Wild Dances and Dying Wolves: Simulation, Essentialization, and National Identity at the Eurovision Song Contest

Abstract

This paper examines Eurovision as a site for the public representation of the nation and explores the tendency toward simulation in such representations. The contest's transnational audience and implication in commercial practices create pressures toward representing the nation through simplified, well-known images. A critique of globalization from southeast Europe argues that cultural production from marginalized countries which emphasizes local distinctiveness is a sign of structural inequality. This critique is tested against representational strategies from Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia. Eurovision is then related to tourism through an analysis of the representation of the Mediterranean in Eurovision performances, which reflect symbolic hierarchies constructed by travel writing since the Enlightenment. Finally, the paper considers the overarching representational power exerted by host states.