GEOGRAPHICAL MAPS OF STEREOTYPES AS HUMOROUS AND VICIOUS PRODUCT: FOLKLORIZATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF ETHNIC PREJUDICES IN CYBERSPACE

Abstract

"Maps of stereotypes", whether they are made for commercial purposes created by Bulgarian designer Yanko Tsvetkov or have been created by anonymous authors, has become extremely popular in Cyberspace in the last two years. They are transmitted via e-mail communication or via social networks and the web pages which host this kind of maps attracts millions of visitors. Their intended humor has it vicious side: in the form of joke they provide folklorized prejudices about nations and states, and at the same time they cemented them as fixed images, ethnic labels and essentialized notions in consciousness and conception of the numerous Internet audience. From the multicultural perspective and its necessity for negotiating the diversity of identities who are supposedly susceptible of change, these stereotypical maps by utilizing cleverly constructed notions express the complete opposition: the characteristics of the people and of the state of a particular historical and political period are essencialized, offering as a "truth" the point of view of the sender without the possibility of the message recipient to respond in other ways than to press the "like button" or to show "silent" revolt or, even, by creating the "contra-map" with similar humorous and vicious content. In this paper we will examine the phenomenon of so called maps of stereotypes and ascribed notions of Serbia within political and geographical territory of former Yugoslavia and the Balkans.