Young Estonians Abroad
News
August 2023 – Publication of the report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs based on the project’s database
On August 31, the results of the study “Young Estonians Abroad: Reasons for Leaving, Relations with Estonia and Return” will be presented at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The presented analysis is mainly based on the quantitative and qualitative data collected as part of the interdisciplinary research project “Young Estonians Abroad” (POST23) funded by the SA Postimehe Fund and carried out at the Institute of Cultural Sciences of the University of Tartu. The focus of the report is the relationship of young Estonians who live abroad with Estonia and the factors that influence their return or cooperation with Estonia. The authors are Terje Toomistu, Aet Annist and Rein Murakas.
May 2023 – Dr. Terje Toomistu talks about the connection between mobility and creativity at the international Cultural Compass in Tartu
Terje Toomistu gave a presentation at the international Cultural Compass “Does culture know borders?”, talking about her own experience with mobility and claiming that her story is a broader generational story. The latter is illustrated by the data collected and the conclusions drawn within this research project. Toomistu claims that migration takes a person to a liminal state, which stimulates innovation and creativity. Watch the presentation here: “Mobility is a state of liminality full of creative potential”, at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu, May 18, 2023.
February, 2023 – Vikerkaar published an article written by Dr. Terje Toomistu about the relation between gender and sexuality and the migration of young Estonians
Dr. Terje Toomistu, anthropologist and the project lead for the research project “Young Estonians Abroad” writes about the correlation of migrational behavior with gender and sexuality for the February edition of Vikerkaar.
How is gender and sexuallity connected to migration of young Estonians?
Read more (in Estonian) here.
January 25, 2023 – Project Lead Dr. Terje Toomistu visited the IDA Raadio’s podcast “Taskuvikerkaar”
On the 25th of January’s episode of “Taskuvikerkaar”, our “Young Estonians Abroad” project lead, anthropologist Dr. Terje Toomistu visited as a guest to talk about the migration of Y-generation young Estonians along with the host Aro Velmet.
Listen to the podcast (interview in Estonian!) here.
December 14, 2022 – Riigikogu Toimetised, an Estonian socio-political journal, has published an article about the values of the Y generation youth in relation to their migration behaviour
On the 14th of December 2022, Riigikogu Toimetised, an Estonian socio-political journal published an article about the values of the Y generation youth in relation to their migration behaviour. The article is based on data gathered through the research project “Young Estonians Abroad” and is written by Dr. Terje Toomistu, a researcher of the Institute of Cultural Research at the University of Tartu and the project lead of “Young Estonians Abroad”, Rein Murakas, an analyst of the Institute of Cultural Research in the University of Tartu and the web questionnaire project lead of “Young Estonians Abroad” project and Andu Rämmer, Associate Professor of Youth Studies at the University of Tartu, Narva College.
The article states that there is a significant discrepancy in the value orientations between the people that have returned to Estonia or that have plans to do so and the people that stay abroad. Young Estonians that find instrumental values of work important prefer to stay abroad due to being unhappy with the situation in Estonia and seeing better living and earning conditions for themselves abroad. Meanwhile, the people who find self-expressional and/or social values of work more important are more likely to return to Estonia.
The quantitative data of the research points to the complexity and individuality of the decision to return, which is often impossible to influence from the outside. At the same time the research shows that the return is also influenced by the policies implemented in Estonia, as well as by the social values in Estonia, in which the young Estonians develop their own values.
Read the summary in English or the full article in Estonian here.
December 12, 2022 – Documentary Film “Homing Beyond” extended version in production
An extended version of the documentary “Homing Beyond” is in production and will air as an online miniseries. The series is a further development of the material already filmed that enables to open further the topics covered in the original documentary “Homing Beyond”. The film will also use the material that was gathered throughout the visual anthropological underproject, carried out in the spring-summer of 2021. The project is supported by the Estonian Film Institute, as well as the Integration Foundation and is distributed in cooperation with ERR and Vabamu. Additional shooting was carried out in November and December of 2022 in Spain, Portugal and Norway.
November 10, 2022 – “Homing Beyond” Documentary Film Has Reached 200 000 People
The Documentary Film “Homing Beyond” has reached the audience of 200 000 people. The first television screening of the film was on February 8, 2022 on Estonian Public Broadcasting channel ETV2. The views of the film reached 47 000 on the first week of the premiere and has reached 196 000 by today through all the Estonian Public Broadcasting channels.
Watch the film from Jupiter, the online portal of Estonian Public Broadcasting, here.
October 5, 2022 – “Young Estonians Abroad” research team is joined by researcher Eva Bürkland
The research team of “Young Estonians Aboad” is joined by a new member Eva Bürkland. Eva is a Master’s student at the University of Tartu with long time experience in journalism. She has also been a digital nomad, which is the field she will focus on in the project “Young Estonians Abroad”.
