Published on 13 July 2017
This book explores the history of two field missions carried out in 1937 and 1938 by Boris Vildé and Léonide Zouroff to Setomaa, a region situated on both sides of today's border between the Republic of Estonia and the Federation of Russia. Its purpose is to reveal the documents, the collections of objects and the unique photographs collected in this zone of contact between two distinct Orthodox populations: Setos, of Fennic origin, and Russians, Eastern Slavs. This journey back in time evokes both the history of the creation of the Musée de l’Homme, with its dynamic field research activities, and that of Setomaa and its cultural phenomena. To this end Tatiana Benfoughal, Olga Fishman and Heiki Valk brought together French, Estonian and Russian researchers, whose own perspectives, sometimes divergent but always complementary, make it possible to put the scientific contribution of Boris Vildé and Léonide Zouroff into a broad scientific context.
Tatiana Benfoughal, doctor of Ethnology, honorary research associate at the French National Museum of Natural History, is a specialist in European and North African ethnology.
Olga Fishman, a doctor of history, director of the Department of Ethnography of the North-West of Russia and of the Baltic at the Russian Museum of Ethnography in St. Petersburg, is a Finno-ougrist, a specialist in popular orthodoxy and historiography.
Heiki Valk, doctor of philosophy, director of the Archeology Cabinet at the Institute of History and Archeology at the University of Tartu (Estonia), is a specialist in medieval archeology of the Baltic regions and in history and culture of the Setos.
Benfoughal (Tatiana), Fishman (Olga) & Valk (Heiki) (sous la dir.), Missions du Musée de l'Homme en Estonie : Boris Vildé et Léonide Zouroff au Setomaa (1937-1938), Paris : Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, 2017, 859 p. (Archives ; 24).