Estonia's national identity

 National identity and the other 

National identity is a term that has multiple meaning, and it has been defined in multiple ways, but the one I am going to be talking about is the definition from the article national identity and the other.(Triandafyllidou,1998). National identity is what gives people the feeling of belonging, the ability to communicate better with nationals than with outsiders. It consists of ethnicities, public culture, common historical memories, legal and economic systems. However, “National Identity has no meaning per se. It becomes meaningful in contrast to other nations” (Triandafyllidou,1998, p. 599). 

Multiculturality 

Estonia is a diverse country, “Compared with other European countries, Estonia has a large percentage of foreign-born residents and their children, only about two-thirds of the population are ethnic Estonians” (Aruja, 2023). About one quarter of the population are Russians, and other minority groups like Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Finns. This might indicate that for Estonians, ethnicity doesn’t play an important role when it comes to describing identity, as they are “open to outside influence” (Aruja, 2023). Additionally, some of the countries named previously are seen as external positive significant others, for instance, “Finland has been an important positive significant Other for Estonia from the beginning of national awakening in the nineteenth century” (Petersoo, 2007, p. 126). In addition to geographical proximity, linguistic and cultural proximity were important for the relation between these two countries, it contributed to the development of Estonian identity (Petersoo, 2007, p. 126), so it could be said that Estonians took Finnish identity as a base to create their own, in fact it can be found in 

the “Constructing Estonians’ Identity” article that Estonians were inspired by the Finns and were influence by them during the Soviet Union when Estonian had access to Finnish TV channels. (Petersoo, 2007) In a way, the Estonian identity doesn’t consist of only ethnic Estonians since there are at least two other countries that have linguistic proximity, which they consider as positive significant others. In contrast, Estonia’s relation with Russia isn’t as good and peaceful. Since Estonia has a significant number of ethnic Russians, the country of Russia often claims that Russians that live in Estonia are not given a fair and equal treatment. 

Common historical memories 

In 1991 Estonia gained independence from the USSR, however, “Estonia has been under the suzerainty of various ‘landlords’, it has a complex contemporary ethnic composition, and it consequently provides an interesting and illuminating case study of ‘Othering’” (Petersoo, 2007, p. 121). Even though Estonia has multiple negative significant others that are seen as a threat to their identity as national “Commonly, immigrant groups are the Other against whom the identity of a nation is constructed” (Petersoo, 2007, p. 123). Therefore, in contrast to countries in the west, Estonia and other former Soviet Union countries share memories or war. There are multiple reasons why these significant others exist in Estonia, it can be caused by fear of the enemy, in fact “The most significant external negative Other for Estonia during the twentieth century was its large eastern neighbor, Russia…. Unfortunately, negative othering of Russia is almost inevitable after fifty years of Soviet domination and latent Russification.” (Petersoo, 2007, p. 128), so it seems like Estonia rebuilt their identity after they gained independence from the USSR. Nevertheless, the Russian community thrive in Estonia, “while preserving their distinctive religious and cultural identity” (Petersoo, 2007, p. 123) 

It is possible to say that Estonian culture has been refined by other neighboring countries, that Estonians have taken pieces of countries near them that nowadays are significant others of Estonia, like Finland, Latvia and Russia, and other countries that used to be part of the USSR, It’s important to take into consideration that these countries share historical memories, so it becomes common for some of them to have similarities between them, for example, countries like Latvia, Finland, Lithuania, Belarus, share historical memories, all in different ways but it gets to the point where the description of each of these countries becomes blurry in contrast with the others, and we can start seeing that some countries in the 

east of Europe are mostly multicultural because they come from the similar historical experiences. 

Estonian Values 

Since there is a large percentage of ethnic Russians that live in Estonia: A study conducted by the University of Tartu concluded that “The more a member of the Russian-speaking minority identified with North Europe and Estonia, the less extreme the description of Estonians became” (Dovewall, 2011, p. 219). Meaning that there wasn’t a large division between the Russian speaking minority, and North Europe and Estonia. So, for outsiders to adapt, “both identities - ethnic and national - are necessary” (Aune, 2011). Even though we need to acknowledge that national identity is an important component for adaptation in the country, we should also recognize that some groups within the country have a bicultural identity development which depends on whether Estonians “are open enough to allow adoption to be adopted by all ethnic groups” (Aune, 2011). Ethnic groups such as Russians, Belarusians, Finns and other countries nearby, potentially countries that were part of the USSR. The government’s Integration in Estonian Society 2000-2007 and the Integration Strategy 2008-2013 aims to: 

“Strengthen the single Estonian national identity, to develop an understanding of the Estonian state that could be shared by all permanent residents of the country and that would reflect constitutional values characteristic of a democratic country abiding by the principle of the rule 

of law, that would value Estonian citizenship and recognize the contribution of each individual to the development of society while accepting cultural differences” (Aune, 2011) 

Based on the previous information, we know for a fact that the Estonian government wants to promote multicultural differences, even though it has been said in the article “Estonian open identity: Reality and Ideals” that 

“Indeed, ethnic Estonians should learn to accept the fact that reality is multicultural and to find positive ways of dealing with the diversity dilemma as expressed by Berry (1997:138): "Diversity is a fact of life; whether it is the 'spice' or the 'irritant' to people is the fundamental psychological, social, cultural and political issue of our times" (Aune,2011) 

Estonia thrives to be a welcoming country by promoting their ideals and cultural differences. 

References 

Aune, A. ,Kletter, K. , Kristel. , Drozdara. , & Marianna. (2011). Estonian Open Identity: Realities and Ideals. A journal of the humanities and social sciences, 15(1). https://www.proquest.com/docview/859436080?accountid=28598&parentSessionId=CYEqncvqr5RMCoD84Jm5JE11CUQRjd7NIE1%2BsQtBdE8%3D&pq-origsite=primo 

Aruja, E. , Tarmisto, . Vello Julius , Köörna, . Arno Artur , Misiunas, . Romuald J. , Stranga, . Aivars , Bater, . James H. and Smogorzewski, . & Kazimierz Maciej. (2023, January 24). Estonia. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Estonia 

Dgar, E., & Askla, K. (2006). Estonia. Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Estonia.html. 

Dobewall, H. , Strack, M. , & Müller, G. (2011). Cultural Value Differences, Value Stereotypes, and Diverging Identities in Intergroup Conflicts: The Estonian Example. International journal of conflict and violence, 5(1), 219. https://www.ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/2856/pdf_3 

Petersoo, P. (2007). Reconsidering otherness: constructing Estonian identity. Institute of International and Social Studies, 13(1), 121-128. https://web-p-ebscohostcom.proxy.seattleu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=aa275be3-8b32-42f4-bf6fafd143e5dfa9%40redis 

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National Identity and the “Other”. Ethnic and racial studies, 21(4),599.https://doi.org/10.1080/014198798329784