Nation Branding in the Americas: Contested Politics and Identities

Nation Branding in the Americas: Contested Politics and Identities provides an overview of nation branding in the Americas, an often neglected continent(s) in debates about the creation, dissemination and management of national images.

Drawing on insights from promotional cultures, nationalism, geopolitics, media and communication, as well as their own research, the authors look at national promotion experiences in twelve countries - Canada, the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile - , examining how these cases relate to broader challenges and commonalities, such as the relationship between nation branding and stereotypes, invisibility, heritage or internal contradictions.

Nation Branding in the Americas: Contested Politics and Identities is an important contribution to the study of practices and concepts such as nation branding, public diplomacy, soft power, and strategic communication. It highlights the multifaceted nature of nation branding, and how this can be used to perpetuate local and global hierarchies, legitimize the agendas of specific governments, and discipline the inhabitants of a nation, but also become a venue for people to negotiate and communicate the kind of society they want to be. The book will therefore be of interest for undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students specialized in marketing, media and communication, and international relations. It will also appeal to professionals in public diplomacy, strategic communication, public relations, and branding, offering a broad overview to the practice and discussion of national promotion in an increasingly contested and cacophonic global communication environment.

Efe Sevin is Assistant Professor of Public Relations at the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University, in Maryland, US. His current research focuses on identifying and measuring the impacts of social networks on place branding and public diplomacy campaigns. His work has been published in several journals and books including American Behavioral Scientist, Public Relations Review, and Cities. His most recent book is the co-edited volume City Diplomacy: Current Trends and Future Prospects (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).

César Jiménez-Martínez is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Director of the MSc Strategic Communication and Society. His research focuses on the intersection of media, identity and contestation, paying special attention to branding and national identities, digital nationalism, and more recently protests and violence. He is author of Media and the Image of the Nation during Brazil’s 2013 Protests (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) and co-editor (with Terhi Rantanen) of Globalization and the Media (Routledge, 2019). His work has been published in journals such as The International Journal of Press/Politics, International Journal of Communication, International Communication Gazette, Nations and Nationalism, Geopolitics, and Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. His research has won several awards, including the 2021 Anthony D. Smith Award for best article in nations and nationalism (with Sabina Mihelj), and the Best Faculty Paper in Public Diplomacy Award (with Alina Dolea) in the 2023 International Communication Association annual conference.

Pablo Miño is Assistant Professor of Communication at Universidad de Los Andes, Chile. His research focuses on public relations, strategic communication and Latin American studies from a critical-cultural perspective. His work has been published in journals such as Communication, Culture & Critique, International Journal of Communication, Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Inquiry and Public Relations Review.