ETNILINE JA RAHVUSLIK. ETNOKULTUURILISTEST PROTSESSIDEST EESTI IDADIASPORAAS
ETHNIC AND NATIONAL – ETHNOCULTURAL PROCESSES IN THE ESTONIAN EASTERN DIASPORA

Summary/Abstract: This article is focused on the ethnocultural processes that took place in the Estonian eastern diaspora starting from the second half of the 19th century when an extensive wave of migration from Estonian areas to Russia’s eastern and southern regions took place. In the context of exploring conditions at the time of departure some light is also cast on the development of national sentiment in Estonia proper. The issue of ethnogenesis among Estonians in the eastern diaspora is addressed, mapping various levels of their identity as well as delineating specific components and exploring ethnic boundaries. Ethnicity and nationality have been treated as separate analytical categories that share some characteristics but also harbor differences. A large number of authors consider nationality as something like a further development of ethnicity. For the purpose of this article I rely on the views of Anthony D. Smith regarding the separation of ethnicity and nationality. According to him, a nation has ethnic roots and the two share certain qualities but it is only nationality that has a shared code of communication and public culture. For Estonians in Estonia, who have had the privilege of experiencing independent statehood and the tradition of a shared cultural field, the notion of nationality and ethnicity appear to overlap and are experienced as a unit. Because Estonians in the eastern diaspora do not have these experiences they are less likely to perceive nationality and ethnicity as one. This multi-layered identity is rooted in history. During the last decades of the 19th century when the massive emigration from Estonia to the eastern parts of the Russian Empire took place, Estonian identity was still in a formative stage. If anything can be said about Estonian identity at that time, it is that the notion was ethnic–cultural with language and folk traditions drawing the separation lines between “us” and “them”. The notion of Estonian was to be filled by a history imbued with national romanticism and pseudo-mythology. As is evidenced by the toponyms in the Estonian diaspora, emigrants were far from immune to the nationalist sentiment. Burgeoning ideas of nationhood became increasingly politicized at the beginning of the 20th century and were quick to reach the diaspora. The eastern diaspora developed a shared field of culture with Estonia proper by subscribing to Estonian newspapers, importing school teachers and having regular correspondence with relatives back home. These ties were severed when Bolsheviks seized power in Russia and Estonia broke free of the empire to become an independent state. For the two decades that followed these events, communication between the eastern diaspora and Estonia was not as productive as it had been. The 1920s and 1930s were crucial for the identity of eastern diasporans.

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