'Narratives of Empire': An investigation into the English national press coverage of the 2012 London Olympic Ceremonies

BLACK, Jack (2013). 'Narratives of Empire': An investigation into the English national press coverage of the 2012 London Olympic Ceremonies. In: BSA Teaching Group Regional Day Conference, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK, 15 June 2013. (Unpublished)

Full text not available from this repository. (Contact the author)

Abstract

In this presentation the mediated construction of ‘Britain’ and British identity during 2012 will be examined. While forming part of an ongoing doctoral thesis, this research sheds light on the relationship between Britain’s national and imperial history within the domestic and foreign press coverage of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee and London Olympic Games. Arguably, if discussions on what constitutes Britishness and British identity in the twenty- first century are to be both historically reflexive and contemporarily accountable, the relationship between Britain’s largely imperial past and its fragmented present requires much closer investigation. In fact, despite recent attempts to invoke discussions on the British Empire, both academic and public, the relationship between the British Isles and the British Empire and its affects upon contemporary constructions of British identity, remain somewhat divorced from wider debates on the post-imperial decline of Britain. Accordingly, this presentation will aim to address such issues by exploring how the English national press construct, frame and represent notions of Britishness in their coverage of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee and London Olympic Ceremonies. Theoretically guided by a process/figurational approach, the results of this research were obtained via a qualitative thematic content analysis of the printed press. Underpinning this analysis, two interrelated questions were considered. First, how has a history of British imperialism shaped perceptions of British identity in the English press’ coverage of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee and London Olympic Ceremonies, and second, what does this reveal in regards to contemporary ‘mediated’ constructions of Britain? Consequently, from this sample of the data four interrelated themes were obtained: ‘Imperial nostalgia, ‘Imperial decline’, ‘Reinvented Britain’ and ‘‘Great’ Britain’. Indeed, these themes reveal that ‘narratives of empire’, both positive and negative, remained prominent within the English press’ construction of Britain during each event. In fact, despite the de-colonization of Britain’s African colonies, the handing over of Hong Kong and the move towards devolution within the U.K., the press’ portrayal of ‘Britain’ drew upon both national and imperial (re)constructions. To this extent, the British Empire continued to play a key part in the English press’ framing of Britain 2012.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: Centre for Sport and Exercise Science
Cultural Communication and Computing Research Institute > Communication and Computing Research Centre
Sociology, Politics and Policy Research Group
Departments - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: Faculty of Science, Technology and Arts > Department of Media Arts and Communication
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities > Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics
Health and Well-being > Department of Sport
Depositing User: Jack Black
Date Deposited: 25 Jan 2018 14:19
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2021 16:30
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/17538

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics