Camping on the borders of Europe/ Ivan Raykoff -- Return to ethnicity : the cultural significance of musical change in the Eurovision Song Contest / Alf Björnberg -- Eurovision at 50 : post-wall and post stonewall / Robert Deam Tobin -- Chanson, canzone, Schlager, and song : Switzerland's identity struggle in the Eurovision Song Contest / Michael Baumgartner -- Chasing the 'magic formula' for success : Ralph Siegel and the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson / Thorsten Hindrichs -- Fernando, Filippo, and Milly : bringing blackness to the Eurovision stage / Lutgard Mutsaers -- Finland, zero points: nationality, failure, and shame in the Finnish media / Mari Pajala -- The socialist star : Yugoslavia, Cold War politics and the Eurovision Song Contest / Dean Vuletic -- Lithuanian contests and European dreams / Bjorn Ingvoldstad -- "Russian body and soul" : t.A.T.u. performs at Eurovision 2003 / Dana Heller -- Gay brotherhood : Israeli gay men and the Eurovision Song Contest / Dafna Lemish -- Articulating the historical moment : Turkey, Europe, and Eurovision 2003 / Thomas Solomon -- "Everyway that I can" : auto-orientalism at Eurovision 2003 / Matthew Gumpert -- Idol thoughts : nationalism in the pan-Arab vocal competition Superstar/ Katherine Meizel -- "Changing Japan, unchanging Japan" : shifting visions of the Red and White Song Contest / Shelley D. Brunt

Scholars from a variety of disciplines, including musicology, communications, history, sociology, English and German studies, explore how the contest sheds light on issues of European politics, national and European identity, race, gender and sexuality, and the aesthetics of camp