Navigating Digital Borders: Seto Community in the Virtual Territory of the VK Social Network
Abstract
The paper examines the digital geography of the virtual Seto community in the VK social network (also known as VKontakte), focusing on how dispersed Seto people in Russia and Estonia use digital spaces to communicate, as well as express, preserve, and promote their cultural identity. By applying a multi-sited ethnographic methodology, the research involves both online explorations and offline semi-structured interviews, with fieldwork conducted in the Pechory District. Using the network and territory approaches to digital ethnography, the study highlights how the VK serves as a digital territory where Setos, divided by distances and physical borders, connect, share cultural practices, and foster a sense of community. Special attention is given to the Seto traditions of leelo polyphonic singing and festive costumes, both of which serve as vital markers of ethnic identity in this digital landscape. Through content analysis of Seto personal profiles and public pages, the research reveals how social networks help maintain connections and how digital geographies are constantly shaped and reshaped by cultural exchanges. This study underscores the adaptability of online spaces in sustaining fragmented ethnic communities across physical distances.
References
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2021: materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauch.-prakt. konf. (23–24 sentiabria 2021 g.,
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etnicheskoi kommunikatsii i identichnosti titul’nykh etnosov Iugry [Internet space as
a platform for the manifestation of ethnic communication and identity of the titular
ethnic groups of Yugra]. Social Competence, 6(2), 250–260.
UNESCO. (2009). Seto Leelo, Seto polyphonic singing tradition.
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Walther, J. B., Carr, C. T., Choi, S. S. W., Deandrea, D. C., Kim, J., Tong, S. T.,
& van der Heide, B. (2011). Interaction of interpersonal, peer, and media influence
sources online: A research agenda for technology convergence. In Z. Papacharissi
(Ed.), A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites
(pp. 17–38). Routledge.
Wellman, B., & Gulia, M. (1999). Virtual communities as communities: Net surfers
don’t ride alone. In M. A. Smith & P. Kollock (Eds.), Communities in cyberspace
(pp. 167–194). Routledge.
Willson, M. A. (2006). Technically together: Rethinking community within technosociety.
Peter Lang.
Winter, R., & Lavis, A. (2020). Looking, but not listening? Theorizing the practice
and ethics of online ethnography. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research
Ethics, 15(1–2), 55–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1556264619857529
[Setu people: Between Russia and Estonia]. Evropa.
Amit, V. (2002). Reconceptualizing community. In V. Amit (Ed.), Realizing
community: Concepts, social relationships and sentiments (pp. 1–20). Routledge.
Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread
of nationalism (2nd ed.). Verso.
Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread
of nationalism (3rd ed.). Verso.
Bell, C., & Newby, H. (Eds.). (1974). The sociology of community: A selection of
readings. Frank Cass & Company.
Belorussova, S. Yu. (2022). Korennye malochislennye narody Rossii:
Virtual’naia etnichnost’ i setevye opyty [Indigenous small-numbered peoples
of Russia: Virtual ethnicity and network experiences]. Etnografia, 4, 84–111.
https://doi.org/10.31250/2618-8600-2022-4(18)-84-111
Belorussova, S. Yu. (2024). Besermianskaia identichnost’: Mezhdu real’nost’iu
i virtual’nost’iu [Beserman identity between reality and virtuality]. Yearbook of Finno-
Ugric Studies, 18(3), 380–392. https://doi.org/10.35634/2224-9443-2024-18-3-380-392
Belorussova, S. Yu., Danilova, E. N., & Sysoeva, M. E. (2020). Kheshtegi
i etnichnost [Hashtags and ethnicity]. Etnografia, 3, 33–61. https://doi.org/
10.31250/2618-8600-2020-3(9)-33-61
Bender, T. (1978). Community and social change in America. Rutgers University
Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1989). Social space and symbolic power. Sociological Theory, 7(1),
14–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/202060
boyd, d. (2011). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances,
dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A networked self: Identity,
community, and culture on social network sites (pp. 39–58). Routledge.
Calhoun, C. J. (1980). Community: Toward a variable conceptualization
for comparative research. Social History, 5(1), 105–129. https://doi.org/
10.1080/03071028008567472
Carey, J. (1989). Communication as culture: Essays on media and society. Unwin
Hyman.
Golovnev, A. V., Belorussova, S. Yu., & Kisser, T. S. (2018). Veb-etnografiia
i kiberetnichnost’ [Web-ethnography and cyberethnicity]. Ural Historical Journal, 1,
100–108. https://doi.org/10.30759/1728-9718-2018-1(58)-100-108
Hine, C. (2000). Virtual ethnography. SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/
9780857020277
Jensen, J. (1990). Redeeming modernity: Contradictions in media criticism.
