Dr Christoffer Leiding Kølvraa is Associate Professor at the Section of European Studies, Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Denmark.

His research interests are oriented towards the construction of European identity in political and cultural contexts, examining how European identity is constructed through museums, commemorative practices and symbol use, as well as how it is inscribed in EU policies, speeches and practices. In his book Imagining Europe as a Global Player – The Ideological construction of a new European Identity within the EU (Peter Lang 2012), he examines how a colonial idea of civilizational difference is still present in political discourses aboutthe EU’s role in the world, and in concrete policy initiatives such as the European Neighbourhood Policy. He has furthermore worked extensively with theories of discourse, ideology and affect, especially as these can be applied to the phenomenon of Far-Right Populism and neo-fascist groupings on the Extreme Right.

His recent publications include: Psychoanalyzing Europe? Political Enjoyment and European Identity (Political Psychology, 2018), Limits of Attraction: The EU’s Eastern Border and the European Neighborhood Policy. (East European Politics & Societies 2017), Extreme right images of radical authenticity (European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology 2017), European Fantasies: On the EU’s Political Myths and the Affective Potential of Utopian Imaginaries for European Identity (Journal of Common Market Studies 2016) Peace and Unity: Imagining Europe in the Founding Fathers’ House Museums (in Cultural Memories of Nonviolent Struggle, eds. Reading & Katriel, Palgrave Macmillan).