Between East and West is North: The Loyalties and Allegiances of Russian Authors and Painters Living in EU Estonia

Abstract

The development of the Russian intelligentsia is closely related to discourses concerning Russia's position vis-à-vis Europe and the Western world, such as those of Slavophiles and Westernisers. This paper is about Russian authors and painters who are now becoming part of Europe, as the country in which they live, Estonia, has recently entered the European Union (EU). More precisely, it examines the ways in which these people perceived their position and felt related to Estonia, Russia and Europe at a time when the Estonian state was implementing a vast policy of integration of non-Estonians and preparing for its entry into the EU. The perception that these members of the Russian arts community of Estonia have of this integration process reveals their multiple attachments to Russia and Estonia, as well as to the Russian and Estonian languages and cultures. As the state's definition of integration seems to associate the loyalty of non-Estonians with the knowledge of the Estonian language, these different forms of identification to Estonia and Russia suggest that the Estonian authorities might do well to consider forms of loyalty expression other than or in addition to knowledge of the republic's official language.

Russian in post-Soviet countries

“…According to the 2000 Estonian Census, Russian speakers currently constitute 29.6% of the population of Estonia (http://www.stat.ee). Only 38% of these speakers know Estonian well, while 58% of Estonians know Russian well (Hogan-Brun 2003;Rouillard 2005 (Bulajeva and Hogan-Brun 2008). Higher education in Lithuania is offered mainly in Lithuanian (97.3%).…”