Between Landscapes: Migration as Rupture and Its Expression in the Landscape

Abstract

Drawing on textual sources from the Estonian diaspora, this chapter analyses changes of homeland as a form of cultural rupture. There have been two movements of diaspora from Estonia: first the so-called eastern diaspora, from the mid-nineteenth century to WWI, which involved voluntary migration to the east and south of the Russian empire; and second, the western diaspora, which took place during and after WWII and involved Estonians fleeing to Western countries. In both cases, physical relocation entailed a dramatic change of social, political and historical circumstances. Classical models of migrant adaptation refer to generational differences: while the first generation identifies itself primarily with the country and culture of origin, the second generation adapts and the third is assimilated. Although these models are generalisations, they capture a general shift in loyalty: from country of origin to country of residence. Using a landscape perspective to analyse published letters and song repertoires from Estonian diaspora communities across the world, the chapter examines the role of landscape imagery in such processes. How did emigrants “domesticate” their experience of these new, foreign landscapes? Did landscape representations and comparisons express different stages of migrant adaptation? Did they reflect differences between voluntary and forced migrations?

São Paulo (Photo by Aivar Jürgenson)