Pictures of Angela Merkel in a Nazi uniform, burning German flags, newspaper articles portraying Southern Europe as work-shy and Northern Europe as tight-fisted. The eurozone crisis has thrown up old stereotypes, often digging into well-established historical images of ‘the other’. The conscious (ab)use of national prejudices by politicians and media and the strong emotional reactions among European citizens have caused a lot of concern among politicians and intellectuals, fearing negative implications for the whole European integration process. It is evident that the current crisis takes place in a framework of dynamic creative but also potentially very destructive processes putting into question years of integration efforts.

This panel brings together scholars who examine the nexus between the (economic) crisis and the use of historical images, prejudices and stereotypes by focusing particularly on media and political discourses in different European countries. By gathering scholars from different universities in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece and Switzerland with different disciplinary backgrounds (political science, anthropology, history, media studies) and from different generations, this panel examines the topic from the widest possible angle.