{"id":1577,"date":"2025-01-07T09:53:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T07:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/?page_id=1577"},"modified":"2026-02-18T13:29:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:29:44","slug":"folkloristics-and-cultural-geography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/folkloristics-and-cultural-geography\/","title":{"rendered":"Folkloristics and cultural geography"},"content":{"rendered":"

Folklore encompasses knowledge, values, attitudes, and experiences originating from different periods and sources, and it is constantly reinterpreted. The research group of folkloristics and cultural geography focuses on the regional and diachronic variation of folklore phenomena and on the processes of folklore transmission across different genres, drawing primarily on the extensive collections of the Estonian Folklore Archives. The analysis of large datasets enables researchers to identify historical communication routes and structures, as well as cultural contacts reflected in the material. One of the main focuses of the research group is the Finnic runo-song tradition, which is believed to have emerged before the final divergence of the Finnic peoples and to have developed alongside their languages and populations. Its complex poetic system has contributed to the conservatism of archaic linguistic forms, poetic imagery, and thematic elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another part of the group concentrates on the study of narrative and belief folklore, which is more flexible and crosses language barriers more easily. Collections of place lore and the methods used to gather them combine narrative folklore research with geographical and archaeological approaches. Accounts of disease spread and healing rituals in belief systems and folk medicine make it possible to study the formation of such knowledge and its role in overall mental resilience. The research group has extensive knowledge of Estonian folklore collections and their history of formation. This ensures that the unevenness in the data\u2014resulting from the choices and preferences that shaped the long process of folklore collection\u2014is adequately taken into account in research. Collaboration with other working groups in the centre of excellence helps, on the one hand, to clarify and date the development of various folklore phenomena, and on the other hand, folklore provides cultural interpretations for the physical findings analysed in other groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mari V\u00e4ina, PhD<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Estonian Literary Museum, senior research fellow; head of the research group for folkloristics and cultural geography<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Members of the research group<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mari V\u00e4ina<\/a><\/strong>, Lead researcher, head of the research group for folkloristics and cultural geography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risto J\u00e4rv<\/a><\/strong>, Head of archives and lead research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janika Oras<\/a>,<\/strong> Lead researcher, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ave Gor\u0161i\u010d<\/a><\/strong>, Senior research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reet Hiiem\u00e4e<\/a><\/strong>, Senior research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andreas Kalkun<\/a><\/strong>, Senior research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inna Lisniak<\/a><\/strong>, Senior research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liina Saarlo<\/a><\/strong>, Senior research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taive S\u00e4rg<\/a><\/strong>, Senior research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olha Petrovych<\/a><\/strong>, associate senior research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taavi Pae<\/a><\/strong>, University of Tartu, associate professor of Estonian geography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u017danna P\u00e4rtlas<\/a><\/strong>, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, senior research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen K\u00f5mmus<\/a><\/strong>, research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lona P\u00e4ll<\/a><\/strong>, research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mari-Ann Remmel<\/a><\/strong>, research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astrid Tuisk<\/a><\/strong>, research fellow, principal investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helina Harend<\/a><\/strong>, junior research fellow, investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K\u00e4rri Toomeos-Orglaan<\/a><\/strong>, junior research fellow, investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristo Villem<\/a><\/strong>, junior research fellow, investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaarel Veskis<\/a><\/strong>, junior research fellow, investigator<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Folklore encompasses knowledge, values, attitudes, and experiences originating from different periods and sources, and it is constantly reinterpreted. The research group of folkloristics and cultural geography focuses on the regional and diachronic variation of folklore phenomena and on the processes …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":745,"featured_media":237,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1577","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/745"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1577"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1588,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1577\/revisions\/1588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/eestijuured\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}