Prefazione introduttiva e metodologica

It is mainly within and around Mediterranean itineraries that the European Union seeks its in/tangible cultural heritage, an important component of both individual and collective identities. This volume brings together different strands of analysis, helping to shed light on the multifaceted entities that constitute the vibrant socio-semiotic landscape of the Mediterranean. The volume views this scenario from a cross-cultural perspective, and investigates the domains of national identities and stereotypes, advertising and social media, TV series, myths and festivals, landscapes, culture-bound terms, migrating words and food. Given the variety of perspectives and methodological approaches with a specific focus on the prominent role of English in representing the Mediterranean heritage, despite the fact that it is a non-Mediterranean language, this volume can offer useful insights to students and practitioners of discourse analysis, bridging the gap between academic research and class practice at the university level. From an educational perspective the book, which also includes practical worksheets, can be used in first and second level degrees in Foreign Languages, Communication, Political Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies, as well as courses in linguistics, multimodal studies, critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics.