Paul Goble
Staunton, Mar. 17 – The third issue of the Estonian magazine Keel ja Kirjandus (“Language and Literature”) features a review by Art Leete of the late Ivar Paulson’s book Hinged, vaimud ja jumalud (“Souls, Spirits and Gods”) about the religious systems of the Finno-Ugric and other northern peoples.
The book reviewed is remarkable testament to the work of an Estonian scholar who lived most of his life in Sweden but who was never allowed by Moscow to visit the places where the objects of his studies lived (keeljakirjandus.ee/ee/archives/38137 and mariuver.com/2025/03/18/ivar-paulson-hinged-vaimud-ja-jumalad/#more-81022).
Leete both criticizes and celebrates Paulson’s achievement; but while the subject of the Swedish-Estonian scholar is one for a relatively narrow group of specialists, the situation he found himself in with his pursuit of that subject is becoming ever more common once again as Putin blocks Western scholars from visiting the objects of their study.
During the Cold War, much of the best work done on the USSR in the West was carried out by investigators who never visited the Soviet Union either because they couldn’t or because in some cases they chose not to. Now this particular curtain is coming down again and evaluating the scholarship produced by those who can’t or won’t go to Russia is becoming more common.
Researchers and those who rely on them need to be ready, and exposure to a careful review of the work of Paulson who produced masterworks about people he never met is a good place to familiarize oneself with both what can be done – and what can’t – by those the Kremlin blocks from engaging in more direct scholarship.
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