From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997

Despite their use in every British general election of the twentieth and twentieth first century, the political poster remains largely unconsidered by the majority of historians working in the field of British politics. This thesis is the first study dedicated entirely to the posters role in British...

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Main Author: Burgess, Christopher
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27689/
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author Burgess, Christopher
author_facet Burgess, Christopher
author_sort Burgess, Christopher
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Despite their use in every British general election of the twentieth and twentieth first century, the political poster remains largely unconsidered by the majority of historians working in the field of British politics. This thesis is the first study dedicated entirely to the posters role in British elections. Through five election case studies, the work contextualises the poster within the broader narratives of election culture. Unusually for studies of political communication, it is the type and content of the communication – namely the poster – that forms the central focus of each chapter. Each of which seeks to locate the production, content and display of posters parties produced for an election, within the broader landscape of that elections particular culture. Understandably given the structure of the thesis, chronologically long, but heavily focused on specific events, the conclusions are at times pertinent to a particular moment. By studying communication in this way, however, by locating posters in one election and understanding them as products of the culture that produced them, the research expands on and questions some of the key totems that define research into British political communication. Moreover, the thesis positions the poster not as an archaic dying form of communication; one replaced by those electronic media that have been of far greater interest to academics, namely television and more latterly online platforms. Rather, as argued here, parties’ use of the poster has constantly been in a state of flux. Ultimately, posters are objects that are constantly being re-imagined for each new age.
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spelling nottingham-276892025-02-28T11:32:07Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27689/ From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997 Burgess, Christopher Despite their use in every British general election of the twentieth and twentieth first century, the political poster remains largely unconsidered by the majority of historians working in the field of British politics. This thesis is the first study dedicated entirely to the posters role in British elections. Through five election case studies, the work contextualises the poster within the broader narratives of election culture. Unusually for studies of political communication, it is the type and content of the communication – namely the poster – that forms the central focus of each chapter. Each of which seeks to locate the production, content and display of posters parties produced for an election, within the broader landscape of that elections particular culture. Understandably given the structure of the thesis, chronologically long, but heavily focused on specific events, the conclusions are at times pertinent to a particular moment. By studying communication in this way, however, by locating posters in one election and understanding them as products of the culture that produced them, the research expands on and questions some of the key totems that define research into British political communication. Moreover, the thesis positions the poster not as an archaic dying form of communication; one replaced by those electronic media that have been of far greater interest to academics, namely television and more latterly online platforms. Rather, as argued here, parties’ use of the poster has constantly been in a state of flux. Ultimately, posters are objects that are constantly being re-imagined for each new age. 2014-12-11 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27689/1/Christopher%20Burgess%20Thesis%20Vol.%20I.pdf application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27689/2/Christopher%20Burgess%20Thesis%20Vol.%20II.pdf Burgess, Christopher (2014) From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. political posters british politics elections general elections uk britain campaigning political marketing satire
spellingShingle political posters
british politics
elections
general elections
uk
britain
campaigning
political marketing
satire
Burgess, Christopher
From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997
title From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997
title_full From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997
title_fullStr From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997
title_full_unstemmed From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997
title_short From the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the British election poster from 1910-1997
title_sort from the political pipe to devil eyes: a history of the british election poster from 1910-1997
topic political posters
british politics
elections
general elections
uk
britain
campaigning
political marketing
satire
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27689/