Maaja VADI
University of Tartu
School of Economics and Business Administration
Tartu
ESTONIA
ABSTRACT:
John Berry, the well – known professor on the field of cultural studies, started his speech in Tartu on the 6th of May: Most countries are now culturally plural, with more than one ethnicity and language represented in their population (Berry 1998).
He has been involved in the process of integration of different ethnic groups in Canada for a long time. Officially, Estonia became a multinational state recently, seven years ago. Since 1991 Soviet Union ruled Estonia and it was announced to be homogenous in terms of nations.
Political decisions, especially during the last century, have imposed the information of some new states what do represent one certain culture. One example is Estonia, which was occupied by USSR more than 50 years. Peeter Vihalemm differentiates political, economic and cultural space and indicates countries that were dominating the social space of Estonia in different periods (Vihalemm 1997, 133). During 1918-1940 in terms of political space Germany and Russia, economic space Germany and Great Britain and cultural space Germany, Finland and Sweden influenced Estonia. After World War II from perspective of these three dimensions Estonian society were governed Russia (Soviet Union). This total influence has put a deep impact on peoples´ mind and on the whole cultures.
KEY WORDS: culture, values, attitudes, intercultural, integration, Estonia
