Cultural imaginaries of the postcolony: a critical discourse analysis of cross-cultural references in Estonian art history through a postcolonial lens

ABSTRACT

The article argues for an extended delineation of increasing Western cultural hegemony in the reconstituted Baltic states. An initial idiom of postcolonial studies is revisited in order to complement their dominant scope in the Baltics, focused primarily on a retrospective cultural study of Baltic/Soviet relationships. The argument elaborates on the urgency of the expanding research agenda regarding the Baltic/European research framework. By pointing out the frequent occurrence of the superiority or inferiority value scale in cross-cultural references sampled from press releases of the Art Museum of Estonia, the article concludes that mainstream cultural self-reflection in Estonia is nowadays subjected to the supremacy of the imagined West European viewpoint.

KEYWORDS:

• Postcolonialism
• neocolonialism
• Western cultural hegemony
• neoliberalism
• white otherness
• eastern Europe
• Baltic states
• Estonia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eesti Teadusagentuur [Research funding IUT (32-1)]; Estonian Ministry of Education and Research [Research funding IUT (20-38)].

Notes on contributors

Johannes Saar

Johannes Saar is a junior research fellow of cultural and media sociology at the Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia, a part-time lecturer and a researcher of the sociology of art at the Institute of Art History, Estonian Academy of Art, Estonia. He is a historian, journalist, art critic and curator, a contributor to the new edition of a volume of Estonian art history, the editor and author of several publications on Estonian contemporary art, and the former director of the Center of Contemporary Art, Estonia.