In 1910 the Sámi writer Johan Turi authored an ethnographic study of his people. In 1927 the Seto singer Anne Vabarna dictated an epic poem about a mythological figure named Peko. Professor Kuutma examines the sustained collaborations with outsiders that led to the emergence and diffusion of these texts. With a rigorous historicizing approach, Kuutma demonstrates how both works reflect the various and at times competing agendas of the parties involved in their production. A range of scholars, from those interested in the histories of ethnography and of the study of folklore to those concerned with the textualization of oral traditions, will wish to consult this book.
After the preparatory Chapter 1, in which Kuutma discusses the various theoretical models that underlie her study, Chapter 2 begins with the basic facts about Sámi history and culture. Kuutma explores the Sámi conversion to Christianity and the attitudes toward the Sámi of the modern nations within whose borders they lived as those nations emerged and defined themselves. Demands that the Sámi assimilate went hand in hand with essentializing representations of the Sámi as an exotic Other. The second half of the chapter focuses on the Seto and the impact upon them of an Estonian nationalism in the nineteenth century that manifested itself partly in an interest in native folkloric traditions and a “desire for an epic” (79). Kuutma observes, for instance, that some demanded the Seto “‘[c]ome out either as Russian or Estonian’” (78), whereas others saw the Seto as preserving the “ancient folkways of the Estonians” (76).
Chapter 3 analyses the forces at work in the creation of Turi’s ethnography, Muitalus sámiid birra. Kuutma introduces the Danish artist and amateur anthropologist, Emilie Demant Hatt, and her husband, Gudmund Hatt, and then the Sámi she befriended, Johan Turi, noting the contemporary and subsequent portrayals of Turi as a uniquely qualified but nonetheless archetypical representative of his people. The industrialist and patron of the arts Hjalmar Lundbohm rounds out the relevant cast of characters. Kuutma next details the goals of Turi’s text, which was aimed at educating not only the Swedish authorities but also other Sámi “about the particular experiences of the Jukkasjärvi reindeer-herding Sámi” (103), and notes the important interventions of Demant, Lundbohm, and a professor at the University of Copenhagen, Vilhelm Thomson, in its production. Demant, for example, “systematized Turi’s original manuscript and provided its chapter sequence, then added her own introductory and explanatory notes” (117). Indeed, the introductions provided by the trio demonstrate their claims on and interests in the text. Demant, for instance, depicts Turi “as an exemplary native…untainted by modern civilization” (119) and portrays herself as uniquely suited to act as his editor. Lundbohm “denounces the prospective assimilation of the Sámi while stressing the necessity to preserve Sámi traditions and their environment” (121). Kuutma closes the chapter with further comments on Turi’s own personality and agenda. Far from adhering to “the stereotypical conception of a submissive informant” (130), Turi represented himself as an advocate for the Sámi. In short, his book “was not a singular, but a collaborative effort” (130).
Chapter 4 demonstrates the role of various agents in producing the Peko epic. Kuutma introduces us to the Finnish ethnomusicologist Armas Otto Väisänen, who recorded the singers and musicians of Setomaa and so “played a pivotal role in the process of institutionalizing Seto cultural heritage” (136). Väisänen was particularly interested in the so-called “mothers of song,” older women thought to be “repositories of a past glory, an ancient tradition in rapid decay” (137). His work along with the labors of Estonians who set up song festivals to demonstrate the quality of native performers made national and international stars of several such women who had previously performed only in the embedded song-culture of the Seto. Kuutma tells how Anne Vabarna gained recognition after insisting Väisänen record her shorter and epic length songs, and notes the ways in which singers tailored their performances to appeal to collectors as well as the ambivalent reaction among the Seto to the success of some “mothers of song.” To produce the epic on Peko, Vabarna worked with Paulopriit Voolaine, a folklorist and poet, who offered “thematic suggestions and plot guidelines” (158-59). He later requested a poem about “the vodka devil” (159) and another song on Peko. Kuutma examines the religious components of the epic as well as its representation of Seto history, family life, and gender relations, concluding that “[i]n her story of Peko, the epic singer enacts the story of the Seto people” (181). Throughout this discussion, Kuutma demonstrates “the distinct individuality of her poem” but also its embedding “in traditional poetic expression” (174).
The concluding Chapter 5 traces the reception of these two texts and the subsequent activities of their authors. Kuutma tells of how Turi continued as an advocate for the Sámi and how, although many Sámi questioned his expertise, outsiders lauded his work. After exploring the motifs and agendas of Demant’s own ethnography of the Sámi, Kuutma traces the history of the Sámi in the later twentieth century and the reemergence of Turi’s text as “a staple element of Sámi culture” (205). Returning to the Seto, Kuutma discusses Vabarna’s increasing popularity and the impact on Seto and Estonian culture of Soviet rule, observing the role of folklore festivals in abetting resistance to the “Soviet cultural policy aimed at achieving uniformity” (212). Kuutma concludes with a discussion of Seto cultural activism after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in particular Paul Hagu’s publication of the Peko epic in 1995.
Most impressive is the way in which Kuutma historicizes both collaborative endeavors. The reader learns not only about the internal workings of the texts but also why these works took the shapes they did when they did.
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[Review length: 955 words • Review posted on July 19, 2007]