Table Of ContentRoutledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies
THE EUROVISION SONG
CONTEST AS A CULTURAL
PHENOMENON
FROM CONCERT HALLS
TO THE HALLS OF ACADEMIA
Edited by
Adam Dubin, Dean Vuletic, and Antonio Obregón
The Eurovision Song Contest as a
Cultural Phenomenon
Drawing from the wealth of academic literature about The Eurovision Song
Contest (ESC) written over the last two decades, this book consolidates and
recognises the ESC’s relevance in academia by analysing its contribution to
different fields of study.
The book brings together leading ESC scholars from across disciplines and from
across the globe to reflect on the intersection between their academic fields of study
and the ESC by answering the question: what has the ESC contributed to academia?
The book also draws from fields rarely associated with the ESC, such as Law,
Business and Research Methodologies, to demonstrate the contest’s broad utility in
research, pedagogy and practice.
Given its interdisciplinary approach, this volume will be of interest to scholars and
students working in cultural, media and music studies, as well as those interested in the
intersections between these areas and politics, law, education, pedagogy and history.
Adam Dubin is a human rights scholar and Assistant Professor of Law at
Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain, as well as an Adjunct Professor
of Politics at New York University, USA. He is also a Senior Research Associate at
the University of Johannesburg and a Visiting Professor at Southwest University of
Politics and Law in China. His research focuses on human rights in sub-Saharan
Africa, as well as on the intersection between human rights and pop culture.
Dean Vuletic is a Historian of Contemporary Europe based in the Research
Center for the History of Transformations at the University of Vienna, Austria. The
author of Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest (2018), he is the world’s
leading academic expert on the history of the ESC and he has taught the world’s
first university course on this topic. He is an internationally prominent media
commentator and public speaker on the ESC, and further information about his
work can be found on his website www.deanvuletic.com.
Antonio Obregón was formerly Vice Rector of Academic Affairs and Dean of the
Faculty of Law at Universidad Pontificia Comillas. He is a Full Professor of Criminal
Law and International Relations. He holds an undergraduate degree in Law and
Business Administration and a PhD in Criminal Law. He designed and taught the
first seminar in a Spanish university on the ESC and is a frequent commentator on it
in the Spanish media.
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The Eurovision Song Contest as a Cultural Phenomenon
From Concert Halls to the Halls of Academia
Edited by Adam Dubin, Dean Vuletic and Antonio Obregón
The Eurovision Song
Contest as a Cultural
Phenomenon
From Concert Halls to the Halls
of Academia
Edited by Adam Dubin,
Dean Vuletic, and
Antonio Obregón
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Adam Dubin, Dean Vuletic
and Antonio Obregón; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Adam Dubin, Dean Vuletic and Antonio Obregón to
be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Dubin, Adam, editor. | Vuletic, Dean, editor. |
Obregón, Antonio, editor.
Title: The Eurovision Song Contest as a cultural phenomenon: from
concert halls to the halls of academia/edited by Adam Dubin, Dean
Vuletic, Antonio Obregón.
Description: [1.] | Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2022. |
Series: Routledge research in cultural and media studies | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022004897 (print) | LCCN 2022004898 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032037745 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032037752 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003188933 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Eurovision Song Contest‐‐Social aspects. |
Music‐‐Competitions‐‐Europe. | Music‐‐Social aspects‐‐Europe. |
Music‐‐Political aspects‐‐Europe.
