|
THE PLANNING,
DESIGN AND RECEPTION OF BRITISH HOME FRONT PROPAGANDA
POSTERS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR (ABSTRACT):
This project focuses upon propaganda
posters produced during the Second World War (1939
to 1945), primarily by the British government, aimed
chiefly at their civilian population. The project
uses Foucauldian discourse analysis and content analysis
to investigate the images and their context, and identify
key themes across a wide range of posters, over a
long time-frame. This thesis contributes to an historical
understanding of the British popular propaganda experience,
largely ignored in previous historical research.
Drawing upon material from several
archives, including the Imperial War Museum (IWM),
the Public Record Office (PRO) and Mass-Observation
(M-O), the project also uses questionnaires to elicit
memories of the posters, and a poster database to
collect together material which would otherwise remain
dispersed. The thesis sets the posters against a background
of contextual material, it identifies key propaganda
theories, discerns relevant poster styles and recognises
British poster style as one of pragmatic functionalism.
The thesis outlines the poster production and distribution
processes of the Ministry of Information (MOI) and
considers the first (highly criticised) posters before
concentrating on four case studies, each of which
is structured in three sections: the planning (context),
the design, and the reception of the posters.
The first case study examines
what people were fighting for, and identifies their
'imagined community', by considering urban and rural
representations of Britain in the posters. The second
case study considers industrial propaganda, emphasises
the idea of the island nation, and identifies those
involved in the industrial effort. The third case
study looks at 'the enemy within', and examines who
was excluded from, or was considered damaging to,
the war effort. The fourth case study explores in
detail who was compromising the war effort through
their sexual behaviour, putting themselves at risk
of venereal disease. The thesis argues that the posters
drew heavily upon longer term discourses emanating
from new and established institutions, although there
was often a clear distinction between those that drew
on the past and tradition, and those that pushed forward
to the future.
See
PhD Proposal and Bibliography.
On
25th June 2004, "Rebecca Lewis
successfully negotiated her PhD viva
for her thesis entitled ‘The planning, design
and reception of British home front propaganda posters
of the Second World War’. The thesis was described
by the examiners, Lord
Asa Briggs and Dr
Adrian Smith, as excellent, with no corrections.
The supervisory team was Dr
Martin Polley (Southampton University, formerly
of University College Winchester) and Professor
Joyce Goodman."
Depending upon
publication decisions, the final thesis may eventually
appear on this site, otherwise look out for articles/books
in planning, and information provided to the National
Archives: Art of War project.
|
