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Wild dances and dying wolves: simulation, essentialization, and national identity at the Eurovision Song Contest

Wild dances and dying wolves: simulation, essentialization, and national identity at the Eurovision Song Contest
Wild dances and dying wolves: simulation, essentialization, and national identity at the Eurovision Song Contest
This paper examines Eurovision as a site for the public representation of the nation and explores the tendency towards simulation in such representations. The contest’s transnational audience and implication in commercial practices create pressures towards representing the nation through simplified, well-known images. A critique of globalization from south-east Europe argues that cultural production from marginalized countries which emphasizes local distinctiveness is a sign of structural inequality. This critique is tested against representational strategies from Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia. Eurovision is then related to tourism through an analysis of the representation of the Mediterranean in Eurovision performances, which reflect symbolic hierarchies constructed by travel writing since the Enlightenment. Finally, the paper considers the overarching representational power exerted by host states.
eurovision song contest, popular music, folklore, national identity, croatia, bosnia-herzegovina, serbia, ukraine
1540-5702
173-189
Baker, Catherine
50f848f3-f852-43ef-8bbc-a087313a779f
Baker, Catherine
50f848f3-f852-43ef-8bbc-a087313a779f

Baker, Catherine (2008) Wild dances and dying wolves: simulation, essentialization, and national identity at the Eurovision Song Contest. Popular Communication, 6 (3), 173-189. (doi:10.1080/15405700802198113).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper examines Eurovision as a site for the public representation of the nation and explores the tendency towards simulation in such representations. The contest’s transnational audience and implication in commercial practices create pressures towards representing the nation through simplified, well-known images. A critique of globalization from south-east Europe argues that cultural production from marginalized countries which emphasizes local distinctiveness is a sign of structural inequality. This critique is tested against representational strategies from Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia. Eurovision is then related to tourism through an analysis of the representation of the Mediterranean in Eurovision performances, which reflect symbolic hierarchies constructed by travel writing since the Enlightenment. Finally, the paper considers the overarching representational power exerted by host states.

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Published date: July 2008
Keywords: eurovision song contest, popular music, folklore, national identity, croatia, bosnia-herzegovina, serbia, ukraine

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 66292
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/66292
ISSN: 1540-5702
PURE UUID: 00d4934e-44db-47e5-846d-5b17539281cf

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Date deposited: 29 May 2009
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 18:14

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Author: Catherine Baker

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