world being transformed by a mixture of cultures, migration, the diversity of language, economic and technological globalisation and the sheer speed of intellectual transformations, taking account of the fact that all these changes would clearly impact on the construction of social and linguistic identity among future generations. Education was no longer only about transmitting knowledge and facilitating learning but was now contributing to building a new society, designing social futures.
The Bremen conference was about applying this approach to the new education needs inherent in the unification for a multilingual, multicultural European Union, transformed root and branch by new technology but still seeking its identity. It is in this perspective that the essays in this book are so very original. In order to understand the dimension that the Langscape researchers pursue through the use of their new concept, one first has to understand that the term 'literacy' has a very clear meaning. According to the definition set out by the OECD, literacy is the ability to understand and use written information in ordinary life, at home, at work and in the community in order to achieve personal goals and extend one's knowledge and skills. The essays in this book aim to demonstrate that the new literacy that new Europeans should acquire involves a multiplicity of languages, cultures, values and new skills that will enable them to become those new European citizens whose identity is to be constructed by means of 'multiliteracy'. Most of the book's essays focus above all on the multi-language dimension of the new education of Europeans and the book opens up fascinating perspectives for new reflection on pedagogy in the future. The book's editors acknowledge this in the introduction, commenting that although numerous issues require further research and it is necessary to set out the concepts with greater precision and shed greater light on the implications of this new approach for future education policies, taking account of the cultural and political context of each of the EU's twenty-seven Member States, the Bremen conference was a first tangible step in this direction. The book accomplishes its aims with consummate skill.
Gabriel Fragnière
*** JEAN DUTOURD (and friends): Eclat et Fragilité de la langue française. Editions France Univers (3 rue d'Estienne-d'Orves, F-92110 Clichy-la-Garenne, France. Tel: (33-1) 47378912 - Fax: 47308563 - email: France.univers@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.France-univers.com ). 2008, 227 pp, €22. ISBN 978-2-914-43717-2.
'Would you like to contribute to the defence and illustration of the French language by devoting a page to this both painful and exuberant subject? You would be contributing to the fight being fought by our small, courageous association for fifty years.' This appeal was made by French Academy member Jean Dutourd, chair of the 'Défense de la Langue Française' association. Some eighty "combatants" from France and French-speaking countries answered the call in order to put a halt to the 'vandalism' undergone by the language of Moliere from Americanisms, sales jargon, gross advertising and nonsense propagated by ignorant translators. Without a about, this book will be welcomed by many readers as bearing witness to rearguard action, but for those who know how to read between the lines, the book is also, above all, an ode to linguistic diversity, particularly linguistic diversity within the European Union. "What we forcefully reject is the dumbing down of a simplistic monolingualism under the erroneous pretext that this would be the inevitable price of a certain type of globalisation," argues the refined and measured Jean-Pierre de Launoit, the Belgian national who chairs the Alliance Française. The vitriol dripping from the pen of Hervé Lavenir de Buffon and Jacques Myard in relation to the European Commission's policy of dropping French, scorn at the European Commission which, under the influence of the British and other English-speaking nationals, has ended up making Europe a region in a transatlantic system dominated by Anglo-Saxons, is another illustration of the same malaise. "While the last bastion is still standing, success is still possible," Jean Doutourd reassures himself. Failing which, one would just have to console oneself by acknowledging that swan songs are such beautiful music…
(PBo)
*** GEORGIOS TERZIS (Ed.): European Media Governance: the Brussels Dimension. Intellect Books (The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol BS16 3JG, UK. Internet: http://www.intellectbooks.com ) and European Journalism Centre (Résidence Palace, 155 rue de la Loi, B-1040 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2352347 - Fax: 2352345 - email: info@ejc.nl - Internet: http://www.ejc.nl ). 2008, 215 pp. ISBN 978-1-84150-198-7.
To celebrate its fifteenth anniversary, the European Journalism Centre in Maastricht, the Netherlands, came up with the excellent idea of publishing this book, which comments usefully on how media governance is operating at European level, particularly within the European Union. Edited by an associate professor at Vesalius College (part of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel), the essays show how regulation of the media is now carried out outside national boundaries and how ten organisations representing the industry beaver away in the shadows of the European institutions to influence EU legislation. The authors examine the European institutions (European Commission and European Parliament), television broadcasting, film production, the written media, advertising, journalism and consumers of media products. A very useful book that demonstrates that the soft power favoured in the information society remains, to quote the words of Alison Harcourt of Exeter University in the introduction, very "opaque" and devoid of any true hold or even coercion over the protagonists.
(MT)
*** LEEN ENGELEN, ROEL VANDE WINKEL (Eds): Perspectives on European Film and History. Academia Press (2 Eekhout, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium. Tel: (32-9) 2338088 - Fax: 23314 09 - email: infot@academiapress.be - Internet: http://www.academiapress.be ). "Film & TV Studies" series, No. 4. 2007, 279 pp, €30. ISBN 978-90-382-1082-7.
