Dear Readers,
This semester's topic in class will be the European Union and anything connected to that, such as EU & languages or finance and economy. After the Christmas holidays we are supposed to hand in an academic paper dealing with the EU. As our English teacher said, it can be literally anything that interests us and that can be somehow connected with this institution or it's member states. Our homework for this week was to make up our minds, do some research and make notes for some five topics that we would like to write about. So here's what would be my favorites:
- The Life of Gypsies within the EU and there status in – for example – Romania would be a topic that I would really like to find out more about. I was always fascinated by the life of these people. One reason could be that I have this stereotypical idea about gypsies in my head. See, as a child I always loved Esmeralda from one of my favorite Disney movies "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". But I also know that these people live tough lives as I've seen it in Albania, for example, and that's why I'd like to find out more about that.
- LGBT rights in the European Union are a very interesting topic. Especially, if you take a look at certain countries. Following the example set by Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, which can probably considered the most "gay friendly" countries, most of the other member states still need to do their homework.
- Asylum in the European Union is a topic I am very interested in. Mainly because I have a friend who is an aslylum seeker and his story has been on my mind for over half a year now.
- LGBT rights on the Balkans and how it affects EU member candidates is something I'm already taking a closer look at for some time now. I travel the Balkans a lot and know I'd like to know what has changed in Croatia – the youngest EU member – towards acceptance of LGBT people. Further I'd like to take a closer look at the FYR Macedonia where there is least protection for LGBT people. Discrimination and stigmatization of the LGBT community in this country is very high and violence against LBGT human rights defenders and inflammatory articles by journalists don't make the situation any better. Hateful expressions and attacks are also existent in Montenegro. Serbia bans the pride march again and disturbing news come from Turkey where "honor killings" of gays are reported.
- The Accession of Turkey to the European Union and the negotiation progress is particularly interesting for me as I study also Turkish language and culture. I love Turkey very much, but there are a lot of criteria that need to be met
What do you think about it? The setting of this homework also was to comment on two of our colleague student's blog posts in order to give them some advice on which topic to choose, tips or helpful resources. So I'm gonna do that now – and I would be very pleased and happy to receive some comments from you!
Thank you!
İyi geceler,
Alexander Bey
Really good choice of topics. I like especially the first one. Don't ask me why I would just love to read something about the gypsy culture. In Hungary they are the biggest minority and I know many personaly. They have a much better sense of community. They hold together and for them the family (which is mostly very big) means everything. I really respect that. It would be great to see it clear what their situation is in the EU. For example, in what aspects does it differ from any other minority's situation ?!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Harry. Your suggestion would definitely make up some interesting points for the paper already. The importance of family (and also its difference in size) is something I know from Turkish culture. Really interesting that you know some Roma people. Maybe we could talk about that topic some day, I'd really like to get a more non-negative biased view of that culture or see it from a different perspective.
DeleteHey Alex,
ReplyDeleteI like your topics, although I have to say that two of them are quite similiar.
If I were you, I would choose the topic about Gypsis or the one about the accession of Turkey in the EU.
I think that the second topic would probably be most interesting for you because it combines two themes you are interested in. On top of that, Turkey becoming a member of the EU is a controversial topic and it will definitely change a lot in the country.
Hope you find the right one :)