Ester Bardone | University of Tartu (original) (raw)

Papers by Ester Bardone

Eesti Rahva Muuseumi aastaraamat =, Mar 20, 2023

Acta geographica Slovenica, Sep 8, 2022

The article examines how European Union rural development measures and food quality schemes are u... more The article examines how European Union rural development measures and food quality schemes are used for creating added value to regional food products in Estonia. In order to understand these processes, national food and heritage policies are analysed to highlight a lack of national instruments that would protect and promote regional specialities. The emergence of regional brands (funded by the European Union LEADER measure) is an example of an initiative to increase the visibility of regional products and food culture on the domestic market and to brand the region. Another attempt for recognising and re-regionalising local specialities is the application for the European Union Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) label for a traditional cheese sõir in southeastern Estonia.

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Doktoritöö peamiseks eesmärgiks on u... more Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Doktoritöö peamiseks eesmärgiks on uurida, kuidas ‘etendus’ (performance) töötab metodoloogilise perspektiivina, analüüsides maapiirkondade turismi- ja külalisteenuseid, mille eesmärgiks on pakkuda erinevaid kaasaegse maalisuse kogemusi. Täpsemalt on väitekirja fookuses viisid, kuidas neid teenuseid lavastatakse ja etendatakse Eestis tegutsevate mikro-ettevõtjate poolt. Viimaseid käsitletakse kui ‘lavastajaid’ ja ‘etendajaid’. Ettevõtja tegevust mõistetakse sotsiaal-konstruktivistlikus ja fenomenoloogilises raamistikus kultuurilise praktikana ning indiviidi loovuse performatiivse väljendusena. Dissertatsioon koosneb raamivast tekstist ja neljast publikatsioonist, millest kolm on empiirilised uurimused, mis rakendavad etenduslikku perspektiivi erinevail viisidel ja uurivad erinevaid elamusteenuseid: einestamine kodurestoranis, õnneraua sepistamine noorpaaridele, talutööpäeva etendamine ja suitsusaunas käimine. Eesti näiteid...

Studia Vernacula

People live amidst objects, things, articles, items, artefacts, materials, substances, and stuff ... more People live amidst objects, things, articles, items, artefacts, materials, substances, and stuff – described in social sciences and humanities as material culture, which denotes both natural and human-made entities, which form our physical environment. We, humans, relate to this environment by using, depicting, interacting with or thinking about various material objects or their representations. In other words, material culture is never just about things in themselves, it is also about various ideas, representations, experiences, practices and relations. In contemporary theorising about material culture, the watershed between the tangible and intangible has started to disappear as all the objects have multiple meanings. This paper theorises objects mostly in terms of contemporary socio-cultural anthropology and ethnology by first giving an overview of the development of the material culture studies and then focusing upon consumption studies, material agency, practice theory and the ...

Sign Systems Studies, 2010

Metaphorical analogies have been popular in different forms of reasoning, theatre and drama analo... more Metaphorical analogies have been popular in different forms of reasoning, theatre and drama analogy among them. From the semiotic perspective, theatre is a representation of reality. Characteristic to theatrical representation is the fact that for creating representations of reality it uses, to a great extent, the materiality and cultural codes that also constitute our everyday life; sometimes the means of representation are even iconically identical to the latter. This likeness has inspired numerous writers, philosophers and, later, social scientists to look for particular similarities between social life, drama and theatre. In this paper I chose two particular approaches from the social sciences that make use of the metaphorical analogy of theatre in quite different, yet, to certain extent, also overlapping ways — Victor Turner’s concept of “social dramas” from anthropology and Erving Goffman’s “dramaturgy” of social interactions from sociology. The former bases his analogy more o...

Eesti Rahva Muuseumi aastaraamat, 2016

Ethnologia europaea, 2010

This article* investigates how Votian identity has been staged and performed in the context of th... more This article* investigates how Votian identity has been staged and performed in the context of the Votian Museum and in the course of the Luzhicy village feast. Our analysis concentrates on performative aspects of cultural heritage and ethnic identity related to the creation of specific cultural spaces. The Votian Museum is examined as the setting of the village feast, reflecting the display aspect of heritage and identity production. We focus on the key elements - the opening ceremony, the communal meal, and carnivalesque aspects - of the feast, which involve various embodied practices and articulate the manifestations of traditional culture chosen by the organisers of the festival, as well as contemporary enactments of village life.

