Team of the UNESCO Chair
The UNESCO Chair was founded by Professor Kristin Kuutma, chairholder in 2019-2025. In memoriam | Estonian Research Information System
Professor of Cultural Heritage
Deputy Head for Doctoral Studies at the Institute of Cultural Research
Elo-Hanna Seljamaa researches ethnicity, nationalism, and integration in Estonia and is fascinated by living with difference as it is experienced in daily life and institutionalized in policies. She is consequently interested in processes of heritagisation and inclusions, exclusions and interventions by means of heritage management.
As a folklorist, she is drawn to traditions that do not fit easily into UNESCO’s formulation of intangible cultural heritage. Her research project (2018-2021), a start-up grant funded by the Estonian Research Council, explored these topics through the lens of belonging and non-belonging.
As an educator, she is intrigued by the genre of Master’s thesis that invites students to apply in practice the theoretical knowledge acquired during their studies and to learn new skills.
Elo-Hanna Seljamaa frequently collaborates with the Estonian Folk Culture Centre. She has curated art exhibitions and explored the use of ethnographic methods in the study of culture and artistic research.
Estonian Research Information System
Masters & Ph.D. Supervision (choice)
- Christiana Holsapple Ph.D. (2022) “Narratives of positionality in contemporary Gagauzia: complexity and national normativity”
- Digne Ūdre „Visually interpreted ideologies: ornament as contested cultural heritage in contemporary Latvia.“ Ph.D., under supervision
- Chahal Garg, MA (2023) "CRAFTECH FUTURES: Speculative Futures of Craft and Technology Convergence".
- Sohail Arshad, MA (2022) „Biradari System: A Dominating Factor in the Politics of Punjab Province.“
- Lily Jane Gartland, MA (2021)„The Ghostlore Podcast: The Tangible in the Intangible.“ Co-supervisor Ülo Valk
- Paulina Vituščanka, MA (2020) „Vernacular Belarusian Writing in the Eastern Provinces of the Second Polish Republic: a Case Study of Narratives from the Lithuanian Central State Archives 368.1.22 and 368.1.49“. Co-supervisor Katre Kikas
- Yuliya Len, MA (2019) „Jewish Community of Berdychiv and the Early Soviet Policie.“
- Mohammad Abu Sayed Toyon, MA (2019) „Opportunities and Challenges in Promoting Culture: Empirical Study on Cultural Institutions of Tartu.“
- Michele Tita, MA (2019) „Tarantism: from An Ancient Syndrome to a New Form of Heritage in Southern Italy.“ Co-supervisor Ülo Valk
- Lisandra Roosioja, MA (2018) „An Ethnographic Exploration of the Phenomenon behind the International Success of Ethno.” Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
Recent publications (choice):
Harro-Loit, Halliki; Vihalemm, Triin; Jõesalu, Kirsti; Seljamaa, Elo-Hanna 2020. Mapping celebration practices in Estonia: which days of importance actually influence societal rhythms? - Anu Kannike, Katre Pärn, Monika Tasa (toim). - Interdisciplinary Approaches to Culture Theory. Tartu: Tartu University Press, 248−328.
Seljamaa, Elo-Hanna 2021. Diversities claimed, displayed and silenced: Encounters at the new Estonian National Museum. - Ethnologia Europaea, 51 (1), 72−98.
Seljamaa, Elo-Hanna 2022. Kuulub – ei kuulu. Kuulumise, konviviaalsuse ja autohtoonsuse mõistetest [Belonging – Non-belonging: On the Concepts of Belonging, Conviviality and Autochthony]. – Keel ja Kirjandus, 5, 404−422.
Associate Professor of Ethnology, Ph.D.
[email protected]
At the analytical center of Aet Annist's attention is developing the concept of dispossession in its different forms (social, symbolic, ethnic dispossession, and dispossession of the future) as well as the new class relations emerging from this setting, as a continuation of dispossession or in reaction to this. In such processes, the institutionalization of heritage culture bears a crucial role in peripheral regions - a theme she has addressed within the IRG project led by the UNESCO Chairholder Kristin Kuutma and within the Horizon2020 project PROMISE, led by Manchester University. Aet Annist's current research interests encompass the theme of climate socialities and links between forest protests and heritage culture.
She has contributed regularly to Estonian media, to applied research for Estonian ministries and Parliament as a consultant, to art exhibitions as a writer, and as an activist, consultant, and facilitator to the activities of Estonian and British protest groups.