Read more about Eva and other members of the research team here.
September 21, 2022 – “Homing Beyond” special screening and meeting the director in Käru museum on September 25
Another screening of “Homing Beyond” will take place after a while along with a discussion with the film director and the research lead, Dr. Terje Toomistu in the lovely Käru museum on September 25 at 6PM.
More about the event here.
August 12, 2022 – The project lead Dr. Terje Toomistu participated in the discussion panel of Opinion Festival
“Young Estonians Abroad” project lead and researcher Dr. Terje Toomistu participated in a discussion at the Opinion Festival with the Ambassador at Large for the Diaspora at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marin Mõttus and the multitalent of Estonian cultural field, Jim Ashilevi. The discussion was arranged by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and focused on the potential of the global network of Estonians. The discussin was moderated by entrepreneur and lead of the discussion series Global Estonians, Rainer Sternfeld.
Watch the discussion (in Estonian) here.
May 18, 2022 – The documentary film “Homing Beyond” is screened in North America
The documentary film about the experience of young Estonians living abroad called “Homing Beyond” is being screened in North America.
The film will be shown:
On May 18 in Toronto. More info here.
On May 22 in New York. More info here.
On May 24 in San Fransisco. More info here.
On May 27 in Seattle for the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies conference “Baltic Studies at a Crossroads”.
May 6, 2022 – Dr. Terje Toomistu, the project lead for “Young Estonians Abroad” gave an interview for Estonian diaspora magazine Eesti elu (Estonian Life)
Dr. Terje Toomistu, the project lead for “Young Estonians Abroad” gave an interview for Estonian diaspora magazine Eesti elu (Estonian Life), in which she shared the behinds of making the documentary “Homing Beyond”.
Read the interview here.
April 26, 2022 – Dr. Terje Toomistu, the project lead for “Young Estonians Abroad” to the magazine Peegel: “when you experience a touching moment during your travels, but leave it only to yourself, then this won’t change the world”
Dr. Terje Toomistu, the project lead for “Young Estonians Abroad” opened up to the magazine Peegel about her travel experiences and how it lead her to start making documentary films.
Read more here.
April 22, 2022 – Dr. Terje Toomistu, the director of the documentary “Homing Beyond” visited the podcast Globaalsed eestlased (Global Estonians)
The director of the film and “Young Estonians Abroad” project lead Dr. Terje Toomistu visited the podcast Globaalsed eestlased (Global Estonians) for an interview. On the podcast, Toomistu shared her experience on living and working abroad. Toomistu’s research on migration was also discussed.
Listen to the podcast and read more about it here.
April 18, 2022 – The documentary “Homing Beyond” screening in the museum Vabamu
The documentary “Homing Beyond” created through the „Young Estonians Abroad“ project was screened in the museum Vabamu. The screening took place on April 18.
More information about the event here and here.
April 18, 2022 – The documentary “Homing Beyond” premiered on Estonian National television’s main channel ETV
Having previously premiered on ETV2, Estonian National Broadcasting Stations second channel, the documentary film about the experience of young Estonians living abroad called “Homing Beyond” has been bradcasted also on the primary channel ETV. The documentary aired on April 18.
More information here.
March 26, 2022 – „Young Estonians Abroad“ project lead Dr. Terje Toomistu visited the podcast Tagasi”
„Young Estonians Abroad“ project lead and director of the documentary “Homing Beyond” Dr. Terje Toomistu visited the podcast “Tagasi” by the portal Edasi for an interview. In addition to sharing behind the scenes of the making of the documentary film Toomistu also opened up about her research and shared her thoughts on conflicts between different communities and changes in the Estonian society during the past decades.
Listen to the podcast here.
March 17 2022 – „Young Estonians Abroad“ project lead Dr. Terje Toomistu gave an interview for radio Kuku in the show “Sihik”
„Young Estonians Abroad“ project lead Dr. Terje Toomistu was interviewed by the programme “Sihik” for radio Kuku. The interview was conducted by the host Marian Võsumets.
Listen to the interview (in Estonian) here.
March 10, 2022 – Documentary film “Homing Beyond” goes on a European tour
The screenings for the documentary film “Homing Beyond” were held in cities across Europe. The film premiered in Paris on March 10, in London on March 11 and in Brussels on March 13. “Homing Beyond” was also shown in the Estonian embassy in Berlin on April 28 and in the Estonian school on May 8.
More information on the screening in Berlin here and here.
More information on the screening in Amsterdam here.
February 15, 2022 – “Homing Beyond” available now on Jupiter
Documentary film “Homing Beyond” from the filmmaker and anthropologist Terje Toomistu is now avaliabe to watch online on ERR’s online channel Jupiter.
