Hermeneutics and ethnography

Also the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer has had a strong influence in my way of thinking. The core of this theory is that we interpret all texts and objects from our own point of view. We always have some kind of presupposition or hypothesis based on which we make our own interpretations, whether we want it or not. So, it is impossible to do an unbiased analysis, even though it is possible to make interpretations. The researcher should be aware of his presuppositions and aim to assess critically, whether the structures that the researcher sees in the text really exist in it. From shattered notes of a certain phenomenon it is not possible to build a whole worldview or ideology of an individual. Skinner points out that it is useless to describe the contents of a text, but instead the goal should be to understand what the author meant with this text in certain contexts of time, space and culture. The concepts used should be evaluated in several contexts in order to understand their different meanings. As Skinner points out that no ideology has a uniform history, but instead the concepts connected to this ideology have been used differently in different contexts and all together these different usages form an overall image of an ideology and meanings connected to it. (Gadamer 1975, 235-239, 258-267; Gadamer 2005, 29-35;

Skinner 2002, 15-16, 58-60, 79,84-85.)

The idea of hermeneutical understanding and different levels of hermeneutics are also central to the ethnographic method. When using literary sources it is never possible to reach the so-called first level of hermeneutics, which refers to the internal motivations of the writer. Instead we can produce our own interpretation about it, which

20

can also be called the second level of hermeneutics. There is also a third level of hermeneutics, which refers to the impression the reader of our research gets about the topic. In other words, even though Skinner in his own research concentrates strongly on history and philosophy of political thought in the previous centuries, his thinking can be applied to the research on current political debates. The focus is still on what the authors wanted to say with their texts and how they wanted the readers to react on them. This means that the focus should be on the period of time when these texts were produced, and the audience, to which they were aimed. When these two factors were combined to the social context, it is possible to analyze the motivations of the writer. (Gadamer 1975, 235-239, 258-267; Gadamer 2005, 29-35; Skinner 2002, 86-89; Yanow 2009, 279.)

People’s membership in different types of communities and their identities are not black-and-white unities, even though especially in web discussions individuals aim to present themselves for example as solely Russian-minded or solely Moldovan patriots.

In reality it must be taken into account that the membership in certain groups demands a certain type of behavior inside the group and in the discussions that are taking place. In the background of my research lies the ethnographic view on individuals and the idea that individuals aim to give out a positive image of themselves within the groups, even though in reality their identity is a far more varied entity than it shows on web discussions. In this sense also the stableness of their identity can be questioned. The core of the ethnographic view is thus the declaration of the diversity of reality. Ethnography aims to understand a common human being and his relationship to power. (Schatz 2009, 7, 11-12.)

The strength of the ethnographic point of view lies thus in the recognition of the complexity, multivocality and multilayeredness of reality. On the other hand ethnography sees reality as a set of performances, which in my opinion is an extremely good viewpoint to virtual reality and discussions in the social media, in which people strongly aim to form a certain type of image of themselves. Also according to the theory on the social construction of reality by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, the worldviews of individuals are formed as a result of social interaction. Also Hannah Arendt points out that public speech and action form an identity: the individual creates a public image of himself based on them. The environment, in my research the virtual environment, supports the development of the group members’ identities towards the set goal, which in the case of my research is mostly either Russian or Moldovan nationalism. This constructivist viewpoint is in many ways typical for ethnography. (Kubik 2009, 38; Schatz 2009, 12; Wedeen 2009, 88, see also Aredt 2002; Berger&Luckmann 2009.)

21

Ethnographic point of view also shows that all political activities are not connected to the competition on raw materials, but above all politics is about collective identity and symbols, which are used to show this identity. Usually politics is practiced as if identity was a stable entity, when in reality the factors of time and space have a great impact on changes taking place in the identity. So, the creation of collective identity is always political action and the goal of political action can be described as balancing the collective identity around a certain symbolic middle point. If it is assumed that politics is a locally produced action, the ethnographic viewpoints concentrating on the micro-level are significant. So, the aim of ethnographical method is to concentrate on actions of real people in real environments. (Kubik 2009,25-27, 45.)

My goal is to analyze the representations of (political) identities in virtual groups as results of identity-building processes. According to my sources it is clear that changes on macro-political and economic levels cause strong reactions also on the micro-level. The same kind of approach has been used in studies concerning the building process of a nation, in which the actions taking place on the national level are proportioned to processes on the local level. In other words research themes in these cases are the identity-building processes on national and local levels, especially concerning national identity and building of collective memory. On the other hand, when doing research on these processes it must be taken into account that the classic view on communities with shared values, identity and culture has been mostly replaced with an idea of a multi-placed and segmented identity. In other words the identity of an individual is built in a stream of cultural influences, in the middle of political commitments and under the influence of economic relations. This way the modern view on identity sees it as multi-placed, recognizes the importance of local collective memory and overall treats identity more as a voice than as a structure. (Kubik 2009, 33-34, 39-41, 47.)

My research takes influences from three forms of ethnography. Firstly, it concentrates on partly hidden and unofficial forms of political action and the cultural construction of power relations. Secondly, it concentrates on the social construction of identities and events on micro-level. Thirdly, my study discusses my research theme in the global context, through transnational relations and multi-placed ethnography, as the study is taking place in a virtual environment with strong connections to the global internet-community. According to hermeneutics, knowledge depends on power relations and social reality is built as a result of social interaction. Ideas, beliefs and values are created as results of social processes and the surrounding environment, such as language, structures

22

of the society and human relations, have a strong influence on them. According to the interpretive way of thinking culture and the contexts it creates have a great influence on building reality and knowledge. In this sense the concepts and performative elements used must be interpreted in their own context. (Kubik 2009, 49-50; Wedeen 2009, 80-82, 87-88;

see also Gadamer 1975, 2005; Skinner 2002.)

By applying to this theoretical background it can be said that doing research on social movements is literally doing research on a phenomenon which is moving and changing, as these movements are all the time absorbing new models of action and values to themselves. The sources available rarely fit to ready-made theories about human activities, but instead it is productive to look at them at a certain type of theoretical background at the same time acknowledging the significance of one’s own personality as a researcher to the results gained from the research. The movements and “the culture” they represent are often actually a combination of stories, images and concepts, which means that the analysis of this kind of material is always analysis of certain points of view, from which it is impossible to draw large-scale theories. In my research I am aiming to concentrate on the writings of certain individuals and to look for connections to previous and upcoming events in order to form a more thorough image. (Zirakzadeh 2009, 113-116.) Even though I have discussed the ethnographical point of view, it does not mean that I should use traditional ethnographical methods, such as interviewing or observing. When using problem-centered phrasing of questions, it is possible to creatively combine different types of methods and theories in order to shed light to the various aspects of the research problem. In other words, in this chapter I have tried to point out that my research is strongly based on the ethnographic view on individuals, politics and power even though I am using textual analysis as my method. Hermeneutics and theories on social construction of reality offer a background and starting point for the research.

In this chapter I have discussed ethnographical points of view on studies of politics, which offer a background for this study and the framework for my own thinking in connection to the textual analysis as presented by Skinner and the concept of political identity as presented by Whitebrook discussed in the previous chapter. In the next chapter I will discuss two central concepts that demonstrate the wider context of my research question, as nationalism and geopolitics are large-scale frameworks within which the discussants operate either consciously or unconsciously. Through these concepts that form a background for the phenomenon I move on to their practical implications, when the actual discussions are analyzed in the further chapters.

23

3. CENTRAL CONCEPTS