Migrant Folklore on the Internet and Social Media: Anthropological Interpretation

• In Event: Rethinking Bulgarian Transitions: Literary, Anthropological, and Political Discourses of Memory

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the Internet and social media as a dynamic source for anthropological study of memory culture, common concerns, perceptions, and the identities of the Bulgarian migrants in the United States. The text is informed mainly by ethnographic data from Facebook such as written and visual posts, comments and discussions collected primarily in the groups of Bulgarians in the United States and in Chicago. Among the analyzed themes in the chapter will focus on heated discussions triggered by “hot” topics such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the War in Ukraine, presidential elections in the United States, elections in Bulgaria (parliamentary, presidential and local), moral evaluation of the socialist regime in Bulgaria and the post-socialist transition to democracy, and so on

Author

• Dilyana P. Ivanova Zieske, The Field Museum