Mobiilne kuuluvustunne kui toimetulekuviis 1950. aastate argielus: ühe pere lugu

This study contributes to the micro-history during the structural reorganization of Estonia in the 1950s by examining everyday letter exchange between the members of a family consisting of a single mother and her two daughters. The study uses a mobilities approach toward the meaning of belonging while investigating everyday places and related practices, the mentalities of individual stages of life, and symbolical relations which are influenced by structural formation. The study indicates mobile characteristics of belonging in a family’s subjective attachment to a place. The letters reflect the developments in self-identity related to the sense of belonging of two different generations influenced by rural and urban everyday life. The sense of belonging of the mother, born before World War II, is moving to the past, where the historically shaped everyday life and personal meaning-making at the rural home farm can offer symbolic and practical safety in this insecure social period. The sense of belonging of the younger daughter, considering her personal life stage and the conditions of the ruling power, is adapting to urban life, as this environment offers better possibilities for self-realization.