Abstract
This chapter will consider the role of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in shaping a cosmopolitanism continuum (Ong 2009) whereby the principles of cosmopolitanism (community, participation, pluralism) are realized. The chapter explores certain questions in relation to this, like the role of the European Broadcasting Union and its public service media in facilitating this process, whether the resulting mediated cosmopolitanism could be perceived as ‘artificial’ and whether this ‘imagined Europe’ is purely constructed through the lens of Eurovision aims and hopes. The chapter starts by discussing cosmopolitanism theory in relation to the ESC, outlines the history, roles and attributes played by the ESC and the EBU, looks at the branding of Eurovision and discusses the event’s elite credentials, by referring to the Western brand of cosmopolitan desire and aspiration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Media and Cosmopolitanism. New Visions of the Cosmopolitan |
| Editors | Aybige Yilmaz, Ruxandra Trandafoiu, Mousoutzanis Aris |
| Publisher | Peter Lang, Oxford |
| Pages | 71-92 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9783035306637 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2014 |