Public Interactives and Soft Power: Nation Branding at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo

• In Event: New Global Mediated of Publics, Citizenship(s), and Cosmopolitanism

Abstract

To discuss how public interactives participate in the process of nation branding, this article discusses three pavilions that were created for the Shanghai World Expo: The China Pavilion, the Saudi Arabia Pavilion and the United States Pavilion. In this essay, we describe the cultural narratives that circulated through the use of public interactive experiences to illustrate the concept of “soft power” and the role of technology in the praxis of cultural diplomacy.

Authors

• Anne Balsamo, New School of Public Engagement

• Cara J. Wallis, Texas A and M U