Virtual (Self-)Exoticisation of Eastern European Identity

Abstract

This study situates itself within the field of meme culture studies, offering a critical examination of Slavic representations as depicted in the social media channels of the digital brand “Squatting Slavs in Tracksuits”. The analysis focuses on several interrelated aspects: the processes of metaphorization and exoticization of Slavic identity, its association with (post)socialist Eastern European space, and its implicit regional peripheralization. The study is unfolded on three levels: tracing the cultural and historical foundations that have shaped the perception of the Slavic world, reconstructing its contemporary landscape based on the narratives and imagery mobilized in memes, and attempting to contextualize the observed trends within broader frameworks of social and political critique.

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