Book Review: Media and the Image of the Nation during Brazil's 2013 Protests by César Jiménez-Martínez

Abstract

The literature about the status of an image, about hegemonic signs, of the capacity to make something visible, as well as the regime of visibility is extensive and connect in a fascinating way with the discussion of power the power to construct an icon, to naturalize an emblem, to make an arbitrary articulation a commonsensical symbol for a human collective, to represent people, cultures and souls. This book is about that construction, the image of nation-states, including the actors trying to create that image and the reasons and conditions to make it so. The origins and this book’s case study are in the revolts that shook Brazil in the years before the South American country organized an array of global sports events, the most important the FIFA World Cup of 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games of 2016. Specifically, the book takes the Jornadas de Junho protests’ that occurred in June-July 2013, becoming the most significant and broadest mobilization in decades in Brazil. From this chain of protests, the book launches the question about the construction of the country’s image. And such query makes total sense from a historical point of view, from how the idea of Brazil has been built by state and hegemonic power, with all its colonialist inheritance and whitening processes. But also, from a contemporary perspective connected to branding a nation with the state-corporate interest of showcasing it as “safe”, “modern”, and “reliable” for the international investor gaze. Now, a priori, attention on this construction would only look at mainstream media or the state. This book gets away from that dual analysis in addressing who, how, why and under what circumstances are constructing or trying to the nation. The analysis thus focus on four actors: the state, mainstream local media, activists, and foreign media, to see the kind of country they depict, the strategies they use and the conditions they have to portray a particular image. Through the examination of newspaper articles, television reports, online videos and photos produced by Brazil’s top newspapers, TV newscasts, grassroots media groups, and foreign media, on the one hand; and sixty-four interviews with government officials, activists, journalists and foreign correspondents, Book Review