César Jiménez-Martínez

Palgrave MacMillan, 2020

https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030382377

This book explores the struggles over the mediated construction and projection of the image of the nation at times of social unrest. Focussing on the June 2013 protests in Brazil, it examines how different actors –authorities, activists, the national media, foreign correspondents– disseminated competing versions of ‘what Brazil was’ during that pivotal episode. The book offers a fresh conceptual approach, supported by media coverage analysis and original interviews, that demonstrates the potential of digital media to challenge power structures and establish new ways of representing the nation. It also highlights the vulnerability of both ‘old’ and ‘new’ media to forms of inequality and disruption due to political interferences, technological constraints, and continuing commercial pressures. Contributing to the study of media and the nation as well as media and social movements, the author throws into sharp relief the profound transformation of mediated nationhood in a digital and global media environment.

Table of contents:

• Introduction: The June 2013 Protests and the Image of Brazil
• Theorising the Image of the Nation: Contestation, Media and Visibility
• Before the June Journeys: The Contested Visibility of the ‘New’ Brazil
• The Visible Nation: The Media Coverage of the June Journeys
• Strategies of Mediated Visibility: Replacement, Adjustment and Re-appropriation
• Conditions of Mediated Visibility: Routines, Norms, Technologies and Commercialism
• Conclusion: Beyond the Visible, Beyond the June Journeys

Reviews:

“Jiménez-Martínez has produced a highly readable, in-depth analysis of mediated nationhood in contemporary Brazil. Drawing from a rich body of original research, the book persuasively shows that the mediated process of nationhood is contested, with unpredictable consequences. It is not firmly controlled by the State or any other actor, particularly in societies with huge social disparities and political conflict. The meaning of nationhood is essentially unstable, as actors contend to (de)redefine its response to the actions of others. This book should be of great interest to scholars of media, journalism, and nationalism.” (Silvio Waisbord, Professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University, USA)

“Jiménez-Martínez’s book provides a rich, nuanced view about the Brazilian ‘June Journeys’, a puzzling political phenomenon, and the disputes about the event’s meaning, involving the government, protesters, the mainstream and the alternative media. A must-read book.” (Afonso de Albuquerque, Professor of Cultural Studies and Media, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil)

“This book is an original, thoughtful and incisive contribution to the literature around the mediation of national identity and protests. It engages very effectively with various theoretical frameworks, shows an admirable grasp of recent research and makes excellent use of empirical investigation to tell the story of how the mediation of the June Journeys unfolded.” (Tim Markham, Professor of Journalism and Media, Birkbeck, University of London, UK)

“The Brazilian 2013 June protests have had a profound impact on the nation’s contemporary history and political life. Jiménez-Martínez provides here an in-depth engagement with the June Journeys by conducting extensive research on how the nation was constructed in the national and international media, analysing 797 newspaper articles and TV reports and conducting sixty-four interviews. This book is theoretically dense and innovative, destined to contribute to research on nation-building and the role of media in democratisation processes.” (Carolina Matos, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Media, City, University of London, UK)

The author:

César Jiménez-Martínez is Lecturer in Global Media and Communications at Cardiff University, UK. His research interests include media and nationalism, nation branding and public diplomacy, media globalisation, media visibility, and social movements, particularly in the context of Latin America.