The war in Ukraine and the ambivalent figure of ‘Babushka’: Intersectional nation‐building and the delegitimisation/legitimisation of war on YouTube

IF 1.5 2区社会学 Q2 ETHNIC STUDIES

Nations and Nationalism Pub Date : 2023-11-06 DOI:10.1111/nana.12994

Marja Lönnroth‐Olin, Satu Venäläinen, Rusten Menard, Teemu Pauha, Inga Jasinskaja‐Lahti

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract In this article, we demonstrate how international social‐media discussions offer a platform for taking a stance on the war in Ukraine, redrawing national boundaries and legitimising their defence. We do so by analysing data that consist of comments triggered by a viral YouTube video depicting an encounter between an ageing civilian woman, labelled ‘Babushka Z’, and a Ukrainian soldier. Using a critical discursive psychological framework, we identify five interpretative repertoires: vulnerability , incapacity , national continuity , masculinised warriorship and righteousness . Our analysis illuminates how these repertoires draw on and reproduce intersecting categorisations based on gender, age and ethnic heritage. With the help of these categorisations, the repertoires build competing images of the actions of the figures in the video, which come to symbolise in various ways both patriotism and treason, heroism and cowardice. By aligning with competing historical‐national narratives, the commentors use these images to (de)legitimise the war and its actors.

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乌克兰战争与“巴布什卡”的矛盾形象:跨界的国家建设与战争的非合法化/合法化

在本文中，我们展示了国际社交媒体讨论如何为在乌克兰战争中采取立场、重新划定国界和使其防御合法化提供了一个平台。我们通过分析YouTube上一段病毒视频引发的评论数据来得出这一结论，该视频描述了一名被称为“Babushka Z”的老年平民妇女与一名乌克兰士兵的相遇。使用批判性话语心理学框架，我们确定了五种解释曲目:脆弱性，无能为力，国家连续性，男性化的勇士和正义。我们的分析阐明了这些曲目是如何利用和再现基于性别、年龄和民族遗产的交叉分类的。在这些分类的帮助下，这些曲目建立了视频中人物行为的竞争形象，这些形象以各种方式象征着爱国主义和叛国，英雄主义和懦弱。通过与相互竞争的历史-国家叙事保持一致，评论者使用这些图像来使战争及其参与者合法化。

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来源期刊

Nations and Nationalism Multiple-

CiteScore

3.60

自引率

22.70%

发文量

106

期刊介绍： Nationalism is one of the central issues of the modern world. Since the demise of the Soviet Union there has been a proliferation of nationalist and ethnic conflicts. The consequent explosion of interest in ethnicity and nationalism has created an urgent need for systematic study in this field. Nations and Nationalism aims to satisfy this need. As a scholarly, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary journal, it is designed to respond to the rapid growth of research in the study of nationalism and nationalist movements throughout the world.