Diasporas and Diplomacy: Cosmopolitan contact zones at the BBC World Service (1932–2012)

Diasporas and Diplomacy analyzes the exercise of British ‘soft power’ through the BBC’s foreign language services, and the diplomatic role played by their diasporic broadcasters. The book offers the first historical and comparative analysis of the ‘corporate cosmopolitanism’ that has characterized the work of the BBC’s international services since the inception of its Empire Service in 1932 – from radio to the Internet.

A series of empirically-grounded case studies, within a shared analytical framework, interrogate transformations in international broadcasting relating to:

• colonialism and corporate cosmopolitanism
• diasporic and national identities
• public diplomacy and international relations
• broadcasters and audiences

The book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology and anthropology, media and cultural studies, journalism, history, politics, international relations, as well as of research methods that cross the boundaries between the Social Sciences and Humanities. It will also appeal to broadcast journalists and practioners of strategic communication.