Visual discourse analysis of cross-border cooperation in the Greater Region and the Upper Rhine region

In a context marked by the resurgence of national borders in the political agendas of European states, the way in which cross-border regions present themselves and the meaning their stakeholders give to national borders represent a timely scientific question and a key issue for the future of border regions. This PhD research proposal focuses on the multimodal analysis of visual discourses related to the political construction of cross-border regions in Europe from their emergence in the 1960s-70s to the present day. More specifically, the objective of the research would be to decode the meaning of the visual materials mobilized in the narratives on cross-border cooperation and the semantic changes that have taken place throughout their history. The empirical research will focus on the Greater Region (LU, FR, BE, DE) and the Upper Rhine region (FR, DE, CH), two emblematic cross-border regions of the European construction. In both cases, the analysis of visual materials would concern documents produced by the cross-border cooperation initiatives (reports, policy briefs, websites, etc.) and articles published in the regional press.