Two new publications

In the last two weeks, two new publications have come out – on two totally different subjects.

“Translating objects, transnationalizing collections: Inventing Europe between museums and researchers” in Perla Innocenti (ed.) Migrating heritage: Experiences of Cultural Networks and Cultural Dialogue in Europe, (Ashgate  2014) 39-52.

Developed from a talk I gave in December 2012 at a conference on “Migrating Heritage” for the MeLa project, this chapter looks at the promises and problems of making sense of digital heritage objects as they become networked.   Based on our experiences building Inventing Europe, it tries to think through the way that institutional knowledge can be productively mobilized and brought into transnational dialogue as heritage collections come into digital circulation.

The second is  “Troubling territory: West Germany in the European Airwaves” German Politics and Society 32(1) (Spring 2014) 74-93

This is part of a special issue on “West Germany’s Cold War Radio: A Crucible of the Transatlantic Century” edited by Yuliya Komska, one of the most innovative scholars of the Cold War I know, who was kind – and patient – enough to ask me to contribute.  The special issue is devoted to the way that radio in West Germany was shaped on several levels by the Cold War – and vice versa.

Abstract:

Until recently, broadcasting in Europe has been seen by historians and broadcasters alike as intricately related to national territory. Starting immediately after the Second World War, when West German national territory was still uncertain, this article explores how the broadcasting space of the Federal Republic (FRG) shaped and was shaped by material, institutional, and discursive developments in European broadcasting spaces from the end of World War II until the early 1960s. In particular, it examines the border regimes defined by overlapping zones of circulation via broadcasting, including radio hardware, signals and cultural products such as music. It examines these spaces in part from the view of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the federation of (then) Western public service broadcasters in Europe. By reconstructing the history of broadcasting in the Federal Republic within the frame of attempts to regulate European broadcasting spaces, it aims to show how territorial spaces were transgressed, transformed, or reinforced by the emerging global conflict.