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Branding the Nation : Swiss multilingualism's role in the context of governmental negotiations on Switzerland's promotion
Type
presentation
Date Issued
2012-05-04
Author(s)
Abstract
In this paper, I aim to reflect on how current socioeconomic transformations affect the role that language and culture play for the postmodern nation-state. In this context, I am particularly interested in how and why multilingualism and cultural diversity emerge as key promotional arguments within the Swiss state and, principally in the field of governmental negotiations on Switzerland's nation branding strategies.
The crises of western national economies in the 1970s and the liberalization of national markets resulted in a growing global competition. Consequently, since the 1980s, in order to create and ensure the conditions of access to the internationalized markets and to transform national territories into appealing business locations attracting foreign investments, several nation-states decided to undertake specific nation branding activities marketing their territories abroad.
In Switzerland the promotion of the nation has been the object of an ongoing debate since the1920s. However it is only in 1996, after several US-American class action lawsuits targeting Swiss banks' role during the Nazi Regime and in the context of international critics regarding Switzerland's growing political isolation (neither being a EU nor a UNO member state), that to protect Switzerland from potential foreign retaliations, the Swiss government mandated a taskforce with the definition of a set of key messages expressing the "Brand Switzerland" [Marke Schweiz], allowing for an efficient branding of the nation.
It is in this context that discourses on Switzerland as a brand have made of Swiss diversity - traditionally conceptualized as a central element of national pride - an economic argument.
Through a critical analysis of institutional documents and audio recordings, I try to gain an understanding on the negotiation process transforming Switzerland into a brand and highlight the conditions, ideologies and interests making that the "Brand Switzerland" has taken the form it has and not another.
Moreover, I argue that the transformation of Swiss diversity in an economic argument is not in contrast with an ideology of multilingualism conceptualized as a central element of national pride. Rather, both ideologies seem to intersect, co-occur and inform each other. Furthermore, I highlight the emerging tensions between from the one side the governmental necessity to impose a standardized, i.e. for every promotional aim and context prevailing fix "Brand Switzerland"; from the other side the local (city or regional) as well as sectorial (art, tourism, economy, science) promotion agencies' need of a marketing discourse on Switzerland which is unstable, i.e. constantly changing according to the target audience and the promoted sector. Finally, referring to Bourdieu's concept of the linguistic market, I explain that even if the discourses on the "Brand Switzerland" imply a valorization of diversity, they refer to a specific form of multilingualism, i.e. of prestigious, highly valued languages. In other words, the appropriation of diversity reproduces the currently existing hierarchies of languages in Switzerland and, consequently, the conditions of access of their speakers to prestigious positions in society.
The crises of western national economies in the 1970s and the liberalization of national markets resulted in a growing global competition. Consequently, since the 1980s, in order to create and ensure the conditions of access to the internationalized markets and to transform national territories into appealing business locations attracting foreign investments, several nation-states decided to undertake specific nation branding activities marketing their territories abroad.
In Switzerland the promotion of the nation has been the object of an ongoing debate since the1920s. However it is only in 1996, after several US-American class action lawsuits targeting Swiss banks' role during the Nazi Regime and in the context of international critics regarding Switzerland's growing political isolation (neither being a EU nor a UNO member state), that to protect Switzerland from potential foreign retaliations, the Swiss government mandated a taskforce with the definition of a set of key messages expressing the "Brand Switzerland" [Marke Schweiz], allowing for an efficient branding of the nation.
It is in this context that discourses on Switzerland as a brand have made of Swiss diversity - traditionally conceptualized as a central element of national pride - an economic argument.
Through a critical analysis of institutional documents and audio recordings, I try to gain an understanding on the negotiation process transforming Switzerland into a brand and highlight the conditions, ideologies and interests making that the "Brand Switzerland" has taken the form it has and not another.
Moreover, I argue that the transformation of Swiss diversity in an economic argument is not in contrast with an ideology of multilingualism conceptualized as a central element of national pride. Rather, both ideologies seem to intersect, co-occur and inform each other. Furthermore, I highlight the emerging tensions between from the one side the governmental necessity to impose a standardized, i.e. for every promotional aim and context prevailing fix "Brand Switzerland"; from the other side the local (city or regional) as well as sectorial (art, tourism, economy, science) promotion agencies' need of a marketing discourse on Switzerland which is unstable, i.e. constantly changing according to the target audience and the promoted sector. Finally, referring to Bourdieu's concept of the linguistic market, I explain that even if the discourses on the "Brand Switzerland" imply a valorization of diversity, they refer to a specific form of multilingualism, i.e. of prestigious, highly valued languages. In other words, the appropriation of diversity reproduces the currently existing hierarchies of languages in Switzerland and, consequently, the conditions of access of their speakers to prestigious positions in society.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SHSS - Kulturen, Institutionen, Maerkte (KIM)
Refereed
No
Event Title
2nd LINEE International Conference: Multilingualism in the Public Sphere
Event Location
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
212244