Master of Arts Thesis Euroculture University of Groningen University of Uppsala June 2013 Be My Guest: Nation branding and national representation in the Eurovision Song Contest Submitted by: Albert Meijer S169750
[email protected] Supervised by: Dr. Kristin McGee Dr. Benjamin Martin Groningen, 30/06/2013. 1 MA Programme Euroculture Declaration I, Albert Meijer hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “Be My Guest: Nation branding and national representation in the Eurovision Song Contest”, submitted as partial requirement for the MA Programme Euroculture, is my own original work and expressed in my own words. Any use made within it of works of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, figures, texts, tables, etc.) are properly acknowledged in the text as well as in the List of References. I hereby also acknowledge that I was informed about the regulations pertaining to the assessment of the MA thesis Euroculture and about thegeneral completion rules for the Master of Arts Programme Euroculture. Date: 30/06/2013 2 Table of contents Preface 4 Introduction: Nation branding in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest 6 Eurovision history 10 Chapter 1: National and European identity in the context of the Eurovision Song Festival 13 1.1 The performance of national identity and the role of cultural symbols in the ESC 15 1.2 European identity building & the idea of cultural citizenship 24 1.3 Eurovision and Politics 31 1.4 Conclusion 35 Chapter 2: Translating Identity into Image: Culture as a Tool for Nation Branding in the Eurovision Song Contest