Nationalism and film : new research avenues

The majority of research on the relationship between nationalism and film has focused on the representation of nations, nationalism and national identities in feature films. This leaves open a wide array of underexplored research possibilities, of which some of the most pertinent ones will be addressed in this talk. Research on the history of nationalism and film in Flanders will serve as a stepping stone to explore new research avenues. I will discuss, among other things, the value of integrated analyses combining the dominant method of representation analysis with production and reception analysis; the importance of a broad conception of nationalism; the notion of multiplicity, both in terms of attention for multiple co-existing national discourses and in terms of the relations between national, subnational and transnational discourses; the relevance of the concept of national indifference for film studies; the potential of amateur films and home movies for a bottom-up approach to nationalism research. The aim of this talk is to formulate a new research agenda for future nationalism and film studies, thereby also touching upon possible new directions for the field of nationalism and media studies at large