Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the contribution of Swiss television to the invention of a modern society united in popular traditions between the 1960s and 1990s. It shows how “TV folklore” dealt with contradictions of social change and what – still retrievable – traces it left in the country’s cultural memory.

Paper long abstract:

The inseparable link between technical and social progress and cohesion through traditional popular culture has been noted time and again in Switzerland in times of crisis. Triggered by the multiple crises of the present this relationship is once again being renegotiated. This provides an opportunity to ask about the origins and effects of this relationship, also regarding a much criticized but nevertheless effective instrument.

The presentation is based on a research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation entitled “Claiming Folklore” – Politics and Practices of Folk Music on Swiss Television (1960s–1990s). Using historical-ethnographic and media-ethnographic approaches, the research examines the archives of the folklore department of SF (as state television station was called at the time) to address mechanisms of shaping and rehearsing practices of collective self-representation. Which traditions were meaningful for social cohesion, who belonged to the community, and what sounds or performances were excluded?

The social strategies and media techniques with which television succeeded in establishing a close relationship with its audience during the years under research will be examined. The focus is on the power relations between the different groups of actors (media, musicians, audience) and the impact of the staged TV performances on the cultural memory of the country, which still reverberate today. In doing so, the lecture also attempts to provide answers to the question of what specific role the uses of folklore performances have in current crises and what interpretations they are given in a current context.