During April – June 2016, Dr. Delia Dumitrica will be a fellow of the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) at Södertörn University, Sweden, completing a project examining the inconspicuous embedding of visual representations of nationhood within the fabric of everyday life.
Mundane images of different nations encountered in urban environments range from the flags hanging above the City Hall or country symbols on license plates to billboards for banking products or restaurant signs. While we may expect such symbols to be displayed by public institutions, it turns out most are used by the commercial sector. What does this mean for the reproduction of nationalism in everyday life? Furthermore, how are images invoking and using images of other nations? And, what kind of imaginary of the world are they proposing?
While in residence at CBEES, Dr. Dumitrica will deal with such questions, working with over 300 images collected across four different countries: Romania, Canada, Spain and the Netherlands. On a theoretical level, she will explore the intersection of banal nationalism and commodification processes.