Ethnologia Europaea, 2013

This article examines the ambivalent status coinciding with the symbolically rich meanings of wil... more This article examines the ambivalent status coinciding with the symbolically rich meanings of wild berries as food, relying on data drawn from Estonian ethnographical archives, contemporary food blogs and nutritional and culinary literature. Wild berry memories from pre-modern times up to the present encode personal as well as collective values related to wild food, foraging and food culture, but also feelings related to belonging. The analysis explores the contemporary nostalgia for and high culinary status of wild berries. Diverse values attributed to good food are contained in these berry discourses: tradition blended with gourmet cooking and a healthy anti-consumerist lifestyle combined with the desire for exclusive tastes. 1

Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, 2018

The article focuses on a particular form of consumption in contemporary culture-pop-up restaurant... more The article focuses on a particular form of consumption in contemporary culture-pop-up restaurants-from the ethnological viewpoint, drawing on our ongoing research in Estonia. We trace the emergence of a new phenomenon over the past couple of years, examining a variety of temporary food establishments in urban as well as rural settings. As Estonian food culture is becoming more and more hybrid, pop-ups reflect global trends in the gourmet foodscape-an increased attention to environmental consciousness, local specialities and authentic experiences as opposed to industrial or mainstream restaurant food. The analysis aims to examine how pop-up restaurants challenge borders between private and public, business and entertainment. Creative and experimental practices of lifestyle entrepreneurs and reflective consumers in such temporary restaurants create new liminal spaces where innovative ideas about food, the home, and community are negotiated. By extending the borders of the conventional restaurant or the home into public space, the pop-up restaurants create spaces of negotiation between the private and the public and new forms of commensality.

Ethnologia Fennica, 2017

Kitchen has been one of the most intensively lived spaces at home, yet, its furnishings have ofte... more Kitchen has been one of the most intensively lived spaces at home, yet, its furnishings have often vanished, especially in the 20th-21st centuries. Cooking tools and utensils have been part of museum displays dedicated to historical food culture but the complex materiality of the kitchen related to multiple practices going beyond food production and consumption has rarely attracted curatorial interest. This article examines comparatively how Estonian museums represent and interpret the materiality of kitchens and kitchen culture. Relying on ethnographic sources the analysis considers the aspects related to material culture as well as museum studies: how kitchen materiality and kitchen practices were represented according to curatorial concepts and how kitchen related objects were interpreted and displayed. The primary materials for the study come from four permanent and temporary exhibitions from 2015‒2016 explicitly dedicated to kitchens and cooking. Exhibiting the lived dimension ...

Eesti Rahva Muuseumi aastaraamat, 2017

Kitchen space and kitchen equipment as interpreted by Estonian museums Recent exhibitions focusin... more Kitchen space and kitchen equipment as interpreted by Estonian museums Recent exhibitions focusing on kitchen spaces – “Köök” (Kitchen) at the Hiiumaa Museum (September 2015 to September 2016), “Köök. Muutuv ruum, disain ja tarbekunst Eestis” (The Kitchen. Changing space, design and applied art in Estonia) at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design (February to May 2016) and “Süüa me teeme” (We Make Food) at the Estonian National Museum (opened in October 2016) – are noteworthy signs of food culture-related themes rearing their head on our museum landscape. Besides these exhibitions, in May 2015, the Seto farm and Peipsi Old Believer’s House opened as new attractions at the Open Air Museum, displaying kitchens from south-eastern and eastern Estonia. Compared to living rooms, kitchens and kitchen activities have not been documented very much at museums and the amount of extant pictures and drawings is also modest. Historical kitchen milieus have for the most part vanished witho...

Appetite, 2018

The aim of this qualitative case study is to examine how two post-socialist nation-states-Latvia ... more The aim of this qualitative case study is to examine how two post-socialist nation-states-Latvia and Estonia-have appropriated and implemented the European Union (EU) food quality schemes in order to protect traditional food products. Relying on documents, interviews and observations, the focus is on analysing the process of applying for EU quality labels such as Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). The results demonstrate that in both countries, these EU quality labels seem to compensate for a lack of national quality schemes for traditional food products. EU quality products are considered as national property and are used as tools for marketing small, post-socialist countries among member states within the EU. The state authorities in Latvia and Estonia have different degrees of intervention in the process of applying for quality labels. Micro and small-scale producers especially lack the administrative resources and expertise needed for the application, as well as surveillance. This study suggests that the implementation of the EU food quality schemes not only benefits food producers but also compels them to confront the multiple controversies related to transforming traditional foods into standardised and certified "European products".

Mäetagused, 2015

Toidukultuuri seisukohalt on regioon ühtaegu ajalooline ja geograafiline, kultuuriline ja loodusl... more Toidukultuuri seisukohalt on regioon ühtaegu ajalooline ja geograafiline, kultuuriline ja looduslik, materiaalne ja kujutluslik üksus. Kindla piirkonnaga seostamine kujundab toidust sümboolse identiteedimarkeri. Kolme regionaalse kulinaarse sümboli-Peipsi-äärne sibul, Saaremaa kadakas ja Jõgeva küüslaugufestivali keskmes olev küüslauk-najal analüüsime seda, kuidas saab üks piirkond määratleda end konkreetse taime abil nii kultuuriliselt kui ka majanduslikult, ning uurime, milline roll on toidutootjatel ja turismitööstusel Eesti piirkondlike toidutraditsioonide kujundamisel rahvusvaheliste arengute kontekstis. Sarnaselt Euroopaga kujundavad ka Eestis regionaalse toidukultuuri ametlikku kuvandit tippkokad ja/või toidutootjad. Väidame, et Peipsi-äärse sibula kasvatamist ja kasutamist soosivad nii ajaloolised traditsioonid kui ka keskkonnatingimused, kadaka tarvitamine Saaremaa toidukultuuris tuleneb selle looduslikust levikust, Jõgeva küüslaugufestival on aga näide kohaturunduse eesmärgil leiutatud traditsioonist.

