POST-FOLKLORE AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE FORMATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine the influence of post-folklore on the formation and crystallization of national identity. The research methodology. The study is based on a combination of approaches from folklore studies, cultural studies, and media studies. With this in mind, the theoretical framework consists of concepts of post-folklore as a form of transformation of traditional cultural practices in the modern digital environment and models of collective memory and national identity formation. This approach requires the use of content analysis, visual and semantic analysis in combination with the general principles of hermeneutics. These principles allow us to interpret the semantic and symbolic structures of postfolklore texts and determine their role in the formation and crystallization of national identity. The scientific novelty. The emergence of information and network methods and channels of communication has contributed to the emergence of a qualitatively new and functional form of folk art, which in contemporary intellectual discourse is referred to as “post-folklore”. In contrast to folklore, post-folklore is free from direct orientation towards tradition and is the result of informal daily communication that reflects the current state, emotions, and values of society, thereby satisfying its need for joint creativity and collective understanding of experience. Thanks to this, post-folklore goes beyond purely entertaining online content and becomes an effective tool for implementing national strategies. Conclusions. Classical folklore in the modern world is experiencing a rapid decline due to the destruction of the traditional sociocultural environment that ensured its existence and development. This situation creates a sense of loss of national memory, prompting elites, state institutions, and civic activists to revive “authentic” traditions in the form of fakеlore in urban environments. It retained the outward appearance of folklore works, yet by stripping them of their original meaning, it caused the desacralization, deritualization, and desemantization of the folk tradition, while simultaneously continuing to significantly influence the establishment of nationwide culture and identity. Parallel to fakеlore, which became an artificial preservation of tradition, post-folklore developed, which appears as authentic collective creativity, in the process of which current events are comprehended and common ideals and values are established