Abstract
This case study explores social media discourses of a virtual ecovillage community based in Central Romania, in a Hungarian speaking region of Transylvania. The investigated virtual community embraces the idea of ecovillage as a local constructive answer to the challenges of the global ecological crisis, based on strategies of revitalizing local ethnic traditions, promoting sustainable development solutions, and innovations. Our key question is the relationship between tradition and innovation—as revealed by the discursive practices of the ecovillage Facebook group’s most active members. Using ecolinguistic discourse analysis as a frame of reference, the investigation unveiled the role social media played in fostering the formation of a virtual intentional community, and in clarifying the shared values of the group. We found that the local ecovillage is part of a larger regional and global movement, unfolding the organic connection between the Hungarian and the Romanian intentional communities, and the reframing of traditional values within innovative, sustainable everyday practices.
Highlights
For the purposes of this investigation, posts are considered relevant if they refer closely to one or more of the topics of the spheres mentioned above, and within it—having in mind the objective of the Facebook group expressed in its name—they are essential, if they deal with the idea of ecovillage or with the aim of community building towards this goal
It must be noted that the overwhelming majority of these latter ecovillage- and community-related posts, that we may call the master narrative of the Facebook group’s discourses, belong to opinion leaders (OL) 1, the founder and admin of the group
The “Szekler Ecovillage” Facebook group was selected as the subject of our investigation because previous netnographic research has shown a specific constellation of eco-discourses
Summary
Sustainability 2021, The focus of this study is community—a certain type of it—and its discourses: Environmentalist narratives centered on ecovillages. In postmodern times—as Blackshaw put it—“community has transformed from a way of life into a narrative” [1] 27): A social media construction open to interpretation. With mediatization [2,3], the digital turn [4], and the rise of networked individualism [5], our sense of belonging becomes an anchor, be it real or virtual. Virtual communities have an even stronger appeal, and environmental concerns an even louder voice. Our aim is to explore, compare, and contextualize, through discourse analysis, environmental and traditionalist narratives of an open Facebook group called “Székely Ökofalu” (Szekler Ecovillage)—a
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