In recent years, nations have regained prominence as central symbols of political unity and mobilization, and proved capable of serving political goals across the political spectrum. Yet, the current revival of the national extends well beyond the realm of politics; it is anchored in the logic of global capitalism, and has become inextricably intertwined with the practices of promotion and consumption. Our article seeks to map the interface between nationalism and economic life, and bring some clarity to the so far fragmented debate on the topic, which developed under diverse headings such as 'economic nationalism', 'nation branding', 'consumer ethnocentrism' and 'commercial nationalism'. We focus more closely on developing the concept of consumer nationalism, which received little sustained attention in cultural studies and in social sciences and humanities more generally. We offer a definition of consumer nationalism, situate it visa -vis the broader phenomena of economic nationalism and political consumerism, and propose an analytical distinction between political consumer nationalism and symbolic consumer nationalism. Drawing on existing literature we then consider a range of examples and examine how these two forms of consumer nationalism become involved in the reproduction of nationalism, taking into account both consciously nationalist discourses and practices as well as the more banal, everyday forms of nationalism.
A nation needs its own fiction. It is for this reason that many countries have used fictional narratives to create a self-image. This article describes the role that fictional television series play in the process of nation building and proposes an analytical model that is based on quantitative and qualitative methods. It is argued that national identity is promoted through referential elements in fictional discourse, most of which are territorial and linguistic, although some are historical, institutional and cultural. It is also argued that the process unfolds in a politically controversial space of contestation where national culture is defined. The author studied the production of fiction on Catalan public television from 1994 to 2003, analysing content and documentation and carrying out in-depth interviews with scriptwriters and managers. The article points out how important cultural policy and production dynamics are in determining the kind of nation that is being represented.
This work describes the results obtained from a study of the journalistic handling of news related to the petrochemical industrial complex in the area of Tarragona (Spain), one of the most important such complexes in Europe. The research questions referred to how and in which sense the petrochemical industry is reported in the local newspapers and which conditioning factors must be taken into account to understand this treatment. The author applied frame analysis to a corpus of 1337 news items, conducted in-depth interviews with selected journalists, and analysed vocabulary choices and information sources. The results show that the industry was largely framed in economic terms and that almost three-quarters of the news articles on the sector were framed positively. The study highlights the fact that proximity is a conditioning factor that affects how journalists work, and points to the social and political context as a strong influence on how discourse regarding petrochemical risk develops.
The idea that audiences prefer television fiction that is culturally proximate is well developed in studies on soap operas and telenovelas. This article shows how attempts to apply this cultural proximity are made from the production level down, how audiovisual texts are represented and, finally, how this is interpreted by the audience. This study is based on the Catalan television context, applying a close reading of two soap operas, in-depth interviews with producers and focus groups with viewers. The author argues that the discourses on society and culture proposed at production level are received as being 'proximate', but that this perception is not just national, cultural or linguistic. Cultural proximity also incorporates educative, cognitive and emotional elements and aspects related to the audience's immediate surroundings. The work proposes a revision of the concept of cultural proximity applied to fiction, accepting the geographic or cultural meaning of the term, but also accentuating the relationship with the discursive formations that arise from audiovisual texts.
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