Watch the film here (season 19, episode 5).
February 13, 2022 – The director of “Homing Beyond” Terje Toomistu was intervied on the radio
The author of the documentary film “Homing Beyond” and the project lead of the research project “Young Estonians Abroad” has given interviews for multiple Estonian radio stations, where she has shared how the film came to be along with some personal experience on living abroad. Access the links below to listen to he interviews (in Estonian).
“Siin” with Neeme Raud here.
“Reispass” on Raadio2 here.
“Delta” on Klassikaraadio here.
“Pulss” on Raadio2 here.
On RingFM here and here.
On Tre radio here.
“Hajala ringvaade” on Vikerraadio here.
January 26, 2022 – The director of “Homing Beyond” Terje Toomistu and a cast member Maur Mere introduced the film in Ringvaade on ETV
The director of the documentary film “Homing Beyond” and a participant in the film Maur Mere visited the studio of Ringvaade on ETV to introduce the film in the evening of 26th of January. In addition to giving some insight about the film, the duo also shared their personal experience on living abroad with both the positive sides and the dilemmas.
Read more in detail and watch the interview (in Estonian) here.
January 11, 2022 – Terje Toomistu was interviewed by the ERR
The director of the documentary film “Homing Beyond” and the project lead of the project “Young Estonians Abroad” Dr. Terje Toommistu was interviewed by ERR (Estonian Public Broadcasting), in which she opens op about the making of the film.
Read more here.
November 21, 2021 – Terje Toomistu presented the “Young Estonians Abroad” project at the biggest conference of anthropology in the world in Baltimore
Project lead, Tartu University researcher Dr. Terje Toomistu presented at the biggest anthropological conference – American Anthropological Association’s (AAA) Annual Meeting – the research that involves young Estonian living all around the world with a presentation “Framing spaces, capturing the experiential: The visual mapping of the young Estonian diaspora in a collaborative creative research” as part of a wonderful panel sponsored by the Society of Visual anthropology on applied and collaborative multimodality in visual anthropology.
The project draws on over 700 photographs and 16 hours of footage contributed by 55 people across 24 countries. The exhilarating and rich material with lots of opportunities for further analysis forms a visual mapping of young Estonian diaspora from the angle of space and spatiality. By framing and capturing their surroundings, the material invites the participants to engage with the notion of home as a spatial relation. In accordance with the conference’s topic of ‘truth and responsibility’ in anthropology, the material refers to the multitude of ‘truth’ in collaborative knowledge production in anthropology.
September 25, 2021 – Postimees has published an essay from Terje Toomistu titled “East European mentality in the imagination of young Estonians abroad”
Postimees has published an essay from our project lead, researcher and anthropologist of University of Tartu, Terje Toomistu titled “East European Mentality in the imagination of young Estonians abroad”.
You can find the article in Estonian here.
September 18, 2021 – Our project lead Terje Toomistu introduced the project ” Young Estonians abroad” at young ethnologists’ and folklorists’ conference
From 18th to 19th of September in Turgi Handicraft farm in Torila, South Estonia, took place Nefa Autumn School – a conference, where young ethnologists and folklorists can have firsthand experience in presenting their research abstracts in a free form to and audience. Our project lead Terje Toomistu also took part of the event, introducing our “Young Estonians Abroad” project to young aspiring researchers. In her presentation Terje opened up about the nature of the project, as well as the importance of the topic and the unique methodological approach that came about due to the push given by the pandemic.
July 6, 2021 – We are extending the deadline of the project until the 1st of August
Through the “Young Estonians Abroad” research project, we have invited young Estonians to send us of photos and videos their everyday life abroad.
Due to the popular demand of our participants and the changed schedule of the project in the context of the pandemic, we have decided to extend the deadline for submitting the material until the 1st of August. This will give a chance to join for people, who are returning home in the near future or who have not gotten around to it before.
Everyone, who is under the age of 40, has grown up in Estonia, but is living abroad, is welcome to join! The material sent will be used in the making of a documentary film “Generation Across the Border”, airing in the ERR series of Estonian stories. In the consent of the participant, the collected material will also be stored in the collection of the National Museum of Estonia.
We have extended the deadline for everyone who has already registered. If you haven’t registered so far, you can do so here.
Find the instructions in Estonian here (in Estonian only!).
In case there is not enough time or interest to spend a long time filming, we are happy to receive a frame or two-three variations of the participant in front of their current home/gate/staircase or in their home street. This will be used in a compilation in the film with Estonians abroad in different parts over the world.
In addition, we have compiled some tips to help with a smooth and more professional filming process, which you can find here (in Estonian only!).
June 10, 2021 – Estonian World has relayed our call to young Estonians abroad
The portal Estonian World had relayed our call to young Estonians living outside of Estonia to send us photos and videos, showing their everyday life abroad.
