VIExpert opetusohjelma 2023-2024

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 5.9.–20.10.2023
 

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Una Bergmane

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

This course offers an introduction to the history of the USSR, paying special attention to the imperial relations between the Soviet center and the periphery. Nine sessions will consist of a lecture about one key topic in Soviet history, such as nationality policy, state violence, gender, race, environment, and a thirty-minute class discussion about a specific Soviet republic, region, autonomous oblast, or minority. Three sessions will consist of in-depth discussions of Ukrainian, Central-Asian, and Baltic history during the Soviet period.

Through lectures, readings, class discussions, and written assignments, students will learn to analyse primary sources, develop academic writing and discussion skills, independently analyse historical processes and compile relevant materials to complete assignments. Students will not only acquire knowledge about key developments in Soviet history but also develop an understanding of the multinational character of the Soviet empire.

• 40 % of the grade: dossier on Soviet regions, republics, and minorities. For each session, students will have to prepare a 500-word long overview of the history of a specific Soviet republic or national minority. The text will have to be posted on Moodle before each session. All students have to write at least 10 of the possible 12 overviews.
• 60% of the grade: a 2000-word essay to be handed in on October 29. Students can freely choose the topic but it has to be approved by the course instructor by session 6.

Course plan

1. From the Russian empire to the Soviet empire.
   • Minority in focus: Koreans
2. Soviet Nationality policy from Lenin to Brezhnev.
   • Republics in focus: Armenia and Azerbaijan
3. Soviet foreign policy from Lenin to Gorbachev
   • Republic in focus: Georgia
4. Central Asia during the Soviet period taught by guest instructor Aminat Chokobaeva (Nazarbayev University)
5. The Soviet model: alternative modernity or neo-traditionalism?
   • Republics in focus: Belarus
6. State violence in the USSR
   • Minority in focus: Crimean Tatars
7. Ukraine during the Soviet period taught by guest instructor Yuliya Yurchuk (Södertörn University)
8. Second World War and Soviet identity
   • Minority in focus: Soviet Jews
9. Sexuality and gender in the Soviet Union
   • Republics in focus: Moldova
10. Race in the domestic and foreign policies of the USSR.
    • Minorities in focus: Indigenous peoples of Siberia and Northern Russia
11. Baltic states during the Soviet period.
12. Why did Soviet Union collapse?

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 13.11.2023–17.03.2024

Verkkokurssi

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Simo Mikkonen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Kurssilla perehdytään arkeen ja elämään Neuvostoliitossa, ei vain nykyisen Venäjän alueella, vaan myös Ukrainassa, Virossa, Karjalassa ja muilla Neuvostoliittoon kuuluneilla alueilla.

Yli 70 vuoden jaksolla arkielämä Neuvostoliitossa koki merkittäviä muutoksia. Arki oli lisäksi hyvin erilaista eri puolilla Neuvostoliittoa ja eri yhteiskuntaluokissa (joita Neuvostoliitossa ei pitänyt edes olla olemassa). Ideologia ja politiikka vaikuttivat merkittävästi arkielämään, mutta toisaalta ihmiset pyrkivät pitämään arkielämän erossa julkisesta elämästä.

Neuvostoarkea tarkastellaan erilaisten lähteiden, muistelmien, sekä muun muassa kaunokirjallisuuden ja elokuvien kautta.

Luentojen lisäksi kurssin lopuksi tulee luentoihin ja luentomateriaaleihin perustuva tentti.

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place  28.8.-16.10.2023
Mon 16-18, online streaming

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Jussi Jalonen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content    

The lecture series focuses on the history of warfare in Imperial Russia during the 19th century, with primary emphasis on social and cultural effects of war experience in a multi-national empire. The purpose is to provide the students with clear understanding of such things as the significance of war experience in the emergence and development of 19th century Russian nationalism, including slavophilia and pan-slavism; the position of Russian military power as a guarantor of status quo in Central and Eastern Europe during the Congress System; its impact on the political fault lines between liberalism and autocracy; the trans-national and trans-cultural nature of the wars waged by the Imperial Russia during its expansion in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Balkans; and the impact of war on such issues as serf emancipation, industrialization, technology, social progress, literature and ideologies.

Learning outcomes: Participants will gain a broad understanding of the process of war as a tool of imperial power and its significance to the nation-building and modernization in 19th century and early 20th century Russia. They will be able to analyze and understand the far-reaching impact of war on Russian society and culture, the historical Russian role as a colonial power in her nearby regions, as well as the essential role of modern war in the centralization of Russian political power.
 

1. War, Empire and the Nation. Conceptual introduction to trans-national and trans-cultural wars in the context of Imperial Russian history. Napoleonic Wars, their impact on the emergence of Russian nationalism. The first “Great Patriotic War”, and its significance to the self-image of Russian elites. Politicization of Russian military and the spread of post-war revolutionary ideals, including the subsequent Decembrist Uprising.
    
2. The Garrison State. Centralization of authority under Nicholas I through the militarization of civil society and the very first official state ideology. Military and security apparatus as means to protect the country from unwelcome influence and safeguarding the social order.
    
3. Multi-National Empire, Trans-Cultural Wars. Russian “inclusive imperialism”, multi-national Tsarist military establishment, and Russian colonial wars in Caucasus and Central Asia. Islamic resistance of Imam Shamil in Caucasus and other examples of protracted native resistance against Russian conquest.
    
4. Europe’s Policeman. Russia as the bastion of conservatism and old regime in Europe. Military obligations and interventions in Central Europe in 1830, 1846, 1849 and 1863, and their impact on the Russian image abroad as well as on the domestic sentiments. Russian position as a reactionary, belligerent great power within Europe itself.
    
5. War and Culture, and the Culture of the War. The impact of war and war experience in Russian literature, art and philosophy through the 19th and the early 20th century, from post-Napoleonic literature to the imagery of war in the works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Blok and Akhmatova. Imperial loyalty, pacifism, scenes of apocalypse, and orientalist images of borderlands in colonial wars.
    
6. War and Modernization. Defeat in the Crimean War and preparations for a new modern war as primary drivers of reform, progress and social and political change in the late 19th century Russia. Serf emancipation, conscription, military reform, industrialization, scientific progress and the emergence of modern Russian mass media during the Russo-Turkish War in 1877-1878.
    
