Project description

Young people with a Russian background in Germany are often confronted with conflictual worldviews on social media. Their family background and language skills can influence what they see online and how they construct their realities. Limited physical contact with Russia amplifies the significance of their digital connection to their parents' homeland. Managing conflicting online stories is a big challenge, as these second generation migrants grapple with feelings of (not) belonging to both Russia and Germany.

The Russian government strategically engages with Russian-speakers abroad, including in Germany, to garner global public support for its foreign policies. To this end it uses various media, including social platforms, to legitimise its actions and spread its influence worldwide, with effects for international public opinion and politics. A key part of this strategy involves manipulating historical memory to justify its geopolitical goals.

The project seeks to deepen our understanding of the dominant discourses within the digital experience of individuals with a Russian background in Germany. Further, we explore how they perceive and engage in online discussions about history, shaping and contesting views on international world orders, political attitudes, and affiliations with values and ideologies. The study aims to comprehend how individuals try to fit in and make sense of different arguments they encounter in their social media use. We also examine the factors that influence trust and distrust in justifications grounded in history as opposed to other arguments.

Methodology

• Qualitative discourse analysis of a multimodal social media corpus
• In-depth interviews with second-generation Russian migrants in Germany
• Follow-up online diary studies
• Focus group discussions with second-generation Russian migrants in Germany

Key questions

• Who are the primary pro-Kremlin and oppositional social media actors with ties to both Russia and Germany?
• In what ways do transnational actors contribute to or challenge (historical) narratives online, and how have these narratives evolved over time?
• How do second-generation migrants in Germany with a Russian background interpret and navigate the conflictual (historical) worldviews disseminated by transnational social media actors?
• What factors influence the establishment of (dis-)trust in content disseminated by transnational social media actors?

External partner: Professor Florian Toepfl, Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region, University of Passau.