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From Myth to Memory: Visual Representations as Medial Agents in the Formation of National Identity - A Visual Discourse Analysis of the Gallic Founding Myth in Nineteenth-Century France

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Author

  • Sara Antonia Leonhard

Summary, in English

This thesis examines the role of visual media in conveying the Gallic founding myth and constructing national identity in nineteenth-century France. Positioned at the interdisciplinary intersection of nationalism studies and memory research, it investigates how visual representations embed the Gallic founding narrative – despite its association with military defeat – into France’s collective memory. Drawing on a modernist understanding of national identity as a social construct and employing visual discourse analysis, the thesis explores how images not only reflect their sociopolitical contexts but also actively shape identity-forming narratives and collective memory. The emergence of the examined representations coincides with the rise of the French nation-state – a period of profound political and social transformation – during which the Gallic founding myth was deliberately mobilized as a tool of identity construction. In this sense, the images both reflect and reinforce the contemporary discourse. At the same time, these visual representations actively participate in that discourse. Through strategies of reinterpretation – especially through the visual reinterpretation of military defeat – they deploy techniques such as selection, simplification, and dramatization to craft a coherent and emotionally resonant narrative. This narrative meets the conditions required to function as a plausible origin myth and to be integrated into collective memory. By conceptualizing visual representations as integral to the discursive production of meaning, the thesis offers a nuanced perspective on their role in national identity formation. As both material and symbolic lieux de mémoire, these images contribute significantly to establishing a shared origin narrative and to shaping the development of French national identity in the nineteenth century.

Department/s

Publishing year

2025

Language

English

Document type

Student publication for Master's degree (two years)

Topic

  • Cultural Sciences

Keywords

  • Gallic founding myth
  • Imagined Community
  • Collective memory
  • Visual media
  • Visual discourse analysis
  • Modernism (nationalism studies)
  • lieux de mémoire
  • Nineteenth-century France
  • European Studies

Supervisor

  • Tornike Metreveli