7. Repression and Vulnerability. State of emergency and military suppression during fin-de-siècle Russia. Pogroms against Jewish minority as an example of state terror. State nationalism and new revolutionary tendencies. The birth of modern terrorism as a new form of warfare waged against the state, within the Russian anarchist and nihilist activists. Hague Peace Convention and new global obligations. The War against Japan as the last war of the Old Order.

Assignments: Structured learning diary

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 7.9.–5.10.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Brendan Humphreys, Olga Kantokoski, Olga Zeveleva, Mikhail Nakonechnyi and Yury Sorochkin

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content    

The students will gain a fresh perspective into politics and society, though the prism of incarceration culture. Historically, the course will further the students’ understanding the experiences of Communism in Eastern Europe in the 20th century, and of its contemporary legacies.

This multi-disciplinary course offers students a concise instruction to the Soviet and East/Central European experience of imprisonment. Penology offers multiple insights into society, touching on topics like the rule of law, policing, and human rights. At an individual level, prison experiences impact upon such issues as identity, memory, and life narratives.

The course draws on two high profile projects, funded by ERC and the Finnish Academy. The scholars bring a range of disciplines – geography, anthropology, politics science, memory studies, and history – and offer multiple perspectives on prison culture.

The core examples are from the ex-Soviet regions and the Balkans, combining the theoretical with empirically-grounded ethnography. The 9 lectures are:

1. Prison research: Methods and techniques – Olga Zeveleva
2. The Western European Prison Reform – Olga Kantokoski
3. Defining “camp”: mass incarceration in modern European history – Brendan Humphreys
4. The Evolution of the Western Balkan Penal Culture – Olga Kantokoski
5. Carceral spaces in Varlam Shalamov and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – Yury Sorochkin
6. "Affirmative action' and terror behind barbed wire: ethnicity construction in the Soviet GULAG, 1930-1953 – Mikhail Nakonechnyi
7. Figures of omission and substitution of terror in the post-Stalinist literature of 1950-1970 – Yury Sorochkin
8. The GULAG's Dead Souls: mortality of the released invalids in the camps – Mikhail Nakonechnyi
9. Camps, memory, and the politics of victimhood in ex-Yugoslavia – Brendan Humphreys

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 19.09.2023 - 26.10.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Minna Piipponen, Joni Virkkunen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content    

The course deals with Russia's historically diverse regional and societal structures as well as its economic and political development. Perspectives on the course are brought by e.g. state and regional governance and population development. Ethnicity and migration are analysed through (post) socialist and (post) colonial lenses. The course further explores contradictory issues of environmental and natural resources, civil society and media, and Russia as an international actor. Contemporary topics are based on the common history of the former Soviet Union. We examine Russia as a distinct transnational and global player beyond common divisions of North and South. The discussions take into account e.g. Russia’s social and political situation, dynamics in neighbouring regions and international actors such as the United Nations and European Union.

Learning outcomes. The student

• • develops analytical skills about the regional and societal structures as well as socio-economic and political development in contemporary Russia
• • understands the history and contemporary developments of structures and societal processes in Russia
• • is able to assess the diversity of those processes and the influence of national and international actors in them

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page Note! ExpREES students coming outside of Joensuu may have a possibility to do the course online.

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 2.11.-21.12.2023

• 02.11.2023 14.15 - 15.45   Distansundervisning                                                     
• 09.11.2023 14.15 - 15.45   Distansundervisning                                                     
• 16.11.2023 14.15 - 15.45   Distansundervisning                                                     
• 23.11.2023 14.15 - 15.45   Distansundervisning                                                     
• 30.11.2023 14.15 - 15.45   Distansundervisning                                                     
• 07.12.2023 14.15 - 15.45   Distansundervisning                                                     
• 14.12.2023 14.15 - 15.45   Take-home examination                                               
• 21.12.2023 14.15 - 15.45   Take-home examination (retake)

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Mariya Riekkinen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content    

After the completion of the course, the students are expected to deepen their understanding of the place and the role of international law in Russia's legal system. This course takes a human rights based approach to carrying out international law obligations while combining a legalistic and interdisciplinary understanding of how Russia officially sees its performance in the arena of protecting human rights.

The course has three thematic clusters, first focusing on the basics of international human rights protection and the place of international law in Russia’s legal system including the key set of arguments that the officials employ for circumscribing the rules of international law. Second, we will reconstruct how Russia used its key arguments for non-compliance in the case studies of Russia’s relationships with the European Court of Human Rights for protecting individual human rights. Third, we will reconstruct the process of employing the said argumentation in relation to the collective human right to self-determination in the cases of what Russia terms “independence referendums” in Crimea and East Ukraine.

Learning outcomes. The students are thus expected to engage with the following:

• Learning the difference in protecting collective and individual human rights in the context of Russia’s high-profile international law cases.
• Understanding how the gradual decay of respect for international human rights law in Russia affected Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe - aka Ruxit.
• Understanding how Russian discourse on international law differs from the universally-recognized understanding of “universality and inalienability” as the guiding principles of human rights protection.
• Exploring which central arguments justifying Russia’s non-compliance with international law can be found in modern international scholarship, e.g. the politization argument, the civilizational argument, and the Orthodox religion-based argument.
• Analyzing how Russia employed the above-mentioned justifications in two contexts 1. by misusing the right to self-determination when orchestrating the so-called “independence referendums” in Crimea and in East Ukraine and 2. by positing the supremacy of its own Constitution over the standards of the CoE Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).
• Acquiring basic knowledge and skills for both, legal practice in the domain of international and foreign law and for research and academic work.

The coursework includes

• taking part in lectures via Zoom, 10 hours
• self-studies, 121 hours
• and supervised essay writing which is a compulsory part of the course

Assessment. The assessment is based on the compulsory essay (50% of the grade) and a take-home examination via Moodle (50% of the grade).