Estonian Research Information System
Masters & Ph.D. Supervision (choice)
- Daina Pupkevičiūtė „Relationships as permaculture in the context of climate change: care and support practices in the Lithuanian countryside.“ Ph.D., under supervision
- Bianka Plüschke-Altof, Ph.D. (2017) „Images of the Periphery Impeding Rural Development? Discursive Peripheralization of Rural Areas in Post-Socialist Estonia“. Co-supervisor Andres Kuusik
- Mirjam Rennit, MA (2022) „ Estonian Fridays For Future and Extinction Rebellion: groups and activists." In Estonian
- Ann Aaresild, MA (2020) "I Don’t Think Newspapers Influenced Us”: The Role of Media and Its Changes in Estonian Expatriate Communities in Canada and the U.S. from the Beginning of the Cold War until Today.". In Estonian, Tallinn University
- Ede Schank-Tamkivi, MA (2019) „Eesti by the Bay: Transnationalism/long distance nationalism in the Estonian diaspora.“ Tallinn University
Recent publications (choice):
Annist, Aet 2020. Introduction: Performance, Power, Exclusion, and Expansion in Anthropological Accounts of Protests. - Conflict and Society, Vol 6 (1), 183-200.
Kuutma, Kristin; Annist, Aet 2020. Home and Heritage out of Place: The Disjunction of Exile. - International Journal of Heritage Studies, Vol 26, 10, 942-954.
Plüschke-Altof, Bianka; Annist, Aet 2021. Populism of the Dispossessed: Rethinking the Link between Rural Authenticity and Populism in the Context of Neoliberal Regional Governance. - Pavel Pospech, Eirik Magnus Fuglestad, Elizabete Figueiredo (Ed). Politics and Policies of Rural Authenticity. Routledge, 42−59.
Pilkington, Hilary; Acik, Necla; Annist, Aet; Chorvat, Ivan; Dähnke, Iris; Nartova, Nadia; Shilova, Anastasia and Yasaveyev, Iskender 2021. Positive marginality? Young people’s activism and the paradoxes of recognition politics. - Journal of Youth Studies.
Annist, Aet 2022. Post-socialism as an experience of distancing and dispossession in rural and transnational Estonia. - Critique of Anthropology, 42 (2), 137−153.
Junior Research Fellow in Ethnology, MA
Siarhiej Makarevich focuses on applied research of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) with a particular interest in traditional craftsmanship. As a cum laude graduate of the “Folkloristics and Applied Heritage Studies” MA programme at the University of Tartu, he gained a solid understanding of the international ICH framework and its application in local contexts in the example of Belarus. At present, he is widening his research area to the Baltic region and shifting its focus to explore the intersection of living heritage and sustainable development.
His academic interest in living heritage developed from his practical experience as a craftsman as well as diverse work experience as a junior research fellow in the local crafts centre in Belarus, intern in the open-air museum in Germany, a participant in volunteering projects on different heritage sights and several social initiatives related to folk culture.
Research Fellow in Heritage Studies, PhD
Ethnomusicologist and folklorist, whose main employer is the Estonian Literary Museum. In addition to her research on older folk song traditions, she has worked extensively on contemporary folklore-based singing practices, focusing on Seto and Finno-Ugric traditions. Recently also on the singing practices of the Estonian Ukrainian community.
At the UNESCO Chair Janika is part of the CRIES project, that is about collective singing.
Research Fellow in Heritage Studies, PhD
Sofia Joons Gylling defended her doctoral thesis on the identity formation among Estonia-Swedes in 2024 in Finland (Åbo Akademi). She is also part of a research project on ethnomusicology at the University of Helsinki. She holds a MA in Sociology from the Estonian Institute of Humanities and has extensive experience as a musician and a music teacher.
At the UNESCO Chair Sofia is part of the the CRIES project, that is about collective singing.
She contributes to the project with a survey of singing practice in Sweden, as well as in the diaspora community (both Estonian Swedes and non-Estonians).
Research Assistant, MA
Maarja Veisson studied Ethnology in Tartu and Helsinki. She has previously worked as a translator.
At the UNESCO Chair she works with the RISE UP project, that is about revitalising languages and safeguarding cultural diversity.
UNESCO Cooperation Specialist, MA
[email protected]
Kristiina Porila got her Master’s degree from the University of Kiel (Germany), where she studied ethnology (Europäische Ethnologie/Volkskunde).
Before working for the UNESCO Chair, she was involved in implementing the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Estonia, working at the Estonian Folk Culture Centre.
She also has experience working with the Convention on the international level – e.g., evaluating nomination files for UNESCO’s global lists of intangible heritage (in the Subsidiary and Consultative Bodies) and representing Estonia at international meetings.
At the UNESCO Chair Kristiina Porila takes care of the communication and administrative tasks. She has organised research seminars and is in charge od the course on Intangible Cultural Heritage.
She is also part of the project CRIES ("CRIses Established Singing: Investigations into the Inherent Potential of Collective Singing in Times of Social Crises in the Scandinavian and Baltic Regions").
MA student
Part of the project CRIES ("CRIses Established Singing: Investigations into the Inherent Potential of Collective Singing in Times of Social Crises in the Scandinavian and Baltic Regions").
MA student
Part of the project CRIES ("CRIses Established Singing: Investigations into the Inherent Potential of Collective Singing in Times of Social Crises in the Scandinavian and Baltic Regions").
