Tallinn University Publications
Not a member yet
873 research outputs found
Sort by
Идея аренды в общественных начинаниях Льва Толстого 1857 г. [The Idea of Rent in Leo Tolstoy’s Social Enterprises of 1857]
No full textIn her article, Yulia Krasnosel’skaia demonstrates the correlation between Leo Tolstoy’s moral stance and his economic initiatives of 1857—such as Tolstoy’s plan to rent Nikolai Nekrasov’s Sovremennik, and his afforestation project, which was governed by the same idea. She emphasizes the fact that the idea of rent in these enterprises was prompted by Tolstoy’s practice as a landlord in 1856—58, thus placing Tolstoy’s idea of rent into a broader context
Eesti-soome koodivahetuse mitu nägu Facebooki vestluste näitel [The multiple faces of Estonian-Finnish code-switching seen from Facebook conversations]
No full textThe contemporary trans-border world has drastically changed our understanding of communication and socialization. Language environments have expanded into the virtual spheres and the major share of communication is performed on the Web. In terms of mobility and, in the first place, transnationalism, this means the substitution of traditional places of socialising (e.g. community evenings, cultural and club activity in native language, etc.), or, at the same time, participating in internet environments. Similarly, the main communication places of Estonian-speakers in Finland are the numerous virtual networks, of which there exist a couple dozen on Facebook, with the biggest comprising approx. 30,000 members. According to Statistics Finland, there are 48,087 people in Finland whose mother tongue is Estonian. In comparison, shortly aft er Estonia gained its independence this figure was 1,394; by the new millennium it had risen to 10,176, climbing further to 28,493 by 2009. The size of the Estonian-speaking population in Finland was impacted by Estonia’s entry into the European Union in 2004 and the state of the Estonian labour market. The present article concerns itself with code-switching functions in written communication in a Facebook group produced by Estonian-speakers in Finland. Th e data include postings of the group members during the period June 2015 to April 2016. The data are comprised of 421 texts. Th e group surveyed includes young adults, most of whom speak Estonian as their mother tongue, and many also speak Russian or Finnish. Although the background of the group studied is largely heterogeneous, they are, however, united. The multiple faces of Estonian-Finnish code-switching seen by their shared experiences in recent years and a common language and cultural background. Th eir initial contacts with the Finnish language mainly occurred in adulthood; therefore, their Finnish language skills are asymmetric. Based on the results of this study on code-switching in written communication, one may make the following conclusions: The use of Finnish in conversations include functionality, references to the conversation’s context, being speaker’s identity marker and, furthermore, a marker of intragroup boundaries. In multi-language communication situations, code-switching acts as a device which carries, transfers, produces and reproduces meaning. At the same time, code-switching means speaking in many voices, whereby the different speakers’ cultural-language experiences converge. In the case of the respondents one may say that their code-switching is an accepted mode of linguistic behaviour, and the use of code-switching is a norm, even in situations where the speaker(s) in question has/have only minimal knowledge of Finnish. On the other hand, there is a noticeable variation in the written communication of the informants, and the use of the Finnish language is one means for the group members to position themselves and demonstrate their status. It may also be viewed as an apparatus of power, as well as a means to distinguish themselves from the Estonian-speakers who reside on the other side of the Gulf of Finland)
Book Review: Polarising Development: Marxist Perspectives on Neoliberalism and its Alternatives
No full textPolarising Development. Alternatives to Neoliberalism and the Crisis, edited by Lucia Pradella and Thomas Maroi
„Rohgem ei tiija mina teile kirjuda”. Kirjavormelid ning peresuhete kajastused Jakob Ploomi sõjakirjades [I don’t know what else to write to you” Letter formulas and the coverage of family relations in Jakob Ploom’s war letters]
