Construction of National Identity in Social Networks through Referencing to Current Post-Folk Practices

Many researchers characterize the modern era as a contradictory, technology-driven and impetuous time, where society shows mobility, multiculturalism, agility, instability and oddness. B. Wellman defined this period as “triple revolution”: social networking sites, the Internet and mobile communications. For a modern person, the internet space has become a kind of “second nature” (F. V. Schelling), where, through the formation of new cultural practices in everyday life and the rapid emergence of new communication links, new matrices of existence and identity (local, social, professional, national, and others) are constructed. As a person spends more and more time in a particular environment, they establish a different type of relationship that instantly alters the structure of their interactions, bringing about significant changes to their daily life and self-perception. A new unique space becomes a new place of existence for a person who increasingly needs solid foundations, stability, meaning-forming attitudes in these rapidly changing realities. Folklore, with its vitality, succession, the possibility of mastering national traditions, community, which finds new forms of representation on social networking sites, can provide support and encouragement. This article reflects on the experience of representing traditional culture and turning to current post-folk practices in social networks using the example of the creative activities and artistic collaboration of “the Toloka” ensemble, where the construction of the national identity of the community’s subscribers becomes a fundamental way of establishing connection between generations, demand and “liveliness” of folklore knowledge.