Master's Degree Programme in Semiotics
Key Research Areas
Key research areas at the University of Helsinki include the semiotics of art, especially music and literature, the semiotics of culture, American pragmatism, especially Charles S. Peirce's semiotics, as well as the philosophical tradition of existentialism and hermeneutics. Specific research projects are currently being carried out on the philosophies of performance, literary representations of the (post)urban city, the foundations of zoosemiotic research, existential semiotics and different aspects of the pragmatic theory of signs.
National and international cooperation
Through exchange agreements, research competencies from foreign universities are integrated into the study programme in the form of intensive courses and workshops. Students are also encouraged to complement their studies through stays at cooperating universities outside of Finland.
The University of Helsinki also cooperates with the International Semiotics Institute, the International Association for Semiotic Studies and other national and international research centres and associations. Symposia, conferences and congresses are organised annually and integrated into the study programme. Students in the final phase of their studies are also encouraged to take part in the organisation of research activities.
Past PhD dissertations
Since 1997, 15 PhD dissertations focusing on or applying semiotics have been defended at the University of Helsinki:
BAUTERS, Merja: Changes in Beer Labels and their Meaning. A Holistic Approach to the Semiotic Process. Acta Semiotica Fennica XXVII, 2007.
KNUUTTILA, Tarja: Models as Epistemic Artefacts: Toward a Non-Representationalist Account of Scientific Representation. Philosophical Studies from the University of Helsinki 8. 2005.
VÄLIMÄKI, Susanna: Subject Strategies in Music. A Psychoanalytic Approach to Musical Signification. Acta Semiotica Fennica XXII. 2005.
BERGMAN, Mats: Fields of Signification: Explorations in Charles S. Peirce’s Theory of Signs. Philosophical Studies from the University of Helsinki 6. 2004.
HOČEVAR, Drina: Movement and Poetic Rhythm. Uncovering the Musical Signification of Poetic Discourse via the Temporal Dimension of the Sign. Acta Semiotica Fennica XVII. 2003.
KUUSIMÄKI, Mikko: Robinson et le tarot : étude sur la signification de Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique de Michel Tournier. Acta Semiotica Fennica XIV. 2002.
MARTINELLI, Dario: How Musical is a Whale? Towards a Theory of Zoömusicology. Acta Semiotica Fennica XIII, 2002.
LITTLEFIELD, Richard: Frames and framing: the margins of music analysis. Acta Semiotica Fennica XII. 2001.
NASCIMENTO DE LIMA, Luiz Fernando: Live Samba. Analysis and Interpretation of Brasilian Pagode. Acta Semiotica Fennica XI. 2001.
VEIVO, Harri: The Written Space: Semiotic Analysis of the Representation of Space and its Rhetorical Functions in Literature. Acta Semiotica Fennica X. 2001.
KILPINEN, Erkki: The Enormous Fly-Wheel of Society: Pragmatism’s Habitual Conception of Action and Social Theory. Research Reports, Department of Sociology, University of Helsinki, 235. 2000.
BANKOV, Kristian: Intellectual Effort and Linguistic Work: Semiotic and Hermeneutic Aspects of the Philosophy of Bergson. Acta Semiotica Fennica IX. 2000.
MIRKA, Danuta: The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki. Katowice: Music Academy. 1997.
HEISKALA, Risto: Society as Semiosis. Neostructuralist Theory of Society and Culture. Research Reports, Department of Sociology, University of Helsinki, 231. 1997.
MARTINEZ, José Luíz: Semiosis in Hindustani Music. Acta Semiotica Fennica V. 1997.