Uncanny Europe: Derridean Hauntologies of History, Unity and Identity in Films by Nikolaus Geyrhalter

The contribution addresses current crisis discourses on the (non-)identity of Europe and, based on ideas of Jacques Derrida, identifies the "uncanny" as a new core motif of these discourses. The most important aspects of this motif — the repression of past conflicts and the controversies about Europe's relationship to the Other — are then discussed in detail using films by the Austrian director Nikolaus Geyrhalter (born 1972). On the one hand, I exemplify and specify facets and effects of the uncanniness of European identity as they evolve from aesthetic cultural production — the best possible field for explorations of the uncanny, according to Freud. On the other hand, this exploration will also shine a new light on the œuvre of one of today’s most prominent Austrian filmmakers and its rich hauntologies of Europeanness.