Children of the Diaspora – In Search for an Imagined Homeland

Tens of thousands of Estonians fled across the Baltic during the Second World War, carrying fragments of a homeland into exile. Their children and grandchildren grew up with stories, songs, faded photos, and sketches of a place they had never seen—an imagined Estonia that would shape their creative voices.

For Sweden-Estonians working in music, media, and the arts, this inherited homeland became both a gift and a hardship—shaping how they create, perform, and navigate the space between belonging and displacement. What happens when that imagined place meets lived reality? And what does it mean to build a career from this liminal space, where memory, absence, and creative vision collide?

Join us for a panel where second- and third-generation Estonian-Swedes explore diaspora identity as a creative force—discussing how to create from inherited memory, reconstruct home through art, and why what is missing might matter most.

Opening words by Charlotte Wrangberg, Ambassador of Sweden to Estonia

Speakers:

• Andres Lokko, writer and journalist
• Sofia Joons, musician, PhD in Ethnomusicology, founding member of Naised Köögis

Moderator:

• Alar Kuutmann, Board member of The National Federation of Folk Music and Dance