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View Full Version : An Issue of Identity: Finnic vs. Nordic



The Ripper
06-10-2010, 09:17 AM
I think we have all, by now, encountered the on-going twist about the wider meta-ethnic and cultural identity of the Estonians, and by extension also the other Baltic Finnish nations.

I will very shortly explain my own stance:

It is obvious to me, that the Baltic Finns, or Finnics, form a wider meta-ethnicity that formed on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.

However, I've grown up considering Nordic more of a cultural rather than a linguistic or ethnic term, and thus I've always considered myself a Pohjoismaalainen. For me the terms have not been mutually exclusive. But I'm prepared to compromise, if people consider the term Norcic to be reserved for the Scandinavians / North Germanics, and we can speak of a more general Northern European Lutheran cultural and historical sphere.

Another interesting question is, how do you consider those of our Kinsmen, that were left on the Eastern divide of Christianity i.e. the Orthodox Karelians and Seto, and their relation to us?

Hweinlant
06-10-2010, 11:59 AM
Term Nordic, in Nordic countries means a) geographical b) cultural c) historical connection. There is generally accepted difference between Scandinavian and Nordic, in Nordic countries. Obviously this difference is somewhat blurred outside the region. I can easily see Estonia as Nordic but never as Scandinavian. Finland is not Scandinavian either albeit we have Swedish speaking minority, while Finns are native to Sweden and Norway too.

The Ripper
06-10-2010, 12:09 PM
Yes, that is the traditional "Finnish" view of the term Nordic, which became dominant in the post-war period I suspect.

Äike
06-10-2010, 12:51 PM
Estonia isn't Scandinavian as in my opinion only Denmark, Sweden and Norway are Scandinavian. But geographically, culturally and by historical connections, we are definitely Nordic, just like Finland.

The Ripper
06-10-2010, 07:52 PM
But you see, originally Nordic meant exactly that, Scandinavian/North Germanic. The modern concept of Nordic basically has roots in the Scandinavism of the 19th century, after Sweden and Denmark had irreversibly become 3rd rate powers. Finland became considered Nordic, and began to identify as Nordic, during the cold war when it was one of the few available directions they could go in to emphasize that they were removed from the Iron Curtain.

It is not as clear cut and simple as you present it, in my opinion, that Estonia (or even Finland for that matter) is undeniably Nordic.

What is undeniable is that the true "civilizational" fault line (how Huntingtonian of me) goes along our eastern borders, not between us and Scandinavia. The issue is thus more semantic rather than based on cultural differences or something.

I'm fine with calling Estonia culturally Nordic, its not an issue because I understand what is meant, unlike some who see it as an attempt to Scandinavize Estonia or something.