“We” versus “others” in Estonian fiction: the question of national identity in the works of contemporary women writers

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article uses a postcolonial approach and the concept of Orientalization to uncover hierarchies in Estonian national identity construction. We examine the change in the articulation of the ‘other’ in the context of identity discourses of Estonians and Estonian Russian-speakers using literature by women authors in Estonia. We show how the interest of Estonian writers in the Russian community changed over time and then practically disappeared. We also demonstrate how, reflecting on their new post-imperial status, Estonian Russian-language literature eventually came to see Russians from Russia, rather than Estonians, as the key significant ‘other.’