Albeit the quantity of people with Estonian ancestry in the United States is not remarkable on a numeric scale – according to the 2000 census, it comprises of merely 25 000 people – it is a very large number both in the context of the global Estonian diaspora as well as the nation as a whole with less than a million representatives altogether. Moreover, the lived reality and corresponding story of Estonians in the United States is still a largely untapped resource in the exploration of ethnicity in America. The microcosms of diasporic existence these people represent deserve to be examined in both past and present. This presentation will provide food for thought about relevant past events and established narratives with the hope of illuminating the historic and cultural particularities of the Estonian presence in the United States.

Maarja Merivoo-Parro is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Department of History, conducting research on the Estonian diaspora in the US. During her career she has served her discipline as a lecturer, museum curator and bibliographer. She has been involved with a number of international history projects as well as engaged with the nonprofit sector in her field, currently as board member of Baltic Heritage Network. Her alma mater is Tallinn University, but she has also studied at Georgetown University as a Dr. George Viksnins Scholarship Award recipient and at Aberdeen University in Scotland with the help of a grant from the European Commission.