Estonia’s Nordic Identity: History and the Present

UW Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia (CREECA) lecture series, Room 206. Coffee/tea and cookies at 3:45 pm.

media release: The idea of Estonia as a Nordic country gained traction in the late 19th century alongside the rise of Estonian nationalism. As Germany and increasingly also Russia came to be perceived as historical adversaries of the Estonian nation, Sweden’s arguably benevolent influence on Estonia’s history in the 17th century ‘good old Swedish times’ provided the Estonian national movement with an alternative model not just for their understanding of Estonia’s history but also for its political future. This presentation, based on Mart Kuldkepp’s recent book Nordic Estonia, will highlight the continuous efforts of early Estonian nationalists to position the country within the Nordic cultural sphere both before the achievement of Estonia’s independence, and after, with the leaders of the interwar-era independent Estonian state consistently seeking alignment with Sweden and other Nordic nations. Not least in terms of security policy, the recognition of this identity by other Nordic countries was seen critical in shaping Estonia’s geopolitical relationships. Yet it is only in the recent decades that it has found somewhat broader resonance and acceptance abroad. Today, when all the Nordic and Baltic states are members of NATO and most of them also of the EU, the ‘Nordic’ label is perhaps less important as a form of self-identification than it used to be. Yet it remains an exceptionally strong regional brand, and in the minds of most Estonians, their Nordic identity strongly contrasts with other, usually externally imposed labels, such as ‘Baltic’ or ‘post-Soviet’.

About the speaker: Mart Kuldkepp is professor of Estonian and Nordic history at University College London in the UK. He defended his PhD at University of Tartu in Estonia in 2014 and joined UCL in 2015, where he has worked as lecturer, associate professor and professor. Earlier in 2024, his book Nordic Estonia. The Birth of a Nation State was published in Estonia, tracing the political and intellectual history of the idea of Estonia’s Nordic identity in the first decades of the 20th century. He is currently a visiting professor at Yale University.