Ethnic Identity of the Setus and the Estonian–Russian Border Dispute

Bibliographic Data

ID11047409
AuthorsIndrek Jääts (0009-0002-4331-3034, University of Tartu, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume28
Issue4
Pages651-670
Publication date2000-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNationalities Papers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1080/00905990020009665
OpenAlexW2048608806
LanguageEN
Citations received9

The Setus are an ethnic group, small in numbers, in the southeastern part of the Republic of Estonia and the Russian territories bordering on Estonia (Petseri raion of the Pskov oblast). The Setus can be seen as ethnographic raw material that both Estonian and Russian nationalists have attempted to claim. Generally, the Setus has been viewed as an ethnographic subgroup of Estonians and their language as part of the South Estonian dialect. Unlike the Estonians, who are predominantly Lutheran by tradition, the Setus are Orthodox. The specific characteristics of the Setus have emerged as a result of the combined influence of religious and linguistic peculiarities and a historic fate that is different from the Estonian. Because of the fact that they were considered Estonians when the censuses took place, the exact number of the Setus is unknown; however, I estimate the number of the Setus living in Setumaa and in Estonian towns to be about 5,000–6,000

Art · Estonian · Ethnic group · Ethnography · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Identity (music · Linguistics · Political science · Sociology · The Republic · Anthropology · European Linguistics and Anthropology · Gender Studies · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Soviet and Russian History