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 31.10.-18.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Meri Herrala ja Susan Ikonen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Kurssi käsittelee sitä, miten Neuvostoliitossa politiikka ja ideologia toimivat taidetta muovaavina
voimina sekä sisä- että ulkopoliittisissa yhteyksissä ja miten kulttuuria käytettiin
Neuvostoliitossa ja myöhemmin Venäjällä sisä- ja ulkopolitiikan välineinä. Kurssin aikaraja on
lokakuun vallankumouksesta nykypäivään. Käsittelemme myös, missä määrin Venäjän 2000-
luvun historiapolitiikkaa voi tarkastella Neuvostoliiton kulttuuripolitiikan jatkumona.

Opintojakson suoritettuaan opiskelijalla on kattava näkemys Neuvostoliiton kulttuuripolitiikan
keskeisistä piirteistä, kuten sensuurista, sosialistisesta realismista ja kommunistisen puolueen
roolista. Tarkoituksena on perehdyttää opiskelija ymmärtämään ideologian sekä sisä- ja
ulkopolitiikan vaikutukset neuvostokulttuurin sisältöihin ja niiden ohjailuun.

Esimerkkitapauksina esitellään musiikki, kirjallisuus ja elokuva, joiden vertailuun opiskelija saa
valmiuksia. Kurssi tarjoaa empiirisiä ja analyyttisiä välineitä ymmärtää myös pehmeää
diplomatiaa, “soft poweria” sekä informaatiovaikuttamista.  

Kurssin lopuksi käydään läpi ns. Venäjän arkistovallankumous, joka on mahdollistanut
kurssillakin esitetyn neuvostohistorian tutkimisen alkuperäisaineistojen nojalla. Opiskelija saa
siten kuvan siitä, millaiset lähteet ja metodologia ovat kurssin aihepiiriä koskevan akateemisen
tutkimuksen takana. Lopuksi käsitellään 2010-2020-lukujen “kulttuuriskandaaleja” ja
historiapolitiikkaa: miten nyky-Venäjän poliittinen johto haluaa esittää maan neuvostoajan ja
miten tämä historiakuva eroaa akateemisesta historiantutkimuksesta.  

Olennainen osa kurssin suorittamista on tutkimusartikkelien analyysi, joka tutustuttaa opiskelijat
aihetta käsittelevään uusimpaan tutkimukseen sekä harjaannuttaa opiskelijat kriittiseen,
reflektoivaan tieteellisen ajatteluun ja argumentointiin. Artikkelianalyysit syventävät opiskelijan
ymmärrystä tieteellisen kirjoittamisen eri osa-alueista (kysymyksenasettelu, tutkimuksellinen
viitekehys ja sisä- ja ulkopoliittinen konteksti, käsitteet, metodit ym.). Kurssitöiden laadinta ja
esittely sekä muiden opiskelijoiden töiden kommentointi kehittävät osallistujien yhteistyö- ja
keskusteluvalmiuksia.

Kurssin suorittaminen ja oppimateriaali
Kurssi suoritetaan osallistumalla luennoille, perehtymällä kahteen opettajien valitsemaan
tutkimusartikkeliin, osallistumalla pienryhmätapaamiseen ja pienryhmäesitelmän laatimiseen
sekä kirjoittamalla luentopäiväkirjan ja loppuesseen.

Opiskelijat lukevat kaksi tutkimusartikkelia pienryhmätyön osana. Kunkin pienryhmän jäsenet
lukevat samat kaksi artikkelia, vastaavat kirjallisesti niitä koskeviin, artikkelin sisältöä ja
akateemista kirjoittamista reflektoiviin kysymyksiin. He valmistelevat pienryhmänä artikkeleista
Powerpoint-muotoisen esityksen koko ryhmälle. Opettajat tarjoavat Moodlessa
kirjallisuusluettelon loppuesseen kirjoittamista varten.

Kurssin luennoimistapa  
Kurssi toteutetaan hybridiopetuksena. Kurssi suunnitellaan pidettäväksi Helsingin yliopistossa
niin, että luennointi tapahtuu samanaikaisesti luokkahuoneelle ja Zoomiin. Luennot tallennetaan
Moodleen. Pienryhmät voivat valintansa mukaan kokoontua joko lähitapaamiseen tai
pienryhmän omaan Zoom-istuntoon, ja pienryhmäesitykset toteutetaan joko hybridinä tai
pelkästään Zoomissa. 

 
Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle (YMV-P514)

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 8.9.–8.12.2023

Hybrid format

The registration period in UH Sisu is 15.8-4.10.2023.

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Eugenia Pesci, Margarita Zavadskaya, Elena Gorbacheva

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The course “Political Behavior Across Eurasia” aims at introducing students to ‘the demand side’ of politics focusing on citizens’ perspectives, preferences, opinions, actions, and values in a diverse region of Central and Eastern Europe and the former USSR, sharing a communist and authoritarian legacy. ‘The demand side’ of politics means a primary focus on citizens, their values, and political attitudes instead of intra-elite interactions. We combine substantive topics with the most illustrative case studies and bring insights and original materials from our own research projects. Thus, instead of focusing on intra-elite and international tensions (‘the supply side’ of politics), we seek to make citizens’ perspectives more visible and to look at them through systematic comparison. We define political behavior as citizens’ engagement with politics considering the specificity and nature of political regimes and accounting for limited opportunities to affect politics in closed authoritarian set-ups. We emphasize, problematize and challenge the impact of post-communist and authoritarian legacies drawing on evidence-based empirical research.

The course brings together area studies perspectives (Central-European, Russian and Eurasian studies) with comparative politics, political economy, and history. The course seeks to familiarize the students with the overall context and specifics of political behavior in the designated region given the authoritarian past/present and communist legacy. Political behavior encompasses a wide array of political phenomena - electoral behavior, values, protest, civic engagement, and political activism - which will be covered within the course. Special attention is paid to the analytical tools, theories, and conceptual frameworks that will allow the students to provide meaningful comparisons and carry out independent political analysis.

The course consists of 24 contact hours, i.e. 12 lectures) covering various aspects of political behavior combining the introduction of specific topics and concepts with empirical materials. The course is taught in English and is delivered by Margarita Zavadskaya (Ph.D.), Elena Gorbacheva, Eugenia Pesci, and Aleksei Gilev (doctoral researchers at the Aleksanteri Institute). We also invite Kristiina Silvan from FIIA, an expert in Belarusian and Central Asian politics, to be a guest lecturer. Prior to each lecture, a list of readings will be offered via Moodle. The in-class meetings will consist of lecturing parts and seminars in order to facilitate knowledge construction, where assignments will include problem-solving, practical tasks, mini-essays, and group presentations.

