In recent years, interest in the notion of recognition has been growing in the social sciences and in philosophy, and increasingly this interest can also be found in cultural studies. Concurrently, the question of recognition has shifted its focus. For some time the theoretical discussions were mainly bound to the question of recognition of the collective identities of social or ethnic groups. However, since the 1990s discussions have centered more and more on the question of how social relations and human interactions contribute to the construction of the individual's identity. Instead of focusing on social groups and their struggle for recognition in a specific social setting, scholars now mainly focus on the way in which the individual's identity is build up in social relations and interactions. Especially Axel Honneth, head of the renowned Frankfurter Institut für Sozialforschung, has described those relations as struggles for recognition. According to Honneth, these struggles play a major role in the constitution of the individual's social identity. Nevertheless, it is still not clear how these social interactions and the individual's struggle for recognition contribute to the construction and development of cultural and political identities, neither at the level of the national state, nor at a transnational European level. In other words, are there some social and juridical relations of recognition, which are preconditions for the development of future political and transnational identities? Which role do cultural dimensions play in the struggle for recognition, and is it possible to identify universal, formal dimensions of this struggle, which might function as the foundation for a progressive, inclusive European identity? Can articulations of migratory experience in the cultural field help to shed light on the possibilities of developing a progressive European conception of identity? The seminar will address these questions from a range of different perspectives - including the social sciences, literary studies and cultural studies.