TY - JOUR

T1 - Almost Immortal?

T2 - The ritual transition of power and the dynamics of history in three Cold War media events

AU - Sumiala, Johanna

AU - Lounasmeri, Lotta

AU - Lukiyanova, Galina

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2021/7/26

Y1 - 2021/7/26

N2 - This article sheds theoretical and empirical light on the ritual media events constructed around the deaths of three Cold War political leaders in the 1980s: the Finnish president, Urho Kekkonen (1900–1986), the Swedish prime minister, Olof Palme (1927–1986), and the Soviet Union general secretary, Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982). Investigating news articles published in the first days after the news of each death broke, as well as news articles on the funeral for each and the immediate aftermath, this study utilises historical news television and print media material, obtained from the national and media archives in Finland, Sweden and Russia. By bringing the study of media culture and history into a dialogue shared with anthropology and political history, this article produces new knowledge on the workings and outcomes of ritual media events in the context of Cold War history. The article places special emphasis on Victor Turner’s ritual analysis and the ways in which power was symbolically transformed in these societies with different political and ideological histories.

AB - This article sheds theoretical and empirical light on the ritual media events constructed around the deaths of three Cold War political leaders in the 1980s: the Finnish president, Urho Kekkonen (1900–1986), the Swedish prime minister, Olof Palme (1927–1986), and the Soviet Union general secretary, Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982). Investigating news articles published in the first days after the news of each death broke, as well as news articles on the funeral for each and the immediate aftermath, this study utilises historical news television and print media material, obtained from the national and media archives in Finland, Sweden and Russia. By bringing the study of media culture and history into a dialogue shared with anthropology and political history, this article produces new knowledge on the workings and outcomes of ritual media events in the context of Cold War history. The article places special emphasis on Victor Turner’s ritual analysis and the ways in which power was symbolically transformed in these societies with different political and ideological histories.

KW - ritual media event

KW - death

KW - Victor Turner

KW - Cold War

KW - Kekkonen

KW - Palme

KW - Brezhnev

KW - POLICY

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111627988&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/4f9ae10b-8424-3f9d-8634-d83e28acc7a0/

U2 - 10.1080/13688804.2021.1958671

DO - 10.1080/13688804.2021.1958671

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111627988

JO - Media History

JF - Media History

SN - 1368-8804

ER -