The preliminary programme:

Lectures:

1.  Political behavior and participation: is post-communism still relevant? Margarita Zavadskaya + all
2.  Political participation at the margins: civil society vs. political society, Eugenia Pesci, Central Asia, Georgia
3.  The end of the workers’ state: the post-soviet labor ‘dilemma’ and the myth of workers’ quiescence, Eugenia Pesci, Russia, Kazakhstan
4.  State-organized mobilization, Kristiina Silvan,  Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus
5.  Exploring values and political participation in post-communist states, Aleksei Gilev
6.  Democratization vs. Autocratization from below Aleksei Gilev, Poland, Hungary
7.  Electoral behavior - preferences, voting, and abstention, Margarita Zavadskaya, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova
8.  Electoral behavior 2 - group work, Margarita Zavadskaya
9.  Protesting elections - invited lecturer Kristiina Silvan, Belarus
10.  Local activism and environment lecture Elena Gorbacheva, Estonia, Russia
11.  Students’ group presentations 1
12.  Students’ group presentations 2

The course grade is based on:

• active participation, group work in class, 15% of the final grade;
• final students’ presentation, 20% of the final grade;
• individual blog post, 45% of the final grade;
• self-reflection paper, 20% of the final grade.

After completing the course, the students will be able to:

• To describe the central discussions/lines of debates on political behavior in the postcommunist area.
• To identify trends of citizens’ behavior in the post-communist states and interpret them vis-à-vis global context.
• To apply the main concepts and terms related to political behavior.
• To locate relevant literature and materials.
• To articulate and justify one's own opinion on a specific matter within the course.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 31.10.–14.12.2023

Online teaching

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Marina Vulovic

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

Students will be able to

• Summarize the main converging and diverging points between transformations in different Balkan countries.
• Interpret the main trends in literature on post-Yugoslav transformation: democratization theory, populism and nationalism theory, transitional justice, conflict and legacies of war etc.
• Demonstrate this understanding in classroom activities.
• Formulate own topic of interest and produce final assignment that combines concepts from the course with independent research.

Course outline

This course deals with the politics of transition and transformation in the Balkans after the dissolution of Yugoslavia. It will address theories of such transformation, namely nationalism, populism, democratization, state-building, media freedom, transitional justice, conflict and legacies of war etc. It will also look at the individual post-Yu countries from a case-study angle, showing the different transformation trajectories of the region's countries. The students will have an opportunity to formulate their own topic of interest and follow that focus throughout the course by choosing some of their readings and deepening these insights in the final essay. The course involves independent study, but offers group activities as well, such as group discussions in class and forum reflections.

Structure of the course:

• L 1 - Introduction
• L 2 - Nationalism
• L 3 - Conflict and peace-building
• L 4 - Legacies of War: Self-determination and divided spaces
• L 5 - State-building
• L 6 - Democratization and Europeanization
• L 7 - Transitional Justice
• L 8 - Populism and media freedom
• L 9 - Conclusion and essay guidance

Completion

Online lectures with group discussions at the end. Students will have assigned readings, but also some that they can choose depending on their interest. Students are also expected to produce short weekly reflections in forums and give peer-to-peer feedback, to foster communication skills and reflection on their own topic of interest. The final assignment will be an essay on a topic of the students' choosing related to the course.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 5.9.–17.10.2023

Online course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Dawid Bunikowski

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

The student should understand Poland’s politics: both domestic problems related to the exercise of power and crucial ideas of foreign policy. The student should learn main aims of Polish politics after 1989, divisions in the political party system, and recent problems such as populism.

Course outline

The course focuses on politics in Poland from the collapse of communism to nowadays.

The course includes the following lectures:

1. Two main aims of foreign policy in Poland after 1989: towards the European Community and NATO.
2. Two main aims of domestic policy after 1989: economic and political transformation (capitalism and democracy).
3. The 1990s: division between the post-communists and the post-Solidarity Movement parties.
4. Lech Walesa v. Aleksander Kwasniewski. Anti-communism v. post-communism.
5. The 21st century: division between the Civic Platform (PO) and the Law and Justice party (PiS).
6. Sensitive topics of public debates in Poland: abortion, lustration, state church relations, homosexual rights, etc.
7. Populism and populist constitutionalism by PiS after 2015: ideology by Kaczynski.
8. Language of public debates after 2015: aggression and vulgarity.
9. Donald Tusk v. Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Europe v. "East".
10. The future of Polish politics: main ideologies from liberal (PO, Tusk) to conservative-nationalist-socialist (PiS, Kaczynski) to leftish (the post-communists and the new left) to others (the new right, “Konfederacja”).

Completion: 10 web lectures, reading, small weekly written assignments, final essay.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 11.-15.9.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s)

Dawid Bunikowski

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

This cross-disciplinary course will examine populism in East Central Europe, with special reference to Poland and Hungary, since respectively, 2015 and 2010. The aim is to study the erosion of both
the rule of law and liberal constitutionalism in the region. This is not only to acquaint the student with constitutional or political theories and phenomena, but also to focus on case studies and, especially, historical perspectives.

Lectures
I. Introduction to the weakening of liberal constitutionalism and the rule of law in Hungary and Poland during the last few years. The difference of the East: Poland and Hungary in search of prestige.
II. History of populism (from Aristotle's ancient Athens to the 19th-century US).
III. History of the rule of law in Poland since the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
IV. History of constitutionalism in East Central Europe.
V. History of Hungarian politics since the 19th century till the 1980s. Lacking rule of law in the lawyers’ regime: Hungary after 2010.
VI. The constitutional crisis in Poland in 2015-2020. Schmittian questions and Kaczyński’s political and legal philosophy.
VII. Populist foundations of illiberalism in Hungary. Constitutional memory in Poland, Hungary and beyond.
VIII. Remarks on the EU’s action on the erosion of the rule of law in Poland and Hungary.

Learning outcome

The student should understand the phenomenon of populism in East Central Europe. Also, he or she should know the process of the erosion of both the rule of law and liberal constitutionalism in East
Central Europe as well as the phenomenon reasons, trajectories and challenges. Moreover, the student should perceive wider – both historical and philosophical-political/social - contexts of the erosion of both the rule of law and liberal constitutionalism in the region.

