Репрезентация практик ежедневного национализма на телеканале «Россия 1»

Abstract

Introduction: the article focuses on how everyday practices are used by the state to project the image of a Russian patriot. State-owned and state-related media discourse models are traditionally studied from the top down. We will analyze how the state and the media manage the display of daily nationalism, which has usually been seen in a bottom-up approach. Thus, the combination of both approaches − banal and everyday nationalisms − will highlight the state’s interest in encouraging Russians to use their version of patriotism in everyday life. For this, a qualitative study of the video reports of the “Vesti Nedeli” program on “Russia 1” TV channel was carried out. The period between 2011−2012 has been chosen for content analysis which is known as a “protest year” and the zenith of the new identity policy of the modern Russian state. Objectives: to describe how everyday practices are used by the state to project the image of a real Russian patriot. Methods: M. Billig’s theory of banal nationalism, discourse analysis, content analysis. Results: the key practices of projecting the image of a real Russian patriot have been identified. This is the asceticism of a Russian person and the ability to live in the most modest conditions. This paradoxically combines with the unprecedented generosity of the Russian people and, provided the resources are available, the ability to live on a grand scale, without knowing the measure. The ability tocombinethesetwopolarities,asasignoftrueRussianness,isillustratedbystoriesabout current and historical characters. The third routine practice, reproduced from story to story on “Russia 1” TV channel, is paternalism, which is expressed both in caring for children, women and the elderly, and in the patronage of the state. The readiness to sacrifice is the central theme of the “Vesti Nedeli” program on the “Russia 1” TV channel. Conclusions: preventive mobilization through daily practices as the goal of identity politics implemented through “Russia 1” TV channel can easily be traced in the “Vesti Nedeli” stories using the framework of “banal nationalism” theory tools. A sacrifice, not only a great one as in war, but also small − in limiting consumerism, in the readiness to work and serve in hard conditions , to defend the honor of the country in sports competitions − all of these, with the involvement of national anger, can is easily transform from daily practice into action.