ABSTRACT
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |20 pages
Corporate Cosmopolitanism
part |82 pages
National interests with a global reach
chapter |17 pages
‘It is a real joy to get listening of any kind from the homeland'
chapter |17 pages
The colonisation of the BBC
chapter |16 pages
Les Français parlent aux Français
part |88 pages
Cultures of diplomacy in the post-war Middle East and Asia
chapter |16 pages
The BBC Arabic Service's dilemmatic triangle
chapter |17 pages
Diaspora calling the homeland?
part |57 pages
Corporate Cosmopolitanism and the Global Conversation