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The Others and Othering in Visual Representations of Soviet-Era Song and Dance Festivals in Estonia employed in coffee-table books from the period of late socialism are indicative of this coexistence as well as of its capacity to allow for different, even ambiguous messages. Depending on the images that were selected to contextualise song and dance celebrations and their arrangement principles, the festival tradition could be represented as a Soviet achievement or, on the contrary, as an almost natural phenomenon independent of ideological struggles. While in the former case, the Soviet rule was represented as a guarantor of Estonia’s progress and development, it emerged from latter representations as surface phenomena bound to leave the national essence intact. The relationship between national/Estonian form and socialist content was thus more complex than one of simple subordination. Examples discussed here illustrate how forms tend to outlive contents and how the permanence of form can obscure shifts in contents. By controlling forms, one can modify contents and ultimately change the reality. As Michael Herzfeld notes (2005: 20), “The more fixed the semiotic forms, the greater is the play of ambiguity and the more surprising are the possibilities for violating the code itself”. New shifts in the content of song and dance celebrations began already in the late 1980s before Estonia had restored independence. The permanence of form, once again, conveyed a sense of continuity amid drastic political, social, and economic changes and what appeared to have been the form, turned out to be the content. References XII tildlaulupeo juht (‘Guide to the 12" Song Celebration) 1947. Tallinn: Ilukirjandus ja Kunst. Adamson M. 1947. Abiks eesti XII üldlaulupeoks rahvardivaste valmistajale (“To Preparers of Folk Dresses for the 12" Song Festival’). XII üldlaulupeo teataja 6 (Announcements for the 12" Song Festival’). Tallinn: RK “Ilukirjandus ja kunst”, pp. 329-381. Annus E. 2012. The Problem of Soviet Colonialism in the Baltics. Journal of Baltic Studies, vol. 43, pp. 21-45. Annus E. 2016. Between Arts and Politics: A Postcolonial View on Baltic Cultures of the Soviet Era. Journal of Baltic Studies, vol. 47, pp. 1-13. Arraste L.-A., Adamson I., Ammas A., FerSel U., Tiits K., Zigurs J. & Valner K. (compilers) 2009. 75 aastat Eesti tantsupidusid (‘75 Years of Estonian Dance Celebrations’). Tallinn: Varrak. Brubaker R. 1996. Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cordell K., Agarin T. & Osipov A. (eds.) 2013. Institutional Legacies of Communism: Change and Continuities in Minority Protection. London: Routledge. Gorenburg I. 2006. Soviet Nationality Policy and Assimilation. In: D. Arel & B.A. Ruble (eds.), Rebounding Identities: The Politics of Identity in Russia and Ukraine. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, pp. 273-303. Handler R. 1988. Nationalism and the Politics of Culture in Quebec. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Herzfeld M. 2005. Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State. New York: Routledge. 515