«An American, a French and a Russian meet on a desert island…».The representation of the foreigner and the cultural transfer in Russian contemporary jokes.

Abstract

With the progressive unification of Europe’s political space, the determination of the cultural identity through the juxtaposition of cultures is a central and semiotically innovative subject. The concept of border is applied to this juxtaposition, simultaneously separating and unifying cultures, and allowing the cultural dialogue. This mechanism is analysed through Russian jokes about foreigners. The jokes work as a filter translating the type of the foreigner into the Russian culture. The transfer from an external semiotic space to the Russian internal one transforms the foreigner into a simplified representation of himself adapting it to the hosting culture.