Narrowcasting collective memory online

‘Liking’ Stalin in Russian social media

Bibliographic Data

ID11268902
AuthorsDaria Khlevniuk (0000-0003-1019-2192, Stony Brook University, corresponding author), Daria Khlevnyuk (Stony Brook University)
Year2019
Volume41
Issue3
Pages317-331
Publication date2019-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedia Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-4437 • E-ISSN: 1460-3675
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0163443718799401
OpenAlexW2891198814
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited32

The Internet has transformed history and collective memory. Narratives of the past are produced and perceived faster and by larger communities. In other words, the Internet facilitates the most pervasive broadcasting of historical narratives ever known. However, it is not only speed and reach that characterize the impact of the digital revolution on memory cultures. It has also led to a shift from broadcasting to narrowcasting, propelled by a growing number of online memory agents. As a great number of people have access to the Internet, even memory agents with a particular view on the past can find their audience. Thus, the Internet, and social media in particular, facilitates the fragmentation of memory and narrowcasting. To illustrate this point, I studied Russian social media groups dedicated to the adoration of Stalin. Generally, Stalinists are perceived as a homogeneous group sharing a glorified memory of the Soviet leader. However, my analysis reveals that there are at least three types of online Stalinism that promote different narratives and have different agendas. This finding is not merely shedding new light on the persistence of the Stalin cult, but is also theoretically generative, indicating additional conditions for the fragmentation of memories in countries with contested and toxic pasts

Art · Collective memory · Digital media · Liminality · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Political science · Social media · Sociology · The Internet · World Wide Web · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Computer Science · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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