Estonia’s Russian Speakers
Contiguous Settler Colonialism and its Aftermath
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24138947 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yehezkel Lein (0009-0006-5746-2822), Oren Yiftachel (0000-0002-0138-6596) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-26 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Europe Asia Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0966-8136 • E-ISSN: 1465-3427 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09668136.2026.2706568 |
| OpenAlex | W7203796747 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
This article explores the enduring presence of Russian speakers in Estonia through the lens of a novel theoretical framework: contiguous settler colonialism. It highlights the settler colonial nature of the Soviet regime and posits that geographical contiguity between a metropole and its colony discourages settler self-determination and lessens the likelihood of mass exodus post-decolonisation. Settlers who remain typically develop hybrid identities that blend ethnic characteristics with attachment to the localities and independent states where they live. These identities enable settlers to resist assimilatory and exclusionary pressures from the new postcolonial regimes, as well as attempts by the former metropolitan states to mobilise them in volatile regional contexts.
Colonialism · Contiguity · Ethnic group · Mass migration · Metropolitan area · Mobilities · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Soviet and Russian History
Good segregation, bad segregation
Imperial Debris
The Concept of the “New Soviet Man” and Its Short History
Socio-Economic Segregation in European Capital Cities
Settler Colonialism
Deepening apartheid
The Ethnic Minorities of Estonia
The Aleph—Jerusalem as critical learning
Why do they stay? A spatial perspective on settler colonialism, decolonization and the case of Kosovo Serbs
The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Post-Soviet Space
Estonia
Mobilities I
Soviet Prefabricated Panel Housing Estates
The Bronze Soldier
Complying with European standards of minority education
EthniCity of Leisure
Belonging and the politics of belonging
Narva as Method
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Understanding 'ethnocratic' regimes
Internal Colonialism and Cultural Divisions of Labour in the Soviet Remblic of Estonia
Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native
Remains of the Soviet Past in Estonia
Nesting Orientalisms
Neither Settler nor Native
The formation of ethnically mixed partnerships in Estonia
Types of spatial mobility and change in people's ethnic residential contexts
Post-socialism as an experience of distancing and dispossession in rural and transnational Estonia
Minorities moving out from minority-rich neighbourhoods
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |