ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME, KEY ACTION 2

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

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(FRIENDS)

Unit 11: European identity and values reflected in culture

Part 5
Assoc. Prof. Túry György, Dr. Quinn Florian

TRANSCRIPT

Gyuri: Hello everyone. We are in the radio studio at the university. And this segment of the
MOOC is going to be a conversation with a young stellar colleague who I'm going to introduce
in a second. We'll be talking about European identities and European values especially as
those things are seen from outside of Europe by a European person. So the young man sitting
next to me is Dr. Quinn Florian. He received him he's a full-time professor at this university
Budapest Metropolitan University. And he received his Ph.D. at the University of Singapore
in communication and new media parallel to his studies and before these years, he also
studied and has degrees in Arab Studies and International Relations. And he spent time doing
research and guest teaching in various countries all around the world including Denmark,
Switzerland, Austria, the U.K., and many other places. He has lived in Southeast Asia for a
couple of years. He will talk about these experiences. But let me mention now that among
those countries you find Malaysia and Singapore. And as we speak I can tell you that next
week he is once again leaving for I think Thailand. So he's an expert on the region and has
done a lot of comparative work concerning European identity values compared to Asian
values and identities. So, my first question to you would be to try to explain to us not only
the audience but myself because it's a really interesting question. You have lived and traveled
and studied in Southeast Asia for many years - has it changed or has it had any effect on your
view concerning your own European identity. So have you become a different man after
spending a couple of years in the really far from a region of the world. Or has it states table.
So how do you see those changes if there aren't changes at all?
Quinn: Yes, hi everyone. I think that if I lived to eight years in Asia for five years in Singapore
two in Malaysia and another in Cambodia and as you are saying travel itself is a very
transformative experience. So it changes you. But I can also say that mind that my identity

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 1
has changed enormously. I usually say that I learned as much about Asia, as much about
Europe and being at the same time. So how did it how my ideas of Europe changed when I
was in Asia for such an extended period. When we are here in Europe we like to think about
Europe as a very diverse place. Actually, there are more than 40 countries in Europe. I just
checked there and one in 200 languages spoken in Europe.
Gyuri: I didn't know that
Quinn: As well as a variety of religious-political system political ideologies represented all
over Europe. And we like to think about it as a very diverse place and we think that the world
sees Europe in the very same way. And when I traveled outside of Europe I realized that
Europe from Asia, for example, was a much more homogeneous place. It looks to be what
seems to be a much simpler place and in many ways and actually is it coincides with the
historical experience of Europe. How historically European idea identity was formed there
and got established because there was always an interaction between Europe and between
the rest of the world and how Europe started to think about himself or itself as Europe as a
single entity. It is pretty much connected to travel, it is pretty much connected to Europe's
experiences. Other places around the world, of course, it connects back to history - what are
those major historical events in Europe that we like to think about as being the basis of
European values? Of course, we would consider the Renaissance as one of the major
historical periods when the love of arts started to become a well-established value within
the European identity. Also, we would probably mention religion Catholicism or the
Protestant religion and how it connects back to the development of capitalism. If you think
about the work ethic especially the Protestant work ethic and also we would probably
mention the Enlightenment period which was the age of reason the age of science and also
the age of liberty freedom and equality. These are all European values that are historically at
the very core of European identity. For me being in Asia, it was really important to recognize
that it is not exactly the same way how people outside of Europe see European history.
Gyuri: I wanted to get back to show that issue. The last thing that you mentioned but what is
interesting to me and what I want to learn a little bit more about is that you mentioned those
huge big kinds of iconic you know events in European history and how they shape the way
we are they are identities and the values that we say we share. I mean that's another question
if it's true or not any longer but what is really exciting for me to hear more about is how these
things have been changing as we speak because I think we have entered an era in global
history in which globalization is no longer just an empty slogan but it really is the everyday
lived experience of all seven billion of us living on this planet. So I want to know how you see
how do you see these values being changed by these transformations. So how do you as a
young man in your early 40s see these issues, for example, the big global issues seen from
Europe as compared to see from other places of the world like climate change like

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 2
sustainable development global security? Today is late January 2020 and the whole world is
talking about this new virus. So these are everything that becomes a global issue. How do
younger generations respond to these challenges on this continent in Europe?
Quinn: I think younger generations are absolutely aware of these happenings all around the
world. So Europeans are very much well-informed although I would say they are pretty much
they tend to be sometimes obsessed with the old problems. For example, if we think about
the major of the school system major issues that are preoccupying European public opinion
not necessarily climate change at this point but we talk a lot about immigration. For example,
we talk about the state of democracy in different countries all of Europe. However, I see that
as young people travel from Europe to other places all around the world and as other places
from all around the world start to appear in Europe itself. This kind of interaction is very
intense and I think about places like Amsterdam or Berlin where you actually don't have to
leave Europe to meet the world right there. I mean we are talking about the case of
immigration experiences when face the culture of Europe changed. And probably these
experiences had a great influence on European identity. So when we talk about young people
and know what Europe means to two young people I would definitely think that globalization
is there at the very core of European identity multiculturalism and respect for other cultures.
The problem for the respect for the problem is the different ways of life are very much there
in the younger generations that European ideas or an imagined Europe.
Gyuri: We also read about that kind of theory - typical images that we have of each other.
Europeans are like these Asians are like that Africans are like that North Americans are like
this and that. How do you see that? Does the European mind or mindset or psyche does it
really differ? And if it does in what ways from Asian mindset the Asian way of thinking? So
because you know you really are one of the very few people who actually lived and
experienced? So how do they compare with each other? You know how do those identities
coming to be. And what are the results of those processes?
Quinn: So if I want to answer this question, we make the history talking to history to regain
a little bit because when we try to identify certain cultural psyches and cultural identities
than talking about Europe and its relationship to the rest of the world we cannot avoid
talking about orientalism Orientalism is a very much established way of seeing and
representing especially the east coming from Europe. One of the latest arguments that came
out of Orientalist thinking I think is the Asian values argument and according to the Asian
well use argumentation which has been actually accepted by many of the Southeast Asian
leaders through at least the last decades. Asians are considered to be more family-oriented
more community-oriented a much more disciplined maybe less eager in terms of freedom
liberty or think or issues of democracy and Europeans so I like to think about themselves
and their way of thinking that the these run use especially freedom especially equality liberty

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 3
at the very core of the European identity are they. So when you travel to Europe when you
travel out of Europe I think and this connects back to the very first question these major
points of European history are actually seen in a completely different way. When we talk
about enlightenment we also have to mention colonialism and for other parts of the world.
You cannot talk about Europe without talking about the colonial experience.
Gyuri: Are we more individualistic because it's one of those stereotypes that you know
individual liberty? Competition among individuals in Europe or Western civilization. You
know they are set to be kind of core values either positive or negative but really very much
embedded in this kind of culture. First of all, do you think it still holds true? That's my first
question the second one is how does it compare with the Asian scenario. Are they less
individual? Are they you know less keen on those values that we connect with like-minded
European traditions like democracy individual freedom competition. How about you know
religious thought for example. How about family values. How do you compare these two
societies in Western societies to speak generally in Asia?
Quinn: I think you have to mention some of my personal experiences. I mean I studied in
Indonesia later I thought.
Gyuri: Sorry to interrupt you but that's super important. How would you compare the
education systems, for example, you being part of the European in many countries in Europe
and you've been part of that in Asia. So you are again one of the very few people with hands-
on experience in both systems. Is it more kind of challenging and more what's the word I'm
looking for. Is there more pressure on Asian students for example?
Quinn: I think as of my personal experiences education systems in Southeast Asia especially
are very competitive, which also means that there is a great emphasis on knowledge. I think
knowledge in education has really great value for individual development and also for
societal development as a community issue. I'm not completely sure that in Europe where
universities being established for hundreds of years we still consider those institutions that
central to the development of the community as my experience in Asia.
Gyuri: I can feel that knowledge in education is pretty much at the very core of how Asians
today imagine the future. And if you look around in any big Asian city from Bangkok to Kuala
Lumpur or to Singapore or even if you just go to Japan and see how it changed in the last ten
years for example then you will see that we are probably living in an Asian century.
Quinn: I'm afraid to say that probably in Bangkok there are more skyscrapers than in Berlin
London and Frankfurt altogether. The architecture is modernizing you know incredible
speed. The demographics are very promising. There are many young people there. And the
development of the community in the way shown - education is very much there. And there

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 4
seems to seem to be a consensus within these Asian societies that these things will define
their own future.
Gyuri: Do you see you've mentioned so many very important issues. Do you see some of them
as contributing to a new emerging European identity? So are there issues, topics, feelings
you know, attitudes, orientations that Europeans actually should take over from our Asian
friends. Like for example hard work or even harder competition or being on top of things. So
you see the question I mean there's a new European identity emerging as we speak because
of the global issues. How do Asian values contribute to New Europe?
Quinn: It is a very very good question. Now I again have to start with the personal impression
which is that wherever I traveled and lived in Asia people were just extremely friendly. So I
am wherever I traveled I always felt at home it was like really arriving home. I mean being
in a family. So if there is something we can learn here in Europe about Asia is that just
because you are coming from a different place you can be back home. I think it is there in
Indonesia wherever you go. And then another thing is that when you travel in in in Asia and
when you live there for extended periods actually you start to admit that probably took place
and significance of Europe is completely different looking from other parts of the world that
it seems to be from the core of Europe. So I think if there is something we can learn from Asia
or from the New World Order let's put it this way. Is that your has to find its new voice its
new position and still raw in the world and if you ask me probably it will be closer to you
learning about tolerance and to learning about cooperation than to show any kind of
leadership anymore out here Miles.
Gyuri: It's a good crossing point in testing. Thank you so much.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 5