This dissertation examines how the Serbs as a nation deal with the past through the prism of the 1915 Serbian Army retreat across Montenegro and Albania in the wake of the invasion of Serbia in... Show moreThis dissertation examines how the Serbs as a nation deal with the past through the prism of the 1915 Serbian Army retreat across Montenegro and Albania in the wake of the invasion of Serbia in October 1915. We investigate the remembrance of this iconic event as a symptom of Serbian mythologized self-perception. The Retreat today is a canonised memory symbolising Serbian heroism and sacrifice. The First World War and the Retreat are experienced as specific and personal. Any attempted introduction of alternative views of the Serbian role in the First World War are rejected as hostile revisionism. The Serbian government has used the centenary commemorations to distract the Serbian public from the more recent unexamined past — Serbia’s role in the wars of the Yugoslav succession of the 1990s. This commemorative opportunism has been termed in the thesis as historical frame switching —framing current political events within arguably irrelevant historical contexts mostly in order to present an image of biased and unjust treatment of Serbs by the West. Further, politically loaded commemorations are analysed alongside grassroot events and ceremonies that memorialise the War and the Retreat. The latter are recognised as fictive kinships of remembrance, as previously characterised by Jay Winter. Show less
Franklin Roosevelt is often viewed as the first modern media president; he modernized the radio address and the press conference, made use of modern public opinion polls, and was the first... Show moreFranklin Roosevelt is often viewed as the first modern media president; he modernized the radio address and the press conference, made use of modern public opinion polls, and was the first president to leave a presidential library and museum. Roosevelt was also a modern media politician in the sense that he carefully -- and very successfully -- managed his future image. This research looks at Roosevelt's methods for doing this and their long-term effects. On the other hand, it studies post-2000 representations of Roosevelt, in order to assess deviations between the public image Roosevelt projected and the public image exists today. Show less