Time and location

The course includes 16 hours of lectures. To pass the course, the student must: (i) actively participate in the lectures by discussing texts read in advance (20 % of the final grade), and (ii) write an essay of 12-15 pages (80%), using the publication and the extra materials given by the lecturer. The language of the course (lectures, materials, discussions, exam, and essay) is English.
Grading: 0-5. Level: Master's course.

Planned schedule
11.9.2023, 14-16, class
12.9.2023, 10-12 and 14-16, Teams
13.9.2023, 8-12, class
14.9.2023, 10-14, Teams
15.9.2023, 10-12, class

The hybrid format means that lectures are held both in the classroom and online (Teams, live).
In the case of the lectures in the classroom, it is possible that students from the REES network universities may join online (it is technically possible and it was the case before, in the pandemic, during this course previously being carried out).

Learning materials and recommended literature

1. The publication: Dawid Bunikowski, Katalin Miklóssy & Heino Nyyssönen (editors), the special edition “Erosion of the Rule of Law in East Central Europe”, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 2018, issue 3, vol. 26, DOI: 10.1080/14782804.2018.1498774, pp. 253-345.
2. The lectures.
3. The materials given by the lecturer (no more than 100 pages).

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 05.10.2023 - 30.11.2023

Hybrid teaching

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Gustaf Olsson

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

This course combines history, cultural studies, propaganda studies and cultural history and looks at Soviet history, society and propaganda through the lens of film. The course is structured around the idea that the political climate of a certain era is reflected in the films (as well as in the culture at large) that were made during that era. A more liberal political and cultural climate leads to more experimental filmmaking and films covering a broader range of topics, whereas more repressive eras have produced films that deliver a political message and that are less artistically daring. Before each lecture, the students are expected to watch a film connected to the topic of the lecture. The final examination is based on the films.

After the course, the student should:

• be familiar with the general history and development of cinema and cultural politics in the Soviet Union during different periods.
• be familiar with the meaning of some key moments and key terms in Soviet history and cultural history.
• be familiar with some propaganda tools that can be seen in Soviet (but not only in Soviet) films, and reflect on whether and how explicit or implicit propaganda tools are used in the films of the course.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 27.11.-8.12.2023

Online course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Dawid Bunikowski

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

This multidisciplinary course focuses on the phenomenon of religion in both society and politics in Poland.

Expected learning outcomes: The student should understand historical, social and legal perspectives of religion in Poland. In particular, the student should know why Catholicism plays such a great role in this society.

The content includes the following lectures/topics:
1. Religion and religions in Poland. Introduction.
2. Christianity in Poland (966): Poland as a part of Western civilisation.
3. The role of Catholicism in medieval times in Poland.
4. Religious tolerance from the 16th to 18th centuries: from Protestants to Orthodox Church to Judaism to others.
5. Catholicism as a way of life, culture, identity and patriotism in the time of Poland’s partitions.
6. Religion in the communist Poland – persecutions. The Church as a place of freedom and hope.
7. Legal and social status of the Catholic Church and of other churches/religious communities after 1989. Religious freedom.
8. The future of religion in Poland and its impact on “moral laws” passed by the State (abortion, LGBT rights, the constitutional crisis, etc.).
9. Workshop on the essays topics.
10. Discussion on chosen topics.

Reading:
- The Role of the Catholic Church and Polish Religiosity, by Lucyna Stetkiewicz, 17 pages,
- Religious Freedom, National Identity, and the Polish Catholic Church: Converging Visions of Nation and God, by Kyriaki Topid, 19 pages, MDPI, Religions, Published: 26 April 2019. Available online, in Google,
- Religion, Multiculturalism and Racism in Poland. An interview-based exploration among members of religious minorities, by Anna Posmykiewicz, 40 pages,

Methods of teaching:
All together 20 hours of lectures online (Teams). The lectures will be also recorded in the Teams for those who cannot participate in a real time in order to watch it later.

Activating tasks for students to pass the course: active participation with reading and discussion as well as short written assignments (writing a 5-7-page essay on a topic agreed with the lecturer).

Time:

• 28.11.2023, 09.00 - 14.00
• 30.11.2023, 12.00 - 17.00
• 04.12.2023, 08.00 - 12.00
• 05.12.2023, 14.00 - 17.00
• 08.12.2023, 09.00 - 12.00

Place: Teams.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 31.10.–14.12.2023
 

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Teemu Oivo, Olga Dovbysh, Mika Perkiömäki, Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Elena Gorbacheva

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The course Resource Flows in Northern Eurasia will provide students with the latest research-based knowledge about the region and its flows of fossil, renewable, and information resources. The course is taught by the researchers of the FLOWISION project and it covers a wide range of environmental topics from energy transitions to climate change communication in the countries located in the North of Eurasia. Northern Eurasia is going through extensive changes, inflicted by climate change, geopolitical conflicts, and energy transition, and this multidisciplinary course offers focused approaches to understanding resource flows connected to these changes. A multi-level perspective allows the students to get familiarised with how different actors in Eurasia engage in environmental debates, coexisting, cooperating, and conflicting with each other.

Content

• Introduction lecture
• Geoeconomics of energy and climate change of Central Asia (Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen)
• Role of emotions and affects within environmental & energy issues (Sohvi Kangasuoma)
• Flows in transition: A case study of Finland's peat energy transition (Hanna Lempinen)
• Waste management and Waste activism in Russia (Elena Gorbacheva)
• The sociology of expertise: Co-production of expertise in environmental protests (Invited lecturer)
• Communication and climate change (Mika Perkiömäki)
• Media practitioners and environmental agenda in contemporary Russia (Olga Dovbysh)
• Journalist environmental communication - Arctic states compared (Teemu Oivo)
• Difficulties in the second act: combining storytelling and science in documentary film production (Niko Väistö)
• Student presentations I
• Student presentations II

Assessment methods

• Self-reflection paper
• Blog post
• Oral presentation of the blog post

Expected learning outcomes. After completing this course, the students will be able to:

• Define key issues and concepts pertaining to energy, waste, and information resource flows in Northern Eurasia;
• Describe different regions of Northern Eurasia in terms of human, renewable, fossil, and nuclear resources;
• Apply different disciplinary approaches to study state-society—nature interactions
• Сompare and contrast perspectives on flows of resources in Northern Eurasia by focusing on discourses and practices, as well as policies and politics
• Use the learned theories, concepts, and methodology creatively.