Find the article here.
June 4, 2021 – Our project was aired in the ERR morning television programme Terevisioon
Our project lead Terje Toomistu introduced the research project and making of the documentary film about young Estonians that are living abroad on the morning programme of ERR “Terevisioon”.
Watch the clip here (in Estonian only!).
April 28, 2021 – Our research project has been mentioned in different media outlets
„Global Estonian Report“ that was published on the 28th of April by ERR in cooperation with the Estonian Integration Foundation has mentioned our project among others as an option and oppurtunity for Estonians living outside of Estonia to participate in different events, projects and contest related to Estonia. We have been brought up as a way to participate in co-creating a documentary film. Find the article here.
In addition, portal Global Estonian has written about us about our project of gathering visual material from Estionians across the world and has relayed our invitation to participate. Global Estonian is a network created by the Estonian Integration Foundation to connect Estnians and Feiends of Estonia all over the world. Find the post here.
April 26, 2021 – First results from our online survey have now been published on our website
Results from our online survey conducted from October 2020 until February this year have been published on our website. Results showcase different aspects of Estonian youth living, studying or working abroad. In addition, we have looked into reasons of going abroad, from which by far the most important was the wish to see the world, but also living conditions and earnings in the destination country. We also asked about satisfaction about the time spent abroad, different ways of connecting with Estonia while abroad and which aspects favor turning back to Estonia. We have mapped out the categories of identity for the youth and the effect of COVID to people’s activities and future plans as well.
Results are based on the answers received from 2022 people, two thirds of whom continue to live abroad and a third are back in Estonia. We will be updating data on our webpage constantly according to the process of analysis.
You can find the results here.
April 22, 2021 – We have launched an inclusive creative research project to gather visual material from young Estonians living abroad
We have launched a creative research project “Young Estonians abroad” to visually map out the every day environment of people from Estonia that are living in different parts of the world. People from Estonia, who live away from Estonia and are in the age range of 20-40 years old are all welcome to participate. With the project we gather photos and videos that are taken by the participants themselves about their everyday environment. Gathered material is used in a documentary film “Põlvkond piiri taga” (“Generation Beyond the Border”) airing in ERR series “Eesti lood” (“Estonian stories”), but also in a visualanthropological analysis and in publications related to the project. With the consent from participants, the material is stored in collections of Estonian National Museum.
March 1, 2021 – The online survey of “Young Estonians abroad” gathered over 2000 responses
The survey that focused on the experiences of the Estonians in the age of 20-35 who have worked, studied, or traveled as a digital nomad in countries outside Estonia, was closed in February. The survey received very enthusiastic and supportive feedback, so we decided to extend its deadline. Eventually, we gathered responses from 2022 people, which exceeded over ten times our initial expectations stated in the project proposal. The experiences considered 60 different countries.
539 respondents participated also in the drawing of the 1-year digital subscription of the Postimees news portal. The 10 winners were drawn with the help of a random number generator.
Congratulations to all winners and once again, a big thank you to everyone who found time to participate in the study. Your contribution matters.
January 25, 2021 – The deadline for the online survey extended until February 7, 2021
Following the enthuastic and supportive feedback and our aim to also gather a critical amount of responses from different subgroups, we have decided to extend the deadline for the online survey until the 7th of February. So far we have gathered responses from over 1200 persons. We expect to hear from people in the age of 20-35 who have grown up in Estonia and have worked, studied or travelled as a digital nomad in countries outside Estonia within the past 10 years for at least 1 year in duration. It is possible to fill in the survey in Estonian and in Russian. To begin with answering, please click here.
November 27, 2020 – Terje Toomistu and Ave Lauren on the future of youth mobility in an opinion piece in Postimees
The principal investigator of this project Terje Toomistu together with the senior researcher, a human geographer from EBS Ave Lauren published an article in Postimees, in which they argue for the need to study the mobility of young adults in both qualitative and quantitative terms. They also share some preliminary data from the ongoing survey with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and speculate on the future of youth mobility. Read the full article (in Estonian) here.
October 22, 2020 – We have launched the project’s online survey
The project includes a widespread online survey amongst the 20- to 35-year-old people from Estonia with recent experiences of living abroad. The survey was launched on October 22 with an aim to gain numerous responses from the people currently living outside Estonia as well as those who have returned to Estonia. Responses both in Estonian and in Russian are gathered. To begin with responding, please click here.
October 9, 2020 – Additional funding awarded to the project’s documentary film
The project-related anthropological documentary entitled “Generation abroad” received additional funding from Eesti Lood 2021 competition. The documentary is directed by Terje Toomistu. Director of photography is Aivo Rannik, editor Madli Lääne.
