ABSTRACT
Many traditional narratives recounted in the United States are about a former deportee returning to Estonia for the first time. In some ways, the return to Estonia by a North American is expressed as an obligation to those left behind. A young man from Detroit reports a typical Estonian American narrative about his first trip home:
The narrative is instructive about Estonian American folklife inasmuch as it explains both the situation of language acquisition and the fear of the “long arm” of the Soviet Union. Estonian Americans, many of whom have returned to the “Motherland,” or Emamaa, repeat traditional di-
dactic narratives that describe the current situation of Estonia in its relationship with the former Soviet Union.
