Technologies of Performative National Identity Construction (The Case Study of the Russian-Language Social Network)
Research Article
How to Cite
Ilyin V.I., Snegur M.R. Technologies of Performative National Identity Construction (The Case Study of the Russian-Language Social Network). Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024. Vol. 16. No. 1. P. 69-87. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2024.16.1.4 (in Russ.).
Abstract
The construction of national identity in the digital society is increasingly shifting to social networks, which have become stages for self-expression, where it acquires the character of a virtual performance. Being X means playing the role of X so convincingly that the audience will believe it. At the same time, the role can represent a person in varying degrees - from a mirror reversal to a simulacrum, i.e. a symbol without a real signifier. The digital role, divorced from self-awareness, can be motivated both by a commercial strategy for the struggle to expand the audience and / or fulfill an order, or by the official functions of an official, manager or activist who are tasked with creating the moods necessary for the customer in the networks.The article presents the results of an empirical study of technologies for representing national identity in Russian-Language social network TikTok. The aim is to study the tools for constructing national identity in a digital society. Empirical data was collected using the analysis of blogs, where the unit of analysis is a blog as a case. National identity is performed with the help of a systematic demonstration of national self-identification, language, costume, cuisine; music; scenery (nature / house interior, etc.), national rituals and everyday customs, tourist preferences. The need for national self-identification increases, firstly, in a multicultural context or in minority status, and secondly, in situations of national conflicts, when the need to mark the boundary between “us” and “them” with the help of symbols increases.
Keywords:
self-expression, national identity, performance, digital identity, everyday practices, globalization, social networks
References
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Smith A.D. (2008) Cultural Foundations of Nations: Hierarchy, Covenant and Republic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470696613.ch
Tishkov V.A. (1998) Zabyt o nacii (postnacionalisticheskoe ponimanie nacionalizma) [Forget about the Nation (Post-Nationalist Understanding of Nationalism)]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review]. No. 5. P. 3–26. (In Russ.)
Assman A. (2018) Dlinnaya ten proshlogo. Memorialnaya kultura i istoricheskaya politika. [The Long Shadow of the Past. Memorial Culture and Historical Politics]. Transl. from Germ. by B. Khlebnikov. Moscow: Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie. (In Russ.)
Assman J. (2010) Communicative and Cultural Memory. In: A. Erll, A. Nunning (eds.) Cultural Memory Studies: An Introduction and Interdisciplinary Handbook. Berlin; New York: De Gruyter. P. 109–118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110207262.2.109
Bart F. (ed.) (2006) Etnicheskie gruppy i socialnye granicy. Socialnaya organizaciya kulturnyh razlichij [Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of Culture Difference]. Transl. form Eng. by I. Pilshchikova. Moscow: Novoe izdatelstvo. (In Russ.)
Batler Dzh. (2018) Zametki k performativnoj teorii sobraniya [Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly]. Transl. from Eng. by D. Kralechkina. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press. (In Russ.)
Bauman Z. (2008) Tekuchaya sovremennost [Liquid Modernity]. Transl. from Eng. by S.A. Komarovo. St. Petersburg: Piter. (In Russ.)
Baudrillard Zh. (2020) Sistema veshchej [System of Things]. Moscow: RIPOL classic. (In Russ.)
Billing M. (1995) Banal Nationalism. Loughborough: SAGE Publications.
Brubaker R., Cooper F. (2002) Za predelami identichnosti [Beyond “Identity”]. Ab Imperio. No. 3. P. 61–115. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/imp.2002.0025
Brubaker R. (2000) Mify i zabluzhdeniya v izuchenii imperii i nacionalizma [Myths and Misconceptions in the Study of Nationalism]. Ed. by I. Gerasimov, M. Mogilner, A. Semenov. Moscow: Novoe Izdatelstvo. (In Russ.)
Brubaker R. (2012) Etnichnost bez grupp. [Ethnicity Without Groups]. Transl. from Eng. by I. Borisova. Moscow: Izdatelskiy dom VShE. (In Russ.)
Emelin V.A., Thostov A.Sh. (2021) Identichnost i simvolicheskij hronotop: monografiya [Identity and Symbolic Chronotope: Monograph]. Ed. by V.A. Emalina. Moscow: “Kanon+”ROOI “Reabilitaciya”. (In Russ.)
Gellner E. (1991) Nacii i nacionalizm [Nations and Nationalism]. Transl. from Eng. by T.V. Berdikova. Moscow: Progress. (In Russ.)
Giddens A. (2003) Ustroenie obshchestva: Ocherk teorii strukturacii [The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration]. Moscow: Academ. Proekt. (In Russ.)
Goffman E. (2021) Predstavlenie sebya drugim v povsednevnoj zhizni [The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life]. St. Petersburg: Piter. (In Russ.)
Hobsbawm E., Ranger T. (2012) The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hutchinson J. (1987) The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism; Gaelic Revival and the Creation of the Irish Nation. London: Allen & Unwin.
Ilyin V.I. (2018) Sociologiya potrebleniya: uchebnik dlya akademicheskogo bakalavriata. 2-e izd. [Sociology of Consumption: Textbook for Academic Bachelor's Degree. 2-d ed.]. Moscow: Izdatelstvo Yurajt. (In Russ.)
Kleman K. (2021) Patriotizm snizu. “Kak takoe vozmozhno, chtoby lyudi zhili tak bedno v bogatoj strane?” [Patriotism from Below. “How Is It Possible for People to Live So Poorly in a Rich Country?”]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. (In Russ.)
Nechaeva A.A. (2020) Narrativnyj analiz kak metod issledovaniya kollektivnoj pamyati [Narrative Analysis as a Collective Memory Research Method]. Vestnik RGGU. Seriya “Filosofiya. Sociologiya. Iskusstvovedenie” [RGGU Bulletin. Series Philosophy. Social Studies. Art Studies.]. No. 2. P. 81–93. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.28995/2073-6401-2020-2-81-93
Shishigin A.V. (2018) Identichnost i “za ee predelami”: kriticheskij analiz konceptualnogo podhoda R. Brubejkera i F. Kupera [Identity and “Beyond”: a Critical Analysis of the Conceptual Approach R. Brubaker and F. Cooper]. Vesnik PGGPU. Seriya 3. Gumanitarnye i obshchestvennye nauki [Bullet PSHPU. Series 3. Humanities and Social Sciences]. No. 2. P. 14–22. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.24411/2308-7226-2018-00018
Smith A.D. (2009) Ethno-symbolism and Nationalism: A Cultural Approach. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203876558
Smith A.D. (2008) Cultural Foundations of Nations: Hierarchy, Covenant and Republic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470696613.ch
Tishkov V.A. (1998) Zabyt o nacii (postnacionalisticheskoe ponimanie nacionalizma) [Forget about the Nation (Post-Nationalist Understanding of Nationalism)]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review]. No. 5. P. 3–26. (In Russ.)
Article
Received: 10.10.2023
Accepted: 29.03.2024
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APA
Ilyin, V. I., & Snegur, M. R. (2024). Technologies of Performative National Identity Construction (The Case Study of the Russian-Language Social Network). Interaction. Interview. Interpretation, 16(1), 69-87. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2024.16.1.4
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Field work research
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