View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Department of Social Research University of Helsinki Finland NORMATIVE STORIES OF THE FORMATIVE MOMENT CONSTRUCTION OF ESTONIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY IN POSTIMEES DURING THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Helsinki, for public examination in lecture room 10, University main building, on 12 February 2016, at 12 noon. Helsinki 2016 Publications of the Faculty of Social Sciences 1 (2016) Media and Communication Studies © Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus Cover: Riikka Hyypiä & Hanna Sario Distribution and Sales: Unigrafia Bookstore http://kirjakauppa.unigrafia.fi/ [email protected] PL 4 (Vuorikatu 3 A) 00014 Helsingin yliopisto ISSN 2343-273X (Print) ISSN 2343-2748 (Online) ISBN 978-951-51-1047-3 (Paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-1048-0 (PDF) Unigrafia, Helsinki 2016 ABSTRACT This longitudinal research analyzes the construction of Estonian national identity in the country’s largest and oldest daily newspaper Postimees in relation to the European Union (EU) in the course of Estonia’s EU accession process 1997-2003. I combine media studies with political science, EU studies and nationalism studies to scrutinize this period as an example of a ‘formative moment’. During this formative moment the EU became ‘the new official Other’ in relation to which a new temporary community, Estonia as a candidate country, was ‘imagined’ in the paper. The study is based on the assumption that national identity as a normative process of making a distinction between us and Others occurs in societal texts, such as the media. The overall framework consists of critical discourse analysis in three phases. Text level refers to the media content whereas the evolution of the categories of writers of the opinion articles during the accession process is approached as a discourse practice. The formative moment stands for sociocultural practice as wider societal context. The empirical data consists of 1780 opinion articles of Postimees. First, in the text level a characteristic feature of this formative moment is the open normativity of identity. In three discourses formed on the basis of the empirical data, European Estonia, Independent Estonia and Humble Estonia, the question of ‘who we are’ is challenged both internally and externally by ‘who we should become’. Internally, the aim is to socialize the newspaper’s readers into becoming informed, rational and realist citizens. Externally, in relation to the EU, the necessity to become European, independent or humble is emphasized in the pertinent discourses. Second, four categories of writers, namely Staff Journalists, Cultural and Political Elite as well as the Readers (letters to the editor), emerged from the analysis. The analysis shows that in the beginning of the accession process only a limited group of people, mostly journalists and political decision makers, wrote about the EU. By 2003, however, both the number of articles as well as the variety of authors had multiplied several times. This shows, how a new community, Estonia as a candidate country, is first ‘imagined’ by a small number of people and then expands into the wider public. Last but not least, this formative moment can be seen as a disciplining sociocultural practice. Here a link between normative public discussion and critical public opinion towards the EU during country’s accession process can be drawn. Even though the newspaper tried to ‘bring the EU closer to the people’ this attempt was accompanied by top-down discussions downplaying everyday problems. This study also shows the paradox of how a necessity to improve us and become someone else is communicated in the public discussion in parallel to claiming that ‘Estonia as an EU member does not have to change much’. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the years of conducting this study I have been lucky to study and work together with a number of inspiring people who have all left their traces on the end result. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who accompanied me on this long journey. First of all, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors Professor emerita Ullamaija Kivikuru and Professor Markku Kangaspuro. Ullamaija has supervised this thesis from the very beginning. She has always been there with her wise comments and encouraging remarks, offering not only academic advice but also psychological support during the years. I want to thank you for believing in this project, particularly at those low moments when I was losing my own belief and faith in my abilities. Markku has contributed to the thesis from an historian’s viewpoint and shared with me his deep knowledge about nationalism studies. Part of the time I have also been fortunate to participate in and receive funding from Markku’s research project. Professor Epp Lauk and Professor Inka Salovaara-Moring acted as the pre- examiners of the thesis. In the final phase of editing the manuscript I benefitted a lot from their thorough and insightful comments. I am also grateful for Inka Salovaara-Moring for agreeing to be my opponent in the public examination of the thesis and Professor Esa Väliverronen to act as a custos in the same ceremony. Last but not least, I like to thank Marcus at Derettens OÜ for checking my English. The main source of funding the research has been the Finnish Doctoral Programme for Russian and East European Studies coordinated by the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki. I am also very grateful for Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Oskar Öflund Foundation, Research Foundation of the University of Helsinki and my home unit, Media and Communication Studies of the University of Helsinki for their financial contribution. My “academic home” during the research process has been Aleksanteri Institute. I have been very fortunate to enjoy the institute’s positive and inspirational interdisciplinary atmosphere. The gratitude goes to all of you who work or have worked with me at the Aleksanteri Institute. I have benefitted from the visionary approach and insightful discussions with Director Professor Markku Kivinen during different phases of the thesis. I am also very fortunate to be part of Katalin Miklossy’s Eastern European Research Group. The energy and passion Katalin has used to organize us into a truly creative academic community is simply admirable. I also like to thank the Cluster leader of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies at the Aleksanteri Institute, Sanna Turoma, for the possibility to affiliate with the lively Cultural and Philosophical Interpretations of Russian Modernisation- cluster and I am looking forward to our future cooperation. Grateful thanks also to the Head of Development, Anna-Maria Salmi, for all the 4 encouragement and support I have got from you. The helpfulness of the heads of the doctoral programme Ira Jänis-Isokangas and Hanna Ruutu during the research process deserves my deepest gratitude. I also want to thank personally other colleagues with whom I have worked the most: Katja Lehtisaari, Dragana Cvetanovic, Mila Oiva, Ira Österberg, Anna Halonen, Kaarina Aitamurto, Jukka Pietiläinen, Anna Korhonen, Sari Autio-Sarasmo, Tapani Kaakkurniemi, Jouni Järvinen, Hanna Peltonen, Minna Oroza and Eeva Korteniemi. Media and Communication Studies at the Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki has been my home unit throughout the research process. I want to thank Professor Esa Väliverronen and Professor Hannu Nieminen for their support and advice in various phases of the study. During the years Anu Kantola, Salli Hakala, Lotta Lounasmeri, Yonca Ermutlu and others have contributed to the research in one way or another. I am also grateful for the future cooperation perspectives with Mervi Pantti and Markus Ojala that have emerged during the last stage of my doctoral research. Last but not least, I want to thank my first “academic home”, the Department of Journalism at the University of Tartu, Estonia. Professor Peeter Vihalemm and Professor Epp Lauk acted as supervisors of my Bachelor and Masters thesis respectively, raising my interest towards scientific work and guiding my initial steps in the academic world. Also Professor emerita Marju Lauristin and Professor Maarja Lõhmus played crucial roles in forming my deep interest in social sciences. Over the years I have benefitted from cooperation with a number of research institutions. I would like to express my gratitude towards the social and political researchers from the University of Helsinki Newtork for European Studies, University of Tampere, University of Turku, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, University of Glasgow, University of Söderörn, University of Uppsala, and University of Tallinn, to name the most important ones, for various interesting and inspiring academic discussions and forums. In the final phase of the research several people read and commented on the manuscript, and for their time and valuable comments I would like to thank: Markku Kivinen, Anna-Maria Salmi, Hannu Nieminen, Anna Korhonen, Lotta Lounasmeri, Kari Karppinen and Kinga Polynczuk-Alenius. My special thanks goes to my friend Kristi Raik both for her scientific advice at different stages of the study as well as her excellent example of how to perform as a social scientist. I also want to thank my friends Teppo Heiskanen and Laura Kauppila for their linguistic tips during the writing process. Last but not least, biggest gratitude go to my family and friends. My parents have been always supportive of my academic career and my dad would be proud to see me at this big day. My three children have ensured on a daily basis that I also have something more important to think about than research. However, my biggest thanks goes to my husband Sami for believing in this project, helping to bear my stress over the years and offering practical support in all spheres of life throughout the PhD process.