Diasporas and Diplomacy: Cosmopolitan contact zones at the BBC World Service (1932-2012) (CRESC)

Diasporas and Diplomacy: Cosmopolitan contact zones at the BBC World Service (1932-2012) (CRESC)

by Alban Webb (Editor), Marie Gillespie (Editor)

Synopsis

Diasporas and Diplomacy analyzes the exercise of British `soft power' through the BBC's foreign language services, and the diplomatic role played by their diasporic broadcasters. The book offers the first historical and comparative analysis of the `corporate cosmopolitanism' that has characterized the work of the BBC's international services since the inception of its Empire Service in 1932 - from radio to the Internet.

A series of empirically-grounded case studies, within a shared analytical framework, interrogate transformations in international broadcasting relating to:

  • colonialism and corporate cosmopolitanism
  • diasporic and national identities
  • public diplomacy and international relations
  • broadcasters and audiences

The book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology and anthropology, media and cultural studies, journalism, history, politics, international relations, as well as of research methods that cross the boundaries between the Social Sciences and Humanities. It will also appeal to broadcast journalists and practioners of strategic communication.

$52.05

Save:$46.67 (47%)

Quantity

1 in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 10 Dec 2012

ISBN 10: 0415508800
ISBN 13: 9780415508803

Media Reviews

Any book which develops a historical perspective in the all-too-often ahistorical field of media studies is a welcome addition to its literature, and this is certainly the case with this edited collection. [...] In the face of an uncertain future, the book acts as a timely taking-of-stock of the World Service's many achievements and points of merit European Journal of Communication

Author Bio
Marie Gillespie is Professor of Sociology at The Open University and Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change. Alban Webb is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) at The Open University.