Mobile belonging in historical everyday letters: the case of Estonia in the 1950s

ABSTRACT

This study contributes to the micro-history during the structural reorganization of Estonia in the 1950s by examining everyday letter exchange between family members, consisting of a single mother and her two daughters. The study uses a mobilities approach toward the meaning of belonging while investigating everyday places and related practices, the mentalities of individual stages of life, and symbolical relations which are influenced by structural formation. The study indicates mobile characteristics of belonging in a family’s subjective attachment to a place.

KEYWORDS:

• Belonging
• everyday
• letter writing
• mobility
• rurality
• Sovietization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 18 October 1952, Põltsamaa.

2. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, undated.

3. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 17 October 1953, Põltsamaa.

4. Mother’s letter to the older daughter, 20 February 1956, Põltsamaa.

5. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 18 March 1953, Põltsamaa.

6. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, undated, Põltsamaa.

7. Mother’s letter to the older daughter, 23 April 1961, Kamari.

8. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 18 March 1954, Põltsamaa.

9. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 26 March 1954, Põltsamaa.

10. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 27 November 1952, Põltsamaa.

11. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 31 May 1953, Põltsamaa.

12. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 11 March 1953, Põltsamaa.

13. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 9 September 1957, Tartu.

14. Mother’s letter to the older daughter, 24 May 1953, Põltsamaa.

15. Mother’s letter to the older daughter, 13 October 1953, Põltsamaa.

16. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 28 November 1952, Põltsamaa.

17. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 26 May 1953, Põltsamaa.

18. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, undated, Põltsamaa.

19. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 29 January, year unknown, Põltsamaa.

20. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 8 October 1952, Põltsamaa.

21. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 26 December 1953, Põltsamaa.

22. Mother’s letter to the older daughter, 23 October, year unknown, Põltsamaa.

23. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 22 June 1956, Tartu.

24. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 14 June 1959, Tartu.

25. Younger daughter’s letter to the older daughter, 16 October 1959, Pärnu.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been financed by the Estonian Research Agency (IUT 3-2 Culturescapes in transformation: towards an integrated theory of meaning making and PRG 398 Landscape approach to rurbanity).

Notes on contributors

Kadri Kasemets

Kadri Kasemets is a researcher in the Center for Landscape and Culture, Tallinn University. She received her PhD in 2012, with the thesis Milieus in neighborhood place-making, from the interdisciplinary Studies of Cultures doctoral programme. Her research draws on human geography, cultural theory, urban studies and landscape research. Her current work examines geographies of everyday.

Hannes Palang

Hannes Palang is head of the Center for Landscape and Culture, Tallinn University. His research focuses on regional studies, with a particular focus on the history, planning and perception of Estonian landscapes.