A Soviet-Estonian Ethnographer Contributing to the Ethnic Movements of Fellow Finno-Ugrians

This article is about the interplay between the Soviet nationalities policy, ethnography and ethnic activism in in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It focusses on Aleksei Peterson, an Estonian ethnographer, and his relationship with two Finno-Ugric peoples he had studied for decades – the Veps and the Udmurt. Based on interviews, field diaries, official documents and other material, we claim that Peterson (and his Estonian colleagues) made an important contribution to the ethnic revival movements of the Veps and Udmurt. Peterson was primarily interested in the traditional folk culture of these peoples, and he considered it their ‘national heritage’ and used it to strengthen their ethnic identity.