TY - JOUR

T1 - InstaMigrants

T2 - Global Ties and Mundane Publics of Russian-Speaking Bloggers with Migration Background

AU - Smoliarova, Anna

AU - Bodrunova, Svetlana S.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021.

PY - 2021/7

Y1 - 2021/7

N2 - Russian-speaking diaspora has spread across the world during the last century and plays a significant role in cultural and political life of the host countries. But its virtual presence remains heavily understudied; it is only Russian-speaking news websites that have received some scholarly attention. This study aims at estimating the globality of mass self-communication of Russian emigrants on Instagram in the context of virtual diaspora studies as a new form of imagined communities. Instagram communication of emigrants illustrates how the nature of mass self-communication influences the nature of ties between diaspora members. We confirm the global scale of ties that are developed by the Russian-speaking “InstaMigrants” by network analysis. We also show that such seemingly apolitical publics possess a potential for politicization of everyday life and migration experience in unconventional ways.

AB - Russian-speaking diaspora has spread across the world during the last century and plays a significant role in cultural and political life of the host countries. But its virtual presence remains heavily understudied; it is only Russian-speaking news websites that have received some scholarly attention. This study aims at estimating the globality of mass self-communication of Russian emigrants on Instagram in the context of virtual diaspora studies as a new form of imagined communities. Instagram communication of emigrants illustrates how the nature of mass self-communication influences the nature of ties between diaspora members. We confirm the global scale of ties that are developed by the Russian-speaking “InstaMigrants” by network analysis. We also show that such seemingly apolitical publics possess a potential for politicization of everyday life and migration experience in unconventional ways.

KW - critical public

KW - global public

KW - Instagram

KW - migration

KW - networked public

KW - Russia

KW - SPHERE

KW - MIGRANTS

KW - MEDIA

KW - SOCIAL NETWORKS

KW - COMMUNICATION

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111295105&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/20563051211033809

DO - 10.1177/20563051211033809

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111295105

VL - 7

JO - Social Media + Society

JF - Social Media + Society

SN - 2056-3051

IS - 3

M1 - 20563051211033809

ER -