- Central Eurasian Studies >> Courses >> Course List
- Estonia's Place
- Catalog number CEUS-U 320
- Kivik
- On the western border of Russia
- On the eastern borderlands of West and Central Europe
- At the southern reaches of the Nordics (Scandinavia and Finland)
- The northernmost Baltic State
- In the North, the steep limestone cliffs reaching into the sea
- In the West, the islands from where the Viking ships set sail
- In the East, primeval forestsand a huge lake marking the border
- In the South, picturesque hills with small lakes in the valleys
A coveted piece of land, one of the oldest continuously settled areas in Europe Since the 13th century a battleground ruled by Danish and German knights, the Swedish king and the Russian Czars, Stalin and Hitler, and Stalin with his successors once again. Cut off from the West by the Iron Curtain for almost fifty years. Now a European Union member state and an ally of the United States.
Where is this place, exactly?! And how do the people living there make sense of who they are and where they come from? And why are the Finns, the Hungarians and the Khanty in Siberia among their kinspeople?
This course will take a look at how the country’s location and historical contacts have shaped Estonian culture, language and identity and how they continue doing so today. We will also observe the very local factor of Estonia’s geographical place, the latitude and the landscape as a shaper and a reflection of culture.
The course will put Estonia on the physical and cultural map by reading a novel, poetry, texts about sociology, environment, literary criticism and cultural history. We will watch documentaries, feature films and cartoons and learn about some concepts central to cultural studies along the way.
