ABSTRACT

This chapter explains how geographical references are central and inherent to processes of national image creation. Rose emphasises the ubiquity of visual interpretations of the world and states that the visual is central to the cultural construction of social life in contemporary Western societies'. Representing a country in a certain manner in pictures, and producing distinct markers for identification, is one side of the coin. Countries like Azerbaijan are ambitious to organise mega-events in an attempt to join the group of emerging powers'. Before depicting national significations of Azerbaijan, the author provides some context information on the history of nation-building in Azerbaijan and the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2012. The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to widespread confusion of existing identifications and the new rise of national affirmation in Soviet successor states. The ESC as a public event facilitates to communicate certain ideologies, dependencies and logics of nation-building in Azerbaijan inwards and outwards.