No full textWorld War I caused an unprecedented outpouring of letters in Europe and led to even poorly educated peasants writing in order to stay in touch with their families. From the correspondence of Jakob Ploom (1882−1915?), who emigrated from Võrumaa to the outskirts of Moscow, where he was mobilized into the army, 29 surviving letters represent an older epistolary tradition. These are not intimate documents but directed at a broader family circle. The letters are short and written in a mixture of the South- and North-Estonian languages. The sentences lack punctuation and are incomplete. From letter to letter the same or very similar phrases and sentences about the same topics occur. In addition to the formulaic introductions, long, very similar farewells, and overviews of Jakob’s health, among the most popular sentences are those that represent the difficulties of writing letters. The sentence „Rohgem ei tiija mina teile kirjuda” (“I don’t know what else to write to you”) or its variants can be found 26 times; these key phrases show Jakob Ploom as a passive soldier, lacking in knowledge and having difficulties expressing himself. Using standard formulas probably helped the inexperienced writer to organize his thoughts in writing, providing a safe and easy way to fill in blanks in the unsafe literary (and real) world. Both the difficulty of expressing himself in writing and the dire situations experienced on the battlefield made self-expression extremely difficult. Jakob Ploom’s boring, uninformative, and impersonal literary heritage, rich in formulas, provides an exciting corpus to examine a distinct rhetoric and mentality. These letters provide a grass-roots view of war and show how peasants moved from the oral world to the literary culture due to the necessity created by the war
Aated ja stiiliotsingud: ekspressionism 1920. aastate eesti teatris [Ideals and stylistic searches: Expressionism in the Estonian theatre of the 1920s]
No full textIn Estonian theatre, the experience of World War I found expression somewhat belatedly, in the early 1920s, when Expresssionist plays, mainly by contemporary German playwrights – Ernst Toller, Walter Hasenclever, Georg Kaiser et al – were staged in the Estonia Theatre, in the Drama Theatre and in the amateur Hommikteater (Morning Theatre, 1921–1924). The article examines the most significant Expressionist stage productions, focusing on the relations between their ideological, affective and stylistic dimensions. Critical and audience receptions of Expressionist plays are discussed as well. In the Estonia Theatre, a group of young actors and directors (Ants Lauter, Erna Villmer, et al) sought to innovate theatrical language by making use of new, Expressionist devices. In contrast, the amateur Hommikteater (led by August Bachmann and Nigol Andresen) placed emphasis on spreading the ideals of new humanity and social justice, which reflected the left-wing sympathies of the troupe, but their work was also distinguished by an inventive style and a strong emotional impact on audiences. The members of the literary group Tarapita (who promoted Expressionism themselves) enthusiastically supported Hommikteater. This little theatre became highly influential in the process of theatre innovation, despite its very small audiences. However, the key ideas and ideals of postwar Expressionism (including a strong anti-war pathos) had rather little effect on Estonian theatre in general. Expressionism mainly contributed to the 315 widening of the stylistic palett e of Estonian theatrical art. This can be partly explained by the social situation of the 1920s: victory in the War of Independence and the subsequent building of the independent Estonian state raised nationalist spirits and made people less sensitive to the destructive experiences of World War I as reflected in postwar German Expressionism
ESS in the context of transition studies
No full textThis issue celebrates 10 years of Estonia’s participation in the European Social Survey (ESS). The ESS, with its mission “to chart… attitudes in Europe and to interpret how Europe’s social, political and moral fabric is changing” (About the….), is a thankworthy resource for the research of socio-political and economic transitions. Although the ESS survey does not cover the most turbulent times in the 80s and 90s, it is a useful tool for comparative analysis because it provides cross-national survey results and contextual data. The ESS is built on the ontological basis of comparative, cross-national research that recognises the value of diff erent societies and cultures, and that makes ‘others’ meaningful either as background for analysis of ‘own’ society or as components of the ‘whole’
Poola-Ukraina kodusõda Ida-Galiitsias: ajalugu ja mälestamine [The Polish-Ukrainian Civil War in East Galicia: History and Remembrance]
No full textThe Polish-Ukrainian war 1918/19 is the key to understanding the conflicts in Lviv and eastern Galicia in the inter-war period. The war brought developments to a temporary halt, and created new conditions which particularly affected the way conflicts were waged. Certain historical options, such as those aimed at an equitable settlement, were rendered improbable while others (such as a violent solution to the conflict) became more likely.For the Jewish population, November 1918 was inextricably linked to the memory of the pogrom. It was therefore difficult for East Galician Jews to participate in Polish celebrations.
