Paper short abstract:

This paper presents the digital ethnography of the Facebook group "Protect the Rivers of Stara planina", which is an informal environmental movement against the construction of small hydropower plants in Serbia.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents the digital ethnography of the Facebook group "Protect the Rivers of Stara planina", which is an informal environmental movement against the construction of small hydropower plants in Serbia. The group is established in 2017 by local activists and has over 87,000 members today. Gathered around the idea of defending the rivers, they express their attachment and belonging to the movement in many different ways. Group members create and share various image macros, make various visual materials using the technique of photoshopping, draw, make collages, record music songs, write poems, make video clips, etc. All these materials are examples of vernacular creativity, or in other words, the digital protest folklore of this environmental online community. In these expressive materials, the members symbolically express group collective identity, common interests, worldview, and shared values. The dominant themes of digital folklore of this group are - water as a common good, a critique of the neo-liberalization of nature, the problematization of the concepts of sustainable development and green energy, we: them dichotomy, ie people/folk-investors. The main features of their digital protest folklore, that is, their digital folk art are DIY subversive aesthetics, culture jamming practices, postmodern remix culture - modification, bricoloring, and collage, wordplay, humor, irony and parody, playfulness, references to global popular culture and incorporation of elements of traditional culture.