Category
Topic
Year
On the richness of the critical field, for a change
Keywords: literary criticism, survey, cultural journalism, Estonian literature
This article provides an overview of literary criticism published in 2024 and 2025 in the periodicals Akadeemia, Keel ja Kirjandus, Looming, Müürileht, Sirp, Vikerkaar and Värske Rõhk, all issued by SA Kultuurileht. The analysis draws on key statistical indicators. The sample comprises 475 reviews in total, of which 89 address translated works and 124 discuss non-fiction titles or new editions of older literature. The primary focus of the article is on reviews of contemporary Estonian fiction, which account for 278 items in the sample. Of these, 36% concern poetry and 60.4% prose; 35.6%…
This article provides an overview of literary criticism published in 2024 and 2025 in the periodicals Akadeemia, Keel ja Kirjandus, Looming, Müürileht, Sirp, Vikerkaar and Värske Rõhk, all issued by SA Kultuurileht. The analysis draws on key statistical indicators. The sample comprises 475 reviews in total, of which 89 address translated works and 124 discuss non-fiction titles or new editions of older literature. The primary focus of the article is on reviews of contemporary Estonian fiction, which account for 278 items in the sample. Of these, 36% concern poetry and 60.4% prose; 35.6%…
The diversity and distribution patterns of kinship vocabulary in Estonian runosongs
Keywords: runosongs, Estonian language, vocabulary, kinship terms
This article examines the core kinship vocabulary found in Estonian runosongs, focusing on the distribution of stems and stem variants of four key kinship terms: mother, father, sister, and brother. The kinship vocabulary in Estonian runosongs displays remarkable diversity, particularly in the terms denoting female and male parents. Among the analyzed terms, those referring to mother are the most frequent. In contrast, terms for sister and brother exhibit limited variation, represented by only two or three distinct stems.
The regional distribution pattern reveals clear differences between the North and South Estonian language areas. The coastal regions…
This article examines the core kinship vocabulary found in Estonian runosongs, focusing on the distribution of stems and stem variants of four key kinship terms: mother, father, sister, and brother. The kinship vocabulary in Estonian runosongs displays remarkable diversity, particularly in the terms denoting female and male parents. Among the analyzed terms, those referring to mother are the most frequent. In contrast, terms for sister and brother exhibit limited variation, represented by only two or three distinct stems.
The regional distribution pattern reveals clear differences between the North and South Estonian language areas. The coastal regions…
From the ice age to the inter ice age:
Keywords: translation history, translation studies, translation criticism, translated literature, science fiction
This article examines how Abe Kōbō’s science fiction novel Daiyon kanpyōki (“Inter Ice Age 4”) reached Estonian readers in 1966 through Agu Sisask’s translation. Having come to Sisask by somewhat accidental means, the work became an important part of the local literary canon, influencing theoretical debates on the nature of science fiction and challenging the Western-centric tendencies characteristic of such discussions.
A year before the Estonian translation appeared in print, Arkady Strugatsky’s Russian translation was published (1965). In addition to serving as the basis for several indirect translations issued in the…
This article examines how Abe Kōbō’s science fiction novel Daiyon kanpyōki (“Inter Ice Age 4”) reached Estonian readers in 1966 through Agu Sisask’s translation. Having come to Sisask by somewhat accidental means, the work became an important part of the local literary canon, influencing theoretical debates on the nature of science fiction and challenging the Western-centric tendencies characteristic of such discussions.
