Media Nations

In its nuanced and erudite handling of two distinct discourses - nationalism studies and media studies - Media Nations will be a great asset to many scholars and readers seeking both an overview and a clear assessment of the relationship between the two.' - Stanka Radovic -Journal of Contemporary European Studies

In today's fragmented media landscapes, national media cultures and national audiences seem elusive. Can we understand media without reference to a theory of nationalism and mass communication? This book assesses the relevance of nationalism, nation-state and national identity to our understanding of modern mass communication.Media Nations: Communicating Belonging and Exclusion in the Modern World provides an original interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the media and nationalism in the modern world. Building on a range of international case studies and taking into account recent debates about globalization, cosmopolitanism and alternative modernities, Sabina Mihelj offers an insightful analysis that: - Argues for the continuing relevance of concepts such as nationalism and national identity in understanding the global patterns of mediated communication and identification - Bridges the gap between text-based analysis of national imagination and the more sociological concerns with the impact of media institutions and the broader political and economic context - Challenges the tacit ethnocentrism of existing debates, and opens up the study of nationalism and mass communication to the multiple trajectories of modernity around the globe Media Nations is an important and timely contribution to debates on the media, nationalism and modernity. Sabina Mihelj has worked and studied in Slovenia, Hungary, and Germany, and is currently a Lecturer in Media, Communication and Culture at Loughborough University, (UK). Her research centres on issues of collective identity formation and mass communication, with particular reference to nationalism, European integration, religion and communism.