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 06.09.-20.10.2023

Hybrid teaching

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Julie Yu-Wen Chen and Dana Rice

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Decades ago, scholars only considered Russian influence in Central Asia. But now we are facing a new era in which Chinese soft and hard power are on the rise in Central Asia. Whether this means competition or cooperation with Russia is intriguing. Observers often suggest that there is an informal division of labor between China and Russia, in which Russia takes care of the security domain while Beijing expands economically into Central Asia. This course aims to examine Russian and Chinese presence in Central Asia from historical and contemporary perspectives. The lecturers will lead students to debate and discover whether the current division of labor, in which “China invests and Russia protects,” will change and what this would imply for world politics in the future.

The nature of this course is multidisciplinary because studying this topic requires knowledge of multiple languages (e.g., Chinese, Russian, and Central Asian languages) and cooperation across multiple (sub-) disciplines (e.g., International Relations, Comparative Politics, International Political Economy, International Organizations, Chinese studies, Russian studies).

This course is a hybrid course aiming to lead students to explore Russia and China’s strategic interests in Central Asia and how Central Asian political elites, intellectuals and the general populace perceive the contestation of Russian and Chinese power in their countries. The lectures are composed of 1) online synchronous lectures, 2) online asynchronous self-learn studies, and 3) offline lectures.  Moodle is the main platform in which students will have access to the syllabus and all learning materials. 

Topics to be covered are 1) Russia’s Relations with Central Asia; 2) China’s Relations with Central Asia; 3) Central Asian Perspective on the Rise of China; 4) How Senior China Experts in Central Asia Look at China? Class Discussion on Several Oral History Interview Transcripts; 5) Energy and Security Issues; 6) Shanghai Cooperation Organization; 7) Fieldwork and Research Methods.

Documentary watching, podcast listening, simulation, role play, in-class quizzes, conference attendance and exercises will be part of the learning to familiarize students with the studied topics. At the end of this course, students will need to attend an international academic conference “The Rising Soft and Hard Power of China in Central Asia” at the University of Helsinki. The conference dates are 19-20 October. Conference attendance is compulsory.

Learning objectives

Upon completing the course, students will be able to

• Elaborate on great powers such as Russia and China and their strategic interests in Central Asia.
• Critically examine each Central Asian country’s history and current foreign policies towards Russia, USA, China, Japan and South Korea.
• Compare Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries’ strategic interests, history, and initiatives in Central Asia with those of great powers.
• Critically discern different sectors of Central Asian societies’ collective and individual views on Russia and China’s influence in their countries,
• Articulate future scenarios of Central Asian countries’ policies and relations with Russia, China and the USA.
• Identify how authoritarian regimes cooperate, compete and imitate each other in the context of Russian-Chinese-Central Asian relations.
• Design research plans and fieldwork to conduct related research in Central Asia.

Lisätietoa / More information This course is part of the Master of Area and Cultures Studies in the Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki. It is funded by the Aleksanteri Institute, the coordinator of nationwide Expertise in Russian and Eastern European Studies (ExpREES) in Finland. Students belonging to the ExpREES network are welcomed to join this course remotely or on site.

Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 22.9.–8.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Elina Viljanen, Liisa Bourgeot, Vesa Oittinen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content                                                             

This course focuses on social, intellectual and cultural phenomena in the Soviet Union during what has been called the epoch of ‘Stalinism’, a period that lasted from the late 1920s until the early 1950s. Due to its many abnormities and excesses, the period when Stalin was in power has always posited specific methodological problems for scholars. It is pertinent to ask, what was the cultural methodology of Stalin’s statecraft since it has led historians to keep on repeating rather totalising societal and cultural definitions of his power? Our aim is to go beyond these definitions and paint a subtler picture. By offering new insights on Soviet philosophy of science and humanities, linguistics, philosophy, musicology, literature and mathematics from the point of view of general cultural theory, our course challenges the image of Stalin-era humanities as mere propaganda, showing instead the hermeneutic challenges that the Stalinist politics of culture produced for later generations seeking to penetrate and comprehend the individual worldviews of thinkers during that time.

In the course, our approach to Stalinism stems from the analyses, data and methodological experience of various ‘schools’ of thought, which we will introduce to students. However, we find the concept of culture far too complex an issue to be subordinated to any of the major previous models of Stalinism as such. When assessing Stalin era culture, it is more fruitful to analyse the methodologies of interaction between the fields of culture (here, cultural actors) and politics (Stalinism) and the results of their complex interplay. Our course addresses not only the politically ‘positive’ dissident intellectual productions that opposed Stalinism and went ‘underground,’ but also the more neutral intellectual productions in field of the humanities, which tried to further the critical ethos of cultural modernisation and yet remained part of a non-persecuted intellectual culture during the Stalin era. In this course, we focus mostly on the humanities and intellectuals during the Stalin era. We will ask, among others, in the class, in what ways did culture / cultural actors remain autonomous actors from politics?

Focusing on a selection of early Soviet cultural theoreticians – Shpet, Lifshits, Asafiev, Deborin, Megrelidze, Yanovskaya and Bukharin – who had more or less important, but hitherto not well analysed, formative or analytical roles in the culture of the 1930s and 1940s, our course also offers novel perspectives on thinkers like Gorky, an important formulator of Stalinist cultural politics, or Marr, the notorious creator of the ‘Japhetic’ theory.

The topicality of our course lies in our focus on questions that concern how the intellectual society functioned and what it produced given the circumstances of dictatorship, state violence, political propaganda, censorship and ideological blackmail. All lectures are tangential to Stalin's politics, but neither Stalin nor the history of the richly theorised term ‘Stalinism’ are our main objects as such, although they will be introduced to students. The lectures focus on Soviet intellectual and cultural life – scholars and cultural theoreticians – during the Stalin era from a methodological perspective that distinguishes between Stalinism and culture, an outlook that forms one of the common threads of the course.