Journal of Baltic Studies, 2013

The commodification of rural life emerges when a community’s culture, previously developing in ta... more The commodification of rural life emerges when a community’s culture, previously developing in tacit cultural practices, has moved from a self-regulating process to a consciously acknowledged commodity packaged and offered for tourist consumption, as, for example, in the construction of rural “tourist attractions” (Crouch 2006, p. 355, George et al. 2009, 35–36). The contemporary multifunctional countryside has become the site of diverse tourist attractions and leisure activities, where both natural and cultural elements – landscapes, buildings, traditions and people – acquire new features in the context of commodification, often in the form of performances (cf. Edensor 2006; Gray 2000). The process of commodification has given rise to a vast range of niche products that suggest changing representations of rural life, and its sites and activities (Cloke 2007, 39–40). In this paper, we focus on specific kinds of rural commodities, such as performances “staged” by small-scale rural tourism entrepreneurs who thereby create personalized interpretations of rural life, both past and present. The context of this research is farm tourism in south-east Estonia, which is, mostly due to its scenic landscapes and cultural heritage, one of the most popular tourism regions for both domestic and foreign tourists. The number of rural inhabitants in Estonia relying increasingly on their income from tourism – usually starting with offering accommodation and moving on to rather varied tourism products – rose gradually during the second half of the 1990s and at the beginning of the 2000s (Alanen 2004; Ardel 2004, 44–46; Busby and Rendle 2000 Journal of Baltic Studies Vol. 44, No. 2, June 2013, pp. 205–227

Myrdene Anderson (Purdue, USA) Paul Cobley (London, UK) Marcel Danesi (Toronto, Canada) John Deel... more Myrdene Anderson (Purdue, USA) Paul Cobley (London, UK) Marcel Danesi (Toronto, Canada) John Deely (Houston, USA) Umberto Eco (Bologna, Italy) Jesper Hoffmeyer (Copenhagen, Denmark) Vyacheslav V. Ivanov (Los Angeles, USA, and Moscow, Russia) ...

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, 2011

Ülikooli 18, 50090, Tartu, Estonia e-mail: ester. vosu@ ut. ee aNU KaNNIKE phD, Researcher centre... more Ülikooli 18, 50090, Tartu, Estonia e-mail: ester. vosu@ ut. ee aNU KaNNIKE phD, Researcher centre for contemporary cultural Studies Estonian Institute of Humanities University of Tallinn Uus-Sadama 5, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia anukannike@ yahoo. com abSTRacT This article* discusses recent developments in the home-based lifestyle business featuring the example of two cases: Tammuri farm restaurant near otepää in South Estonia, and home restaurant MerMer in Kolga-aabla in North Estonia. we study the restaurants ...

Food and History, 2020

The article contributes to the life history and narrative research on collective memory, addressi... more The article contributes to the life history and narrative research on collective memory, addressing how the food culture of mature socialism in Estonia was remembered by a particular memory community (people born in the 1920s-1940s) in the postsocialist situation (early 2000s). Both pre-war society in the independent Republic of Estonia and the postsocialist era became the lenses through which food practices of Soviet Estonia were interpreted. These memories shed light on some nationally specific ways of remembering Soviet food culture, most clearly expressed in seeing the continuity of pre-WWII practices and in symbolic distinctions between “our” and “their” food culture. The study also demonstrates how memory institutions (Estonian National Museum, Estonian Literary Museum) have influenced the ways of remembering as well as the structure and content of memories.

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

The article examines varied interpretations of food heritage in contemporary Estonia, relying on ... more The article examines varied interpretations of food heritage in contemporary Estonia, relying on the authors’ experiences of a three-year research and development project at the Estonian National Museum (ENM). The study focuses on the museum researchers’ collaboration with different stakeholders, representing small entrepreneurs and the public and non-profit sectors. The authors tackle the partners’ expectations and outcomes of diverse cooperational initiatives and the opportunities and challenges of a contemporary museum as a public forum for discussions on cultural heritage. The project revealed that diverse, complementary, and contested food heritage interpretations exist side-by-side on the Estonian foodscape. Additionally, the project enabled the authors to become better aware of the researcher’s role in the heritagisation process and of the museum as a place for negotiating the meanings and values of food culture.