Hashtags, narratives and banal nationalism (a case study of the Kryashens' movement)
The article is devoted to the analysis of a modern tool of political participation in the Internet as hashtags. The study is based on the narrative analysis and the theory of banal nationalism (both in the interpretation of M. Billing and in the vision of J. Fox). The narrative analysis, provided in the article, is considered from the viewpoint of a practice-oriented approach, which is aimed at direct social interaction. The core element of this interaction is a person (in a given case, a representative of an ethnic group) who simultaneously experiences the influence of ethnically significant symbols and creates them. The narrative appears here as a result of the appreciation of ethnically significant symbols in the minds of people. This happens through the analysis of events that have taken place or are now taking place within or around the ethnic movement (including with the help of political myths associated with the history of this ethnic group). The purpose of the article is to study the place and role of hashtags in the development of national movements (a case study of the Kryashens' movement). The author seeks to identify the position of hashtags in relation to such units of analysis as “ethnically significant symbols” and “narrative”. The study talks about hashtags as a new enough tool for political participation. The Kryashen front was opted as an example because the discursive practices are quite well developed within this community. The article provides a detailed overview of the existing Kryashen hashtags and gives their classification based on the types of hashtags proposed by Alice Daer, Rebbecca Hoffman and Seth Goodman. The study pays special attention to the theory of banal nationalism and emphasizes that the functionality of hashtags can be explained quite well by this theory. In conclusion, the author proposes a table of models of Kryashen hashtags with key characteristics (type of hashtag, type of recognition, interpretation of banal nationalism according to M. Billing or J. Fox, the hashtag's role in the movement) and highlighted patterns for the Kryashen movement.