Teaching/Learning Methods:

Lectures are introductory and interactive. The students are assigned readings from recent scholarship on Stalin era, which are then discussed during the lessons. We invite students to ponder to what extent certain cultural phenomena and intellectual currents of the Stalin era were unique features that can be branded as Stalinist and why studying Stalinism matter to us. Furthermore, how does an international or global perspective shift our understanding of the phenomenon of Stalinism?

The course is intended for interdisciplinary students who preferably come from the fields of cultural/art studies, philology, history, social sciences and area studies. No prior knowledge of Stalin era Soviet history is required, but the student should possess the basic command of research methodology and academic writing. Online learning materials and educational technologies will be utilized in the course. In Moodle, the students can turn in their writing assignments and find video clips and side-readings. Flinga board might be used in some lectures to outline the classroom discussion. Moodle will contain a general discussion field in which students are free to pose questions and present constructive feedback about the course. There will be introductory lectures on different topics (theoretical and historical), giving the students some declarative knowledge. The rest of the teaching will be conducted in the form of “learning theatre”, i.e. interactive teaching based on students views on the pre-readings. Teachers provide pre-questions regarding the course-readings for the class discussion. Thus, most of the lessons of the course are organized in a form of Flipped Classroom that include pre-readings and pre-assignments, lecture introduction and classroom discussions.

Course Work, Materials & Assessment: 

The student will pass the course by

1) answering to the pre-questions based on pre-readings prior to the class in the Moodle and writing a learning diary after each lesson

2) participating in a Group Essay (“Why should we study Stalin era Russia & three relevant approaches to Stalinism and culture”) and its presentation for the class (min. 8 pages plus bibliography, max. 12 pages plus bibliography with 1.5 spacing, typeface Times New Roman, size 12) and Learning Report (min. 5 pages, max. 10 pages. Bibliography is not required, but references to the relevant literature in footnotes is a plus).

The course materials consists of a selection of articles provided by different lecturers. The student will have to refer to these articles in his/her Learning Report (more info in the Moodle before the course). The Learning Report is based on learning diary, which the student forms along the course (short descriptions of the core ideas of each lesson accompanied by student’s own analytical thoughts). The student is asked to return the Final Group Essay and Learning Report within two weeks after the course via Moodle. The student is free to use books from the list of recommended readings to construct the course writings/essays. In the group essay writing, the students are asked to pay attention to the academic writing criteria (detailed directions will be in the Moodle). The pre-questions (FAIL/PASS), Group Essay & Learning Report (100 % of the final grade) is assessed from 1–5.

Schedule:

All classes take place on Fridays at 12-14.

• 22.9. Elina Viljanen: Introduction – Historical contours of Stalin era 1928-1953 
• 29.9. ElinaViljanen: History and concepts of Stalinism
• 6.10. Elina Viljanen(Remote classroom) : Soviet culture and Stalinism (45 min.), working in groups (45 min.) 
• 13.10. Vesa Oittinen: What is ‘Russian’ or ‘Soviet Philosophy’? The Case of Abram Deborin 
• 3.11. Liisa Bourgeot: Gustav Shpet – the faith of pure philosophy during the Stalin era  
• 10.11. Elina Viljanen (Remote classroom): A case of Socialist Realism – how Stalinism shaped the cultural theory of Soviet art (45 min), group work (45 min.) 
• 17.11. Vesa Oittinen: Nikolai Bukharin – a theoretician between Lenin and Stalin  
• 24.11. Liisa Bourgeot: On intellectual resistance – Vasili Sesemann and Bidia Dandaron  
• 1.12. Elina Viljanen (Remote classroom) : Post-World War culture and the concept of high-Stalinism (45 min.), group work (45 min.) 
• 8.12. Elina Viljanen ja Liisa Bourgeot: Group presentations – “Why should we study Stalin era Russia & three relevant approaches to Stalinism and culture”  

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 3.11.–15.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Pekka Kauppala

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Oppimistavoitteet

Tavoite on osanottajien perehdytys Ukrainan valtiolliseen periferiaan ja sen erikoisuuksiin sekä latentteihin ja aktuaaleihin konflikteihin. Tarkoituksena on itsenäisen kyvyn hankkiminen monipuolisten uusien aineistojen löytämiseen sekä poliittiseen analyysiin. Ukrainan ja sen läntisten naapureiden ulkopoliittisten ja identiteettikonfliktien ja niiden ratkaisuyritysten perusrakenteitten luonne ja nivoutuminen kansainväliseen politiikkaan tulee hahmottua selkeiksi. Mahdollisia aktuaaleja tapahtumia analysoidaan.

Kurssin sisältö

Ukrainan vähemmistökansa- ja kielipolitiikassa kiinnitetään lähinnä huomiota politiikkaan venäläisiä ja venäjänkielisiä kohti. Kuitenkin Ukrainan ei-slaavilaisilla vähemmistökansoilla on jo neuvostoaikana olleet monisäikeiset ja problemaattiset välit valtiovallan kanssa.

Itsenäisessä Ukrainassa tendenssinä oleva vähittäinen siirtyminen entistä unitaristisempiin positioihin vaikeuttaa ongelmien ratkaisua. Sotatila puolestaan voi lakaista ongelmia maton alle, mutta ei ratkaista niitä.

Ei-slaavilaiset päävähemmistöt ovat romanialais-moldovalaiset, unkarilaiset, krimintataarit ja juutalaiset. Politiikka niiden kulttuurien, kielten ja uskontojen kanssa on vahvassa yhteydessä näiden tukijavaltioihin Romania, Moldova, Unkari, Turkki ja Israel.

Suoritustapa

Luennot, oheislukemisto ja oppimispäiväkirja

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 6.9.–18.10.2023

Online course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Urszula Chowaniec

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content                                                             

Learning goals:

This course aims at presenting and discussing the works of extraordinary Yiddish women writers, thinkers, philosophers and activists. Among authors the course wish to engage with are: Esther Singer Kreitman, Rokhl Brokhes, Fradle Schtock, Miriam Raskin, Dora Shulner, Irena Klepfisz, Malka Lee, Celia Dropkin, Rachel Korn, Blume Lempel, Chava Rosenfarb and Kadia Molodowsky. They are writers active both before and after WWII and from Eastern Europe writing originally in Yiddish.

