Tegelased eesti etnilises huumoris

• Main Author: Liisi Laineste
• Format: Article
• Language: Estonian
• Published: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum 2005-01-01
• Series: Mäetagused
• Online Access: http://www.folklore.ee/tagused/nr28/laineste.pdf

The study provides an overview of Estonian ethnic humour over the last century (1890-2004), focusing on three periods: the end of the 19th century, the Soviet period, and the years following Estonia's regained independence. The changes in the choice of the targets of joke throughout the century are mapped and the cultural, social and political influences in jokes are discussed. The analysis showed a clear tendency towards greater variation in ethnic joke targets. The 19th century offered the poorest choice in joke butts: only the closest neighbours of the Estonians were laughed at. During the Soviet period humour was mostly found in the life and people under the Soviet regime. In the last decade the Estonians have made fun of almost every possible ethnic group, including exotic faraway nations. The borders between "us" and "them" have been stretched; people develop more ethnic stereotypes, which results in jokes about a vast variety of nations. There have been considerable changes in the choice of joke targets in the course of the three periods, and, most likely, this tendency is manifest also in the jokelore of other countries. An interesting result to support the assertion is that the overlapping of joke scripts between the three periods was much smaller than expected (only 6% of all joke scripts were used in both the Soviet times and in the period imminently after regaining independence). It means there is a growing and active joke tradition that creates and interprets jokes. It would be interesting to find out what the situation outside the internet is - namely, is joking an active tradition that creates new jokes and finds new targets, are people still involved in mutual joke-telling, are there age differences in telling jokes, etc. We also tested three main hypotheses based on the theory of ethnic humour by Christie Davies (1990, and elsewhere). The theory maintains that there are universal rules in the application of main joke scripts to different nations. The most widely spread joke script is that of stupidity. In Estonia, the butts of jokes about stupidity are the Chukchi, Russians, more recently also Estonians, African Americans and Finns. None of these groups exhibits all the three main characteristics proposed by Davies - geographical proximity, similar cultures and languages, and the "top down" direction of joking relationship. Davies (2004, personal communication) agrees that in Britain the stupid ethnic groups are also not only local people from the periphery, or the Irish, Welsh, etc. Thus, in present days, the geographical proximity and language similarity may not always be relevant conditions, and the choice of joke butts has moved to a more global level. In addition, the Estonian joke lore shows a much greater popularity of jokes with "bottom up" direction. The second script can be seen in jokes about the so-called canny nations. Estonia lacks its very own canny-group, and all the jokes in this category are loans from other traditions. But borrowed butts do not have the historical, cultural and social significance for the joke-telling nation and they do not fulfil the roles described by Davies (e.g. the Scottish - popular characters in British canny-jokes - do not occupy high positions in Estonian society, nor are they an important immigrant minority). With respect to specific scripts in ethnic jokes, it is quite difficult to either prove or refute the argument that Estonians are really most concerned with alcohol and sex (as the most popular joke themes would suggest). Specific joke scripts are applied in a universal way without confusing stereotypes and assigning them to an ethnic character that is known by completely different stereotypes. This study offers valuable material for comparison with the existing theories and indicates the possible course of further studies. It is important to note that the leading theory in the field of ethnic humour is not as universal as it claims to be - at least it is not fully applicable to Estonian ethnic joke lore (and most probably also to the joke lore of other post-socialist countries). This opens up a new dimension deserving more serious research. It also states that jokes are related to social reality but the relations are not universal and may differ in countries with a different cultural, political and/or historical background.