SAGE.
Jones, S. (1995). Understanding community in the information age. In S. Jones
(Ed.), CyberSociety: Computer-mediated communication and community (pp. 10–35).
SAGE.
Kanter, R. M. (1972). Commitment and community: Communes and utopias in
sociological perspective. Harvard University Press.
Lambach, D. (2020). The territorialization of cyberspace. International Studies
Review, 22(3), 482–506. https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viz022
Livingstone, S. (Ed.). (2005). Audiences and publics: When cultural engagement
matters for the public sphere. Intellect.
Mamontova, N. (2014). Kochevanie na prostorakh Interneta: Reprezentatsiia
evenkiiskoi kul’tury VKontakte [Nomadism in the online space: Representation of the
Evenk culture on VKontakte]. Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniia, 2, 95–125.
Manakov, A. G. (2018). Chetvert’ veka izucheniia malogo naroda setu (seto)
pskovskimi geografami [Quarter of a century of study of the small-numbered Setu (Seto)
people by Pskov geographers]. In T. V. Veresova & A. G. Manakov (Eds.), Vos’mye
Pskovskie mezhdunarodnye kraevedcheskie chteniia [The 8th Pskov International
Local History Readings] (Vol. 1, pp. 136–148). Pskov State University.
Marcus, G. E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence
of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95–117.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.24.1.95
Mathias, A. (2007, October 6). The Fakebook generation. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/opinion/06mathias.html
Novozhilov, A. G. (2009). Naselenie Pskovo-Pechorskogo kraia kak etnolokal’naia
gruppa [Population of the Pskov-Pechora region as an ethnolocal group]. Vestnik
Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta, Istoriya, 3, 94–110.
O’Sullivan, P. B. (2005, May). Masspersonal communication: Rethinking the mass
interpersonal divide [Paper presentation]. The annual meeting of the International
Communication Association, New York, United States.
Parks, M. R. (2011). Social network sites as virtual communities. In Z. Papacharissi
(Ed.), A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites
(pp. 105–123). Routledge.
Pishleger, K. (2022). Vybor iazyka i strategii napisaniia v besermianskikh
gruppakh v VKontakte [The choice of language and writing strategy in Besermyan VK
groups]. In Elektronnaia pis’mennost’ narodov Rossiiskoi Federatsii–2021 & IWCLUL
2021: materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauch.-prakt. konf. (23–24 sentiabria 2021 g.,
g. Syktyvkar) [Electronic written language of the peoples of the Russian Federation–
2021 & IWCLUL 2021: Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical
Conference, September 23–24, 2021, Syktyvkar] (pp. 116–132). Komi Republican
Academy of Public Service and Administration.
Rheingold, H. (1993). The virtual community: Homesteading on the electronic
frontier. Addison Wesley.
Rheingold, H. (2000). The virtual community: Homesteading on the electronic
frontier (Rev. ed.). MIT Press.
Tkachuk, N. V. (2021) Internet-prostranstvo kak ploshchadka proiavleniia
etnicheskoi kommunikatsii i identichnosti titul’nykh etnosov Iugry [Internet space as
a platform for the manifestation of ethnic communication and identity of the titular
ethnic groups of Yugra]. Social Competence, 6(2), 250–260.
UNESCO. (2009). Seto Leelo, Seto polyphonic singing tradition.
https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/seto-leelo-seto-polyphonic-singing-tradition-00173
Walther, J. B., Carr, C. T., Choi, S. S. W., Deandrea, D. C., Kim, J., Tong, S. T.,
& van der Heide, B. (2011). Interaction of interpersonal, peer, and media influence
sources online: A research agenda for technology convergence. In Z. Papacharissi
(Ed.), A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites
(pp. 17–38). Routledge.
Wellman, B., & Gulia, M. (1999). Virtual communities as communities: Net surfers
don’t ride alone. In M. A. Smith & P. Kollock (Eds.), Communities in cyberspace
(pp. 167–194). Routledge.
Willson, M. A. (2006). Technically together: Rethinking community within technosociety.
Peter Lang.
Winter, R., & Lavis, A. (2020). Looking, but not listening? Theorizing the practice
and ethics of online ethnography. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research
Ethics, 15(1–2), 55–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1556264619857529
Published
2025-04-30
How to Cite
Maretina, K.
(2025).
Navigating Digital Borders: Seto Community in the Virtual Territory of the VK Social Network.
Changing Societies & Personalities, 9(1), 67–83.
doi:10.15826/csp.2025.9.1.318
Section
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