Classification: LCC ML76.E87 E85 2022 (print) | LCC ML76.E87
(ebook) | DDC 782.42164/0794‐‐dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022004897
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022004898
ISBN: 978-1-032-03774-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-03775-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-18893-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003188933
Typeset in Galliard
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
Contents
Editors viii
List of Contributors ix
Foreword by Martin Österdahl xii
PART I
From Lugano to the Classroom: The Eurovision Song
Contest and Academia 1
1 The Grand Tour: The Origins of the Eurovision Song
Contest as a Cultural Phenomenon 3
DEAN VULETIC
2 The Eurovision Song Contest: An Academic
Phenomenon 18
ANTONIO OBREGÓN
3 A Human Rights-Based Analysis of the Eurovision
Song Contest and the European Broadcasting Union 36
ADAM DUBIN
PART II
From Past to Present: History, Politics and Society 55
4 The Mythology of Song Contests 57
IVAN RAYKOFF
5 Teaching European History and Memory through the
Eurovision Song Contest during the COVID-19
Pandemic 68
ALISON LEWIS AND JOHN HAJEK
vi Contents
6 A March for Power: The Variety of Political
Programmes on the Eurovision Song Contest Stage 83
GAD YAIR AND CHEN OZERI
7 The Molitva Factor: The Eurovision Song Contest and
‘Performing’ National Identity in World Politics 96
CATHERINE BAKER
8 A Critical Pedagogical Eurovision Euphoria: The
Potential of the Eurovision Song Contest to Promote
Values Propagated by the European Union Within
Formal Learning Contexts 111
GEORGE CREMONA
9 Sharing Values in the Eurovision Song Contest and the
OTI Festival: The Moral Fourth Person in the Lyrics of
the Winning Songs 129
ARIEL JAMES
10 Eurovision in the Boardroom: What Does Voting
Order Tell Us about Decision-Making? 144
JOSE LUIS ARROYO-BARRIGÜETE, LOURDES FERNÁNDEZ, AND
ANTONIO OBREGÓN
PART III
From Stage to Screen: Film, Media, and Music 161
11 High, Low and Participatory: The Eurovision Song
Contest and Cultural Studies 163
JESSICA CARNIEL
12 Queer Camp against Franco: Iván Zulueta’s Eurovision
Song Contest Parody Un Dos Tres 175
ROBERT TOBIN
13 The Eurovision Song Contest and European Television
History: Continuity, Adaptation, Experimentation 188
MARI PAJALA
14 From Trouble to Bubble? The Ambiguous Relationship
between Professional Journalists and Fan Media in the
Eurovision Song Contest 201
IRVING WOLTHER
Contents vii
15 Domesticity, Mass Media and Moving-Image
Aesthetics: The Visual Identity of the Eurovision Song
Contest as a Hospitable Platform 219
JOSÉ LUIS PANEA
16 Armchair Researchers: Modes of Ethnographic
Research for Understanding and Experiencing the
Eurovision Song Contest 237
CHRIS HAY AND JESSICA CARNIEL
17 Between Concepts and Behaviours: The Eurovision
Song Contest and Ethnomusicology 249
SOFIA VIEIRA LOPES AND JOÃO SOEIRO DE CARVALHO
Index 266
Editors
Adam Dubin is a human rights scholar and Assistant Professor of Law at
Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain, as well as an Adjunct
Professor of Politics at New York University, USA. He is also a Senior
Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg and a Visiting Professor
at Southwest University of Politics and Law in China. His research focuses on
human rights in Sub Saharan Africa, as well as on the intersection between human
rights and pop culture.
Dean Vuletic is a Historian of Contemporary Europe based in the Research
Center For the History of Transformations at the University of Vienna,
Austria. The author of Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest
(2018), he is the world’s leading academic expert on the history of the ESC
and he has taught the world’s first university course on this topic. He is an
internationally prominent media commentator and public speaker on the
ESC, and further information about his work can be found on his website
www.deanvuletic.com.
Antonio Obregón was formerly Vice Rector of Academic Affairs and Dean
of the Faculty of Law at Universidad Pontificia Comillas. He is a Full
Professor of Criminal Law and International Relations. He holds an
undergraduate degree in Law and Business Administration and a PhD in
Criminal Law. He designed and taught the first seminar in a Spanish
university on the ESC and is a frequent commentator on it in the Spanish
media.
Contributors
Jose Luis Arroyo-Barrigüete is Professor in the Quantitative Methodologies
Department at Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Spain. He holds a PhD in
Business Administration, a PhD in Engineering and a PhD in Philology Studies.
Catherine Baker is Reader in 20th Century History at the University of Hull,
United Kingdom. Her books include Sounds of the Borderland: Popular
Music, War and Nationalism in Croatia since 1991 (2010) and Race and the
Yugoslav Region: Postsocialist, Post-Conflict, Postcolonial? (2018). She has
published on the ESC in European Journal of International Relations,
Popular Communication and elsewhere.
Jessica Carniel is Senior Lecturer in Humanities in the School of Humanities
and Communication and a researcher in the Centre for Heritage and Culture
at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Her research focuses on
cosmopolitan and transnational communities and identities in global and
national popular cultures.
João Soeiro de Carvalho is Associate Full Professor at in the School of Social
Sciences and Humanities at NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal, and the
President of the Ethnomusicology Institute. He obtained his doctoral and
master’s degrees from Columbia University, (USA). He is the principal
investigator in several projects funded by the Foundation for Science and
Technology and the author of various articles and book chapters.
George Cremona is Senior Lecturer and Coordinator for German and Media
Literacy at the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta. He is also a radio
and television producer and a presenter of educational programmes. For this
work, he was awarded on three occassions the national award of the Institute of
Maltese Journalists.
John Hajek is Professor of Italian Studies and Director of the Research Unit for
Multilingualism and Cross-cultural Communication in the School of
Languages and Linguistics at The University of Melbourne, Australia. He
has a broad range of teaching and research experience, including the ESC
within the broader context of European Studies.