The Ukrainians consciously formed their own community of memory. The experiences of November 1918 were handed down to subsequent Polish and Ukrainian generations through the practice of remembrance and commemoration in Polishand Ukrainian society. The younger generation of Ukrainian nationalists rejected the democratic concepts of the older generation of politicians and drew their own lessons from the experiences of the Polish-Ukrainian war. The mutual experiences of violence were an integral part of the mental baggage of the Lviv Poles, Ukrainians and Jews when World War II erupted
Das Land Ober Ost. Saksa okupatsioonipoliitika Kuramaal I maailmasõja ajal (1915–1917) [Das Land Ober Ost. German occupation policies in the Courland district during World War I (1915–1917)]
No full textThe policies of the military administration of Courland, starting from the very beginnings in spring and summer 1915, were directed towards the most efficient use of the economic potential of the occupied lands.This resulted in the complete exploitation of the land and its resources,which led to an unforeseen social disaster. Harsh policies of total control, including regulations on movement of any kind, made it possible to mobilize all the resources available, which was seen as an effective way to guarantee the existence of a German controlled Baltic territory after the war. However, one of the main aims of the military administration– ensuring the loyalty of the Latvian population toward the regime by increasing their well-being – was not achieved due to a combination of both policy and the strains of war on the economy of Germany.
The German army remained a priority and its needs were above the interests and needs of the population of the occupied territory. An important part of the policy of the military administration was culture. This was partly characterized by the perception that Germans were the leading cultural element in the Baltic territories. “Culture work” was a priority and this can be seen in almost every aspect of everyday life in Courland during the first two years of the occupation. Ober Ost policies toward the occupied lands and its people started to change in late 1917 to early 1918, when a shift in opinion, about how to preserve German power in the region after the war, occurred
Kui kirjandus jäi aega kinni: sõjast ja kirjandusest Johannes Semperi loomingus [When Literature Was Stuck in Time: War and Literature in Johannes Semper’s Literary Texts]
No full textThe current paper focuses on the Estonian writer, translator, essayist and social actor Johannes Semper (1892–1970), on the ways he considered relations between literature and time before and after the First World War. Semper understood time, through the philosophy of Henri Bergson, as spatial, divisible and measurable in terms of speed or slowness. In Semper’s opinion, the speed of “time” reflected the speed of changes in society, including technical progress, travel, communication and human gestures. Speed and slowness, in Semper’s view, also characterized literature: literature could be created or received at different speeds. At the beginning of the 1920s, Semper stated that “time” carried the speed of the war years, and that the rhythm of literature closely reflected the speed of those years. He believed that literature needed to be separated from “time”, since this enormous speed did not allow for creating “slow” works of literature. Slow works of art, in Semper’s view, were necessary to build up Estonian culture. In 1926, nearly ten years after the war, Semper found that Estonian literature was still stuck in the wartime speed. However, by that time Semper believed that “time” in society had lost the speed of the war years. Now “time” offered a suitable rhythm, so that slow works of literature could be created and received by readers. Consequently, Semper encouraged writers to create works which would refl ect again the rhythm of “time”.
I consider Semper’s way of understanding the interactions between literature and “time” through Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of “literary field” and his views on the renewal of the “literary field” as a “space of possibles”. I also analyse, besides Semper’s theoretical essays, the representations of war in his poems and short stories of the 1920s, in which the war years’ “time” is shown to belong to the past
Politics, the Economy and their Moralities
No full textYear 2014 has been good for STSS. In addition to acquiring a book review editor, who is currently securing reviews for the next issues quite in advance, we have also been ‘promoted’ by the Estonian Ministry of Education. The recent decision to include journals indexed in SCOPUS into the 1.1 category has made STSS a first-class journal in Estonia, with all the (hopefully good) consequences one can imagine. We are now targeted more often and have substantially increased the amount of submitted articles we receive