It will come as a surprise to nobody to learn that films have a huge influence on public opinion, morale and even the subconscious of many people. Historical films are also a major source of information for the general public and an excellent way of pursuing political objectives. One could quote, for example, the film "The Six Day War" about the Holocaust, which led to a change in awareness in the United States in favour of Israel, or " Schinder's List," the last scene of which symbolised Israel as the only refuge for Jews in Europe, which had a huge impact on global awareness of history. One can also query the image that cinema can give of individuals who are responsible and capable of acting on their world to achieve their ends, which serves the fashionable paradigm of free market capitalism (perhaps slightly less so these days) in the West. Films also produce 'myth generators,' a kind of 'useable past' that justifies and reinforces a country's image. The powers that be rarely refrain from using this type of material when required to foster a political agenda. It is hardly surprising therefore that the scientific community has appropriated the issue, particularly because apart from the rather sterile debate about the accuracy of historic facts propagated in this type of movie, researchers have paid little attention to European films, focussing their energy instead on Hollywood blockbusters and a handful of arthouse films from European production companies. Aware of the capacity of movies to share the past, create and reinforce social myths and define what is good and what is evil, several academics analyse European film history in this book in order to discern the messages conveyed and examine the extent to which it contributes (or fails to contribute) to reinforcing national identity. To this end, they picked nine films, ranging from "Der Untergang" to "Jeanne d'Arc" via "Andrei Roublev" and “Cromwell," that they dissect in order to discover the extent to which they rewrite the past and the extent to which they are, or have been, used for national and political ends. A book for Everyman, shedding useful light on an art which paradoxically, despite being so familiar to everyone, is so little understood…
(NDu)
*** THOMAS EILMANSBERGER, GÛNTER HERZIG: Jahrbuch Europarecht 2008. Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag (42/6 Argentinierstrasse, A-1040 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 5356103-24 - Fax: 356103-25 - email: office@nwv.at - Internet: http://www.nwv.at ). 2008, 420 pp, €44-80. ISBN 978-3-7083-0523-3.
Edited by two professors at Salzburg University in Austria, this new issue of the Yearbook of European Law highlights the constant changes in EU legislation in all disciplines. Covering 2007 and the first few months of 2008, the various articles provide a perspective on the likely development of European law in the future through an overview of EU legislation in the pipeline. In addition, the articles give readers insight into a series of legal cases processed by national or EU courts. This highly detailed book covers a wide range of EU law, such as the direct effect and primacy of EU law, visa and asylum legislation, freedom of establishment and the freedom to supply services, European competition law and, in Austria, customs rules, legal protection, the freedom of circulation for workers and consumer legislation.
(EPi)
*** GABRIELE KUCSKO-STADLMAYER (Ed.): Europäische Ombudsman-Institutionen. Eine rechtsvergleichende Untersuchung zur vielfältigen Umsetzung einer Idee. Springer (P.O. Box 89, 4-6 Sachsenplatz, A-1201 Vienna. Fax: (43-1) 3302426 - email: books@springer.at - Internet: http://www.springer.at ). 2008, 598 pp, €89.95. ISBN 978-3-211-72840-6.
Director of Vienna University's Institute of Public and Administrative Law, Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer has written a comparative study of the legal foundations of ombudsmen services in Europe. She examines the ombudsman system in each country that is part of the Council of Europe, along with the system in new EU Member States and accession countries (all of which have a national mediator service). The Scandinavian concept of the ombudsman is at the heart of this reflection, which focusses on the ombudsman and his/her powers. Comparing and contrasting the various organisations at national level and how they operate, the author draws attention to the problem of heterogeneity in terms of both how procedures are launched and the subject matter and degree of control, in addition to how the systems operate. This extremely comprehensive book will be a valuable source of information that will help in the settling of legal cases at national legal.
(EPi)
*** FRANCESC MORATA, GEMMA MATEO (Eds.): España en Europa, Europa en España [1986 - 2006]. Editions Fundació CIDOB (12 Elisabets, E-08001 Barcelona. email: subscripciones@cidob.org - Internet: http://www.cidob.otg ). "Interrogar la actualidad" series. 2007, 434 pp. ISBN 978-84-87072-90-1.
Spain has covered considerable ground since it joined the European Community in 1986 if one looks back to the situation at the start of the 1980s and compares it with the situation today. The example of Spain was often quoted as an illustration of the benefits of joining the European Union for young, fragile democracies and their economies. Twenty years on, the European Studies Institute of the Autonomous University of Barcelona has drawn up a balance sheet, looking at what joining the EU has meant for Spain, analysing the country's membership and Europeanisation process, how Spain has influenced European policies and how European policies have influenced institutional, political and social processes in Spain. The book is written in the language of Aragon. It starts by looking at the strategies introduced by the Spanish government to influence institutional reforms and the setting of the European agenda during the last Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU. The second section looks at the impact of Europeanization on the Spanish state apparatus' structures and processes, and also on Spanish public opinion. The final section looks at the domestic and foreign impact of seven policies, including the Common Agricultural Policy, Economic and Monetary Union and telecommunications.
(NDu)