In Spaces in between–From Recollections to Nostalgia: Discourses of Bridge and Island Place

Abstract

Creation of a terrestrial connection to the mainland from Saaremaa Island (Estonia) has been discussed among politicians, scientists and the general public for the last decade. A fixed link has been a dream, hope, and fear in a situation where the island faces enormous societal changes in a rapidly developing young capitalist country. Islanders and visitors feel threats to their home place with or without the bridge. This paper explores public discourse of textualized landscapes as context-dependent multiple realities. Questions related to the perceptions of change of material landscapes as well as symbolic meanings of lived environment in the transition and rhetoric of everyday spatial practices are examined. The rhetorical ‘journey’ of a planned terrestrial fixed link (a bridge from an island to the mainland) is followed. Materials from an online public forum from five years related to the topic and approximately 120 online articles with more than 1800 comments from the general public were examined to reveal major themes of discourse on island place, landscape of identity as well as possible transformations of related concern. Idealized landscapes of a nostalgic past are voiced equally yet differently among political powers, islanders themselves and tourists.