Multilingual Web: On Europe, Its Languages, and Performances of Difference

This chapter combines voices from diverse disciplines—linguistics, literature, translation, theatre, and cultural studies—to unpack the above metaphor. Arguing that multilingual contexts emphasize the existence of differences, the discussion examines the complexities of multilingual dramaturgical webs and their operations in contemporary Europe. Through that, this chapter argues that multilingual dramaturgies create platforms for imagining new paradigms of otherness in Europe and seeing it as an inherent element of Europe’s communities, countries, institutions, regions, spaces, cultures, and their (hi)stories. By doing so, dramaturgies also destabilize the idea of Europe and ‘European identity’ as definable, stable, uniform, or unique. As the discussions show, multilingual dramaturgies can provide urgent political, social, and cultural leadership for understanding and responding to challenges arising from living on the rapidly changing continent.