The chapter discusses the border between Estonia and Russia in the South East Estonian Seto region as a rupture, rather than an accepted and welcome political separation, the particular responses to which display cultural, ethnic and political identity. The study offers an ethnographic account of various borders in Seto country (state border, municipal and regional borders, politico-historical borders and everyday borders); of the administrative, practical and personal contestations of those borders, their hierarchies and layers of borderlands. This discussion is placed in the context of the strengthening and depoliticisation of the border, which is conceptualised as officialising space. I will describe how the borderdom is visible in the landscape and how the rupture is defined during a certain cultural event.
Border guards on the Estonian-Russian border in 1935. (Photo from Arvi Matvei personal archive)
However, Estonian-Russian border violations in Seto region and the imprisonment of Estonian Security Police agent Eston Kohver in September 2014 has notably undermined this image of impermeability, exposing the lack of control present outside the border points.
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This research was supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence CECT), the European Social Fund (Mobilitas Postdoctoral Fellowship MJD450) and the project Culturescapes in Transformation (IUT 3-2). I am very grateful to the anonymous reviewers, Kadri Koreinik and the editors of the book, Helen Sooväli-Sepping in particular, for their comments, as well as to the members of the Seto community and choirs for their comments, time and passion in offering their views on and experiences with the border.
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Authors and Affiliations
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
Aet Annist
Department of Ethnology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
