Belorussova S., Khokholkova N. The Virtual and the Global: Indigenous Peoples of Russia and Africa in Digital Environment

S. Belorussova Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera)
of the Russian Academy of Sciences
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-2069-3452
E-mail: svetlana-90@yandex.ru

N. Khokholkova
Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Moscow, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-5165-1925
E-mail: khokholkova@gmail.com

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ABSTRACT. At first glance, Russia and Africa are opposite worlds regarding geography, climate, ideology, and other dimensions. Stereotypes, clichés, misunderstandings, and even distrust often prevail in mutual perception. However, Russia and the countries of the African continent are similar in their polyethnicity, i. e., the presence of complex socio-ethnic structures that create both advantages and risks for their development. In the context of global digitalization, many aspects of the existence of ethnic groups are manifested online, in the virtual plane, giving rise to the phenomenon known as cyber-ethnicity. The main objectives of this article are to compare the indigenous ethnic communities of the two regions and to identify common and differing features of their virtual ethnicity. The article also seeks a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms and practices underlying the creation and recreation, manifestation, and representation of cultural identity in the digital environment. The results obtained during the study allow us to conclude that there are more similarities than differences in the patterns of ethnicity representation in the digital space among users from Russia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Having access to the Internet, although in some cases it is limited, and using various social networks, members of ethnic groups pursue comparable goals, rely on similar tools, and look almost equally at the correlation between the network activity and the actual existence of an ethnic group. The widespread use of the same or similar social networks and messengers leads to a certain universalization of the idea of ethnicity in the virtual environment. A fight against stereotypes and the devaluation of cultural values in the face of increased digital content is becoming more urgent every year. However, it is still being carried out using the same tools of the virtual environment that led to it. Cyberspace is both a challenge and an opportunity for the world’s ethnic communities, and it takes time, potential, and resources to adapt and accept new development conditions.

KEYWORDS: Russia, Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, indigenous peoples, virtual ethnicity, the Internet, cyberethnography, hashtag, ethnic blogging, memes, communication, stereotypes

DOI 10.31250/2618-8600-2023-4(22) -160-180
УДК 39:004.738.5

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