International symposium on Estonian Swedish history, culture and language

On 29-31 August, the University of Gothenburg Department of Swedish Studies and the University of Tartu Department of Scandinavian Studies will arrange an International symposium on Estonian Swedish history, culture and language, gathering the leading experts in the field from several countries.

Programme

At least since the Middle Ages, Swedes have lived in the coastal areas of Estonia. For several centuries, islands such as Vormsi, Ruhnu and Osmussaar were monolingually Swedish, and Swedes and Estonians lived side by side on, e.g. Kihnu and Noarootsi. The Estonian Swedes lived under special legal conditions and were, for example, never serfs. They identified themselves as Swedes and preserved their distinctive culture over the centuries. During at least 800 years this group developed their own unique culture and dialect. The cultural continuity was, however, broken in 1943-44, when most Estonian Swedes were evacuated to Sweden. Today, only a very small group of genuine coastal Swedes still live in Estonia.

The conference aims to vitalize and coordinate the research on Estonian Swedes and to initiate new, interdisciplinary perspectives and cooperation. There has indeed been important research about the Estonian Swedes already. However, most of the research is rather old – most of the cultural research is, for example, published before 1945. The more recent research, e.g. the Estonian Swedish Language Structure project, and some historical studies, is spread out over several disciplines with little cooperation between them. Scholars within history, linguistics, folklore, archaeology, ethnology, and sociology have worked without much knowledge of each other. Therefore, the conference will gather scholars from all the relevant disciplines and let them share their knowledge and inform about their ongoing or planned research. It also aims to gather scholars from Sweden and Estonia to increase the cooperation between the countries. New collaborations can start through these meetings, and new, more complete knowledge can emerge. This type of increased, interdisciplinary research is more important since the unique Estonian Swedish culture and language are threatened, as the last representatives of it in its genuine form are about 90 years old.

The conference will gather 20 scholars. Among the speakers are Prof. em. Göran Hoppe from Uppsala University, Dr. Sofia Joons from Åbo Akademi University, and Prof. Daniel Sävborg and Ass. Prof. Eva Liina Asu from the University of Tartu. The venue of the conference is Haapsalu, ‘the capital of the Estonian Swedes’.

The organizing committee consists of Henrik Rosenkvist from Gothenburg University and Daniel Sävborg and Eva Liina Asu from the University of Tartu. The conference is financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

The symposium can be followed via zoom by everybody interested by using the link below.
Topic: Estlandssvenskarnas språk och kultur, 29-30 August 2024
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 970 9701 1034
Passcode: 631525