The Narratives of Oskar Loorits and Paul Ariste and Their Problematic Dialogue with the ‘Popular’

The topic of this paper is the dialogue of the ‘popular’ and ‘individual’, more precisely the role of two outstanding persons in trying to help find the sense of ethnic identity and working towards the establishment of the national identity of two ethnic groups in the 20th century. The paper deals with the Estonian and Votian peoples and respectively the contributions of Oskar Loorits (1900–1961), the Estonian folklorist, and Paul Ariste (1905–1990), the Estonian linguist, to the development of the nationalist sentiment of both nations. The article addresses the choices made by them when compiling their more or less ideological writings, as well as their endeavours, controversies and personal qualities and period backgrounds, eventually the supposed reception of their message by the target groups – the Estonians and the Votes –, as well as the reflections of their ideas in our time.