Identity politics of the promotional videos of the European Heritage Label

Abstract
During past decades, the EU has responded to a variety of ‘crises’ by promoting a common cultural heritage to advance European identity and belonging. This article analyses identity politics conducted in the framework of the EU’s flagship heritage action, the European Heritage Label. I borrow from ‘banal nationalism’ to scrutinise the usage of ‘we’ and ‘us’ in the promotional videos of the European Heritage Label sites as subject positions offered for identification in this heritage discourse. Analysis shows that the subject positions are constituted by an emphasis on the national level, preservation of the past for future generations and the key role of experts in the process of heritage. Although the heritage agents talk about Europe (representation) they do not identify with that as ‘us’. By making the lack of ‘banal Europeanness’ in the videos visible the article shows the ambiguities of European identity politics.
Main Author
Format
Articles Research article
Published
2020
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Routledge
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202004162784Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1356-9775
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2019.1611207
Language
English
Published in
Contemporary Politics
Citation
License
In CopyrightOpen Access
Funder(s)
European Commission
Funding program(s)
ERC Starting Grant
ERC Starting Grant
European CommissionEuropean research council
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Additional information about funding
This work was supported by the H2020 European Research Council and innovation programme [grant number 636177] (EUROHERIT).
Copyright© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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