Abstract

OTERO ALVARADO, María Teresa  and  PULIDO POLO, Marta. A history of the Suez Canal and its three inaugurations: Public relations and protocol in the battle for public opinion. Estud. Asia Áfr. [online]. 2020, vol.55, n.3, pp.617-632.  Epub Nov 13, 2020. ISSN 2448-654X.  https://doi.org/10.24201/eaa.v55i3.2564.

Lying at the border between Asia and Africa, throughout its history the Suez Canal has constituted an important geo-strategic asset for its commercial value and its reputational importance. Through a historiographic investigation, this work reconstructs and analyzes the three major, historically-documented inauguration ceremonies of the Suez Canal, and their impact on forming public opinion. Through key events such as military parades, religious ceremonies, or official seating arrangements for guest leaders, the results demonstrate the persuasive relevance of ceremonies and allow the establishment of different types of communication, linked to propaganda and unidirectional models of relations with their audiences, used by the authorities in control of the Suez Canal in each of the observed opening ceremonies.

Keywords : Suez Canal; history; ceremonies; propaganda; public relations.

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