A year before the Estonian translation appeared in print, Arkady Strugatsky’s Russian translation was published (1965). In addition to serving as the basis for several indirect translations issued in the…
Contested wars and ongoing colonization in the Nenets tundra
Keywords: Nenets; colonialism; armed resistance; memory practices; Russia–Ukraine war; reindeer herders
This article examines how long-term colonial domination shapes attitudes toward war, violence, and the state among Nenets reindeer herders in the European tundra and the Polar Urals. Drawing on historical sources, contemporary media, open-source data on wartime casualties and mobilization, and long-term ethnographic fieldwork among private reindeer-herding families (2000–2017), I trace changes in relations between Nenets and lutsa – a term referring to Russians and, more broadly, to settlement-dwelling, reindeerless others. Adopting a longue durée perspective, the article follows shifts from early fur-tribute extraction and violent encounters, through Orthodox missionization…
This article examines how long-term colonial domination shapes attitudes toward war, violence, and the state among Nenets reindeer herders in the European tundra and the Polar Urals. Drawing on historical sources, contemporary media, open-source data on wartime casualties and mobilization, and long-term ethnographic fieldwork among private reindeer-herding families (2000–2017), I trace changes in relations between Nenets and lutsa – a term referring to Russians and, more broadly, to settlement-dwelling, reindeerless others. Adopting a longue durée perspective, the article follows shifts from early fur-tribute extraction and violent encounters, through Orthodox missionization…
Albert Razin’s protest self-immolation in Russophone media coverage
Keywords:activism, epistemic injustice, Indigenous peoples, power of knowledge, ethnicity, languages.
On 10 September 2019, Albert Razin, an Udmurt humanities scholar and activist, set himself on fire in protest against the Russification of educational policies. Russian federal media and experts framed his act in highly peculiar ways. First, Razin’s actions were extensively medicalized, with fabricated claims about his age, private life, and alleged physical and mental health conditions. Second, public commentators invoked the so-called custom of tipshar, a purported tradition of ritual suicide, to explain his actions. According to this narrative, drawn from the colonial discourse, ethnically non-Russian peoples of the Volga-Ural…
On 10 September 2019, Albert Razin, an Udmurt humanities scholar and activist, set himself on fire in protest against the Russification of educational policies. Russian federal media and experts framed his act in highly peculiar ways. First, Razin’s actions were extensively medicalized, with fabricated claims about his age, private life, and alleged physical and mental health conditions. Second, public commentators invoked the so-called custom of tipshar, a purported tradition of ritual suicide, to explain his actions. According to this narrative, drawn from the colonial discourse, ethnically non-Russian peoples of the Volga-Ural…
Udmurts and Russians
Keywords: Udmurts, colonization, Russian rule, Christianization, korenizatsiia, repression
This article reflects on the history of the Udmurts and their relations with Russians from the late Middle Ages to the mid-20th century: how contacts with Russians developed before the incorporation of the Kazan khanate into Muscovy and what it meant for the smaller peoples who became part of the emerging Russian Empire. Special attention is paid to the process of Evangelization and its consequences, including the migration of many villagers to regions less exposed to Russian interference. I trace how Russian eastward migration led to a problematic, although not yet conflictual coexistence.…
This article reflects on the history of the Udmurts and their relations with Russians from the late Middle Ages to the mid-20th century: how contacts with Russians developed before the incorporation of the Kazan khanate into Muscovy and what it meant for the smaller peoples who became part of the emerging Russian Empire. Special attention is paid to the process of Evangelization and its consequences, including the migration of many villagers to regions less exposed to Russian interference. I trace how Russian eastward migration led to a problematic, although not yet conflictual coexistence.…
Yamal Nenets Film Series
Keywords: ethnography, ethnographic film, Finno-Ugric peoples
This article analyzes the Yamal Nenets Film Series (2024–2025), a nine-hour sequence of observational event-films edited from video footage recorded among Nenets reindeer herders on the Yamal Peninsula in 1999. In a context where pandemics and Russia’s war in Ukraine have rendered classical long-term fieldwork in Yamal politically and ethically untenable, the article asks how such historical audiovisual material can function simultaneously as an ethnographic source, a representational form, and a method of “returning” to a now-inaccessible field.
The article conceptualizes filming as a mode of embodied participant observation, in which handheld camera work, long takes,…
This article analyzes the Yamal Nenets Film Series (2024–2025), a nine-hour sequence of observational event-films edited from video footage recorded among Nenets reindeer herders on the Yamal Peninsula in 1999. In a context where pandemics and Russia’s war in Ukraine have rendered classical long-term fieldwork in Yamal politically and ethically untenable, the article asks how such historical audiovisual material can function simultaneously as an ethnographic source, a representational form, and a method of “returning” to a now-inaccessible field.
