Estonians have a vital and vibrant culture but it was created by the kind of modernist process which I apply to nationalism and nations in general. Obviously Estonian culture is under no threat, although Estonians make a fuss about the Russian minority which they have inherited from the Soviet system. The museum has one object for every Estonian-and there are one million Estonians. But since, they have been brilliantly successful in creating a vibrant culture which can be seen, very much alive, in the ethnographic museum in Tartu. They were just a category, without any ethnic self-consciousness. They were simply referred to as people who lived on the land, as opposed to German or Swedish burghers and aristocrats, and Russian administrators. At the beginning of the 19th century they didn't even have a name for themselves. There are some very clear cases where modernism holds true.
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