Пред Европа
Facing Europe

Summary/Abstract: This article is an attempt to analyze European" images of Bulgaria, i.e. images intended to present Bulgaria as a European country. As these images are currently being produced in the perspective of European integration, they largely reflect conflicting notions about Europe among the Bulgarian public. On the other hand, Europe's self-representations tend to become the framework in which new Bulgarian identities are inscribed. Representations are analyzed on three different levels — Europe, Europe in the Bulgarian public sphere, and self-representations of Bulgaria. Ail three are seen as related, and presupposing each other. Focusing on tourist-oriented images, the article attempts to outline Bulgaria's strategies of self-representation and of self-reinvention into the European cultural context. The study of the new politics of ,,self-advertising" in a field that seems far from the process of European integration allows us to perceive certain invisible aspects of the ongoing cultural transformations in the country.

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