The article conceptualizes filming as a mode of embodied participant observation, in which handheld camera work, long takes,…
Films about the Vepsians and Vepsian cultural self-representation through film
Keywords: assimilation, documentary film, ethnic minorities, national identity, repression, feature film
This article examines films made about the Vepsians. From the second half of the 20th century onwards, the Vepsians have been filmed primarily for documentary purposes by (Soviet) Russian, Estonian and Finnish researchers, journalists and other interested parties. These productions include both documentary films and journalistic television formats. Since the 21st century, the Vepsians themselves have also begun to produce films addressing their ethnography and history. The visual representation of one’s own culture constitutes a form of ethnic self-reflection. Films made by Vepsians encompass both recollections and reconstructions of a…
This article examines films made about the Vepsians. From the second half of the 20th century onwards, the Vepsians have been filmed primarily for documentary purposes by (Soviet) Russian, Estonian and Finnish researchers, journalists and other interested parties. These productions include both documentary films and journalistic television formats. Since the 21st century, the Vepsians themselves have also begun to produce films addressing their ethnography and history. The visual representation of one’s own culture constitutes a form of ethnic self-reflection. Films made by Vepsians encompass both recollections and reconstructions of a…
First knowledge is lost
Keywords: Komi, hunter, forest, wayfinding, weather, ethnography
This article reflects on the first ethnographic field data collected by the author in 1996 among Komi hunters. The topics covered during the first encounter between the author and his field partners involved discussions on the practices of wayfinding. These conversations also encompassed weather conditions and broader questions concerning how Komi hunters see the world around them. The article combines a discussion of ethnographic field observations with data from scholarly literature and an autoethnographic analysis of the author’s own forest experience and the construction of ethnological knowledge.
As people deeply accustomed to the forest environment,…
This article reflects on the first ethnographic field data collected by the author in 1996 among Komi hunters. The topics covered during the first encounter between the author and his field partners involved discussions on the practices of wayfinding. These conversations also encompassed weather conditions and broader questions concerning how Komi hunters see the world around them. The article combines a discussion of ethnographic field observations with data from scholarly literature and an autoethnographic analysis of the author’s own forest experience and the construction of ethnological knowledge.
As people deeply accustomed to the forest environment,…
Finno-Ugric religious life through the eyes of Estonian ethnographers
Keywords: history of ethnology, Estonian National Museum, Finno-Ugric peoples, fieldwork diaries, religion
From the 1960s to the 1990s, the Estonian National Museum organized numerous field expeditions to other Finno-Ugric peoples within the Soviet Union. The primary aim of these trips was to collect objects of material heritage. During the expeditions, ethnographers produced photographs, drawings, and occasionally video recordings, as well as written ethnographic descriptions and field diaries. These materials provide valuable insights into the lives of Finno-Ugric peoples during this period. They also enable us to better understand Estonian ethnographers’ perspectives on their smaller kindred peoples, including their motivations for collecting, as well as…
From the 1960s to the 1990s, the Estonian National Museum organized numerous field expeditions to other Finno-Ugric peoples within the Soviet Union. The primary aim of these trips was to collect objects of material heritage. During the expeditions, ethnographers produced photographs, drawings, and occasionally video recordings, as well as written ethnographic descriptions and field diaries. These materials provide valuable insights into the lives of Finno-Ugric peoples during this period. They also enable us to better understand Estonian ethnographers’ perspectives on their smaller kindred peoples, including their motivations for collecting, as well as…
In the shadow of Greater Finland
Keywords: Finno-Ugric ethnography, close reading, tacit knowledge, field, community of experience, community of memory, evaluation
The objective of this article is to examine Ilmari Manninen’s position within Finnish ethnology on the basis of archival sources. The material consists mainly of Manninen’s correspondence, and the methodological approach is a close re-reading of his scholarly work. Manninen spent six years in Estonia, where he adapted well to the university and museum life in Tartu. The opening of the Estonian National Museum was a milestone and a testament to the success of the working team. Manninen’s return to Finnish ethnology was not self-evident. Although…
The objective of this article is to examine Ilmari Manninen’s position within Finnish ethnology on the basis of archival sources. The material consists mainly of Manninen’s correspondence, and the methodological approach is a close re-reading of his scholarly work. Manninen spent six years in Estonia, where he adapted well to the university and museum life in Tartu. The opening of the Estonian National Museum was a milestone and a testament to the success of the working team. Manninen’s return to Finnish ethnology was not self-evident. Although…