Kuznetsova, L. A. ANALYSIS OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE SAMI NETWORKS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND MURMANSK REGION. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2022;44(6):99–109. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2022.803


Ethnology, anthropology and ethnography

ANALYSIS OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE SAMI NETWORKS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND MURMANSK REGION

Kuznetsova
L. A. 		Branch of the Federal Research Centre “Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences”
Keywords:
Internet communities
Kola Sámi
Murmansk region
socio-cultural problems
cultural and educational capital
cyber-ethnicity		 Summary: The problems connected with socio-cultural functions of virtual network communities of Kola Sami in the segment of “ethnic Internet” are considered. The relevance of the research stems from the importance of filling the gap in the study of the use of digital communication tools to inform the public about the cultures of ethnic communities as a way to preserve, disseminate and popularise (without losing credibility) the ethnic identity, including that of the indigenous population of the Murmansk region. The novelty of the study consists in the discovery of the need to track the development of the cultural and educational capital of online communities for the Kola Sami themselves and those who study or are interested in the Sami culture, and the need for conclusions on possible measures to support cultural development through digital technologies. The purpose of the research is to make a comparative analysis of the productivity of the regional and Russian Sami Internet-communities in discussing social and sociocultural problems of the Sami ethnic group and posting materials on the relevant topics. An integral task is the identification of interacting destructive processes in online and offline spaces that hinder the communities’ activities. Non-inclusive online surveillance and content analysis of cyber-communities and electronic resources have been used. Based on the results, by this year most of the represented communities have suspended their activities and are struggling to implement planned sociocultural offline projects – with some exceptions. Most of the Sami population in the Murmansk region lives a slow online life or is not involved in it, despite the Kola Sami online communities’ aspirations for wider and more mutual contacts with the regional, Russian and foreign public, the media, and the authorities. The functional and technological reasons for the discontinuation of online communities are identified.



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