The population of Pskovo-Pechorskiy region between ethnocultural tradition and national politics

Abstract

Over several centuries, from at least the 1600s, a specific group was forming in the locality near the Pskovo-Pechorskiy monastery that differed from the surrounding Russian and Estonian population. This group included the Setu (who spoke an Estonian dialect) and Russians. Their mode of life as a native minority until 1920 can be described with the set of distinguishing features: Russian-Estonian bilingualism, material culture (tools, dwellings, clothes, diet), the social-economic network that developed around Pskovo-Pechorskiy monastery, a unity in the cycle of national holidays and common rites of passage. After 1920 (1920–1970), under the influence of Estonian national politics, the assimilation of the Setu took place. One part of autochthonous Russian population left this region, another part has dissolved in the stream of Russian migrants, whose amount increased from 1990–2000 due to the solidification of the Russian-Estonian border. The scientific investigation of the Setu influenced national politics. The formation of the late 19th and early 20th century conception that the Setu were archaic Estonians did not reflect the situation as a whole but gave birth to a doctrine about the necessity of transformation of the Setu into civilized Estonians. The appearance of the idea that the Setu is a subethnos of Estonians coincided with the process of their complete cultural assimilation. The formalization of national-cultural autonomy of the Setu in Estonia and their admission as an aboriginal native minority in Russia coincided with the total disappearance of this group in the system of social-economic and cultural relations of the Pskovsko-Pechorskiy area on both sides of border. At the same time the turn of 21st century saw the activation of the work of professional ethnic representatives who develop museum and folkloristic activity in the sphere of developing Setu memory. This reconstruction does not reflect renewal of Setu culture but is merely the cultural background of political events on the border between Russia and Estonia. Refs 53.