Course outline:

This course aims at presenting and discussing the works of extraordinary Yiddish women writers, thinkers, philosophers and activists.They are writers active both before and after WWII and from Eastern Europe writing originally in Yiddish, translated into English.

Among the aims of the course is to learn about Jewish women’s literary heritage and to enjoy discussion about literature in various contexts, so apart from taking a role of the literary critics and informed readers, who will often use the feminist perspective, we will - at times - need to be historians, trying to understand ideological contexts of the works, at times – we will be the religious scholars, seeking the doctrinal contexts of the texts, or - at times - political commentators, using also the thought of philosophers like Hannah Arendt or Susan Sontag.

Among the main key concepts that are relevant to all the sessions are: women’s history and Jewish history (herstories), the Jewish women’s voices in the 20th-century literature, women’s Jewish literature from various part of the world.

Completion: Online lectures with discussions, reading and learning diary

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 10.10.2023 - 27.11.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Joni Virkkunen, Paul Fryer

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Even before the war in Ukraine, the image of Russia portrayed by the Western media usually has been that of a gigantic monolith that for the past 20 years has been dominated by the current president, Vladimir Putin, his circle of oligarchs and political and military supporters. However, Russian society remains diverse and multi-layered due to its vast size and, as a result of the efforts of many ordinary citizens and organisations, it has developed rapidly despite ongoing repressions. While some of these individuals or activists are opposed to the current regime in Moscow, many others are simply attempting to cope or make a positive impact on their lives and local environment. To see beyond the headlines and stereotypes, this course asks: what is the ‘alternative’ to the media images of Russia? Thus, the course examines Russia and Russian society through activists, civic groups, and local non-governmental organisations and networks, including online media, ethnic associations, small entrepreneurs, local environmentalists, gender and sexual minority activists, and other ‘alternative’ actors.

This course will provide students with a deeper understanding of Russian society, looking beyond official discourses at individual groups and movements and the ways that they engage with, adapt to, or challenge their state structures. By the end of the course, students will be able to better contextualise Russian official and foreign media representations of the country. This will, thus, improve students’ understanding of the Russian state and society in contemporary Europe.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 6.9.–18.10.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Katalin Miklóssy et al.

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The Black Sea is situated at a crossroad where Eastern, Western and Southern influences have mixed, and great power interests had clashed for centuries. We rely on an analytical framework, which is combining strategic culture and in-between-ness. Wars have been fought around and over the dominance of the Black Sea always, and some of the wars brought about a paradigm shift. Geopolitical in-between-ness had affected the understanding of threats and security, In our reading, it is not exclusively about military security but a wider notion of security (societal development, social security, energy security, identity, nationhood, etc.).

Lectures

1. Introduction: concepts, theoretical framework, methodology (Miklossy)
2. Black sea in historical perspectives: empires vs. nation states (Miklossy)
3. Regional alliances: crises strategies in the past and present (Miklossy)
4. Turkey (Alaranta)
5. Ukraine (Nizhnikau)
6. Moldova and Transnistria: a frozen conflict (Miklossy)
7. Romania (Miklossy)
8. Crimea (Zeveleva)
9. E-lecture: Georgia (Kemoklidze)
10. Conclusion: EU prospects
11. Seminar I
12. Seminar II
13. Seminar III (if needed)

Completion: Lectures and seminars, reading, reflection paper (1 500 words) about a current event regarding the Black Sea, presented in the seminars, debated and discussed by peers.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 5.9.–17.10.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Katharina Kunter

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The Russian war against Ukraine is a historic turning point in recent European history. In the course we will look at how the churches reacted to the outbreak of the war and the Russian invasion and what different positions were expressed (e.g. on peace, arms supplies, but also solidarity with Ukraine). We will interpret the texts as historical sources and at the same time analyse and critically evaluate them according to their temporal and political content.

Texts and literature will be announced and distributed during the course.
Assignments: regular class participation, small assignments during the course, a detailed source analysis.

The course will be held in English (perfect English is not expected, we want to communicate).

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 31.10.–14.12.2023

• Tu 31/10/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.205
• Th 2/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Päärakennus, U3039
• Tu 7/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.205
• Th 9/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Päärakennus, U3039
• Tu 14/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.205
• Th 16/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Päärakennus, U3039
• Tu 21/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.205
• Th 23/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Päärakennus, U3039
• Tu 28/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.205
• Th 30/11/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Päärakennus, U3039
• Tu 5/12/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.205
• Th 7/12/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Päärakennus, U3039
• Tu 12/12/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.205
• Th 14/12/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Päärakennus, U3039

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Kaarina Aitamurto, Brendan Humphreys, Jouni Järvinen, Anna Tarasenko, Katalin Miklossy

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

1. Students are familiarized with, and differentiate the mainstream theoretical approaches analyzing social and political interaction taking place on various (transnational, national, local) levels in connection to the state and society.
2. Students understand how responses and interactions are rooted in the complex societal and political evolution of societies and how these are conditioned by the changes in the spatial and temporal contexts.
3. Students are able to use basic concepts (civil society, religion, nationalism, gender) and understand their relevance in societal change.
4. Student acquires various skills: critical thinking, scholarly argumentation through lectures, in-class discussions, home reading, team work and essay writing.

The course focuses on the interaction of the state and the society as well as the responses to societal changes and challenges. The lectures address such themes as, for example, civil society, nationalism, gender and religion.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 1.11.–15.12.2023

Wed and Fri 14:15-15:45 Metsätalo lecture hall 25

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Anna-Liisa Heusala, Katalin Miklóssy, Sherzod Eraliev

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The students learn about circular, material and immaterial processes and flows that take place in the Eurasian post-socialist space. The students gain an understanding of the significance of such processes for the development of the area´s societies. The lectures may include such topics as global migration.

The course introduces the students to a selected global process or several global processes which have a major impact in the Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European societies. The lectures may include such topics as global migration in the Eurasian space.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 11.9.2023 – 8.12.2023
The course will be taught in the autumn term 2023 as an intensive course. The course is taught in Tampere (no hybrid option).

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Galina Miazhevich

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

This course considers the key notions related to the global news production and current media ecology, covers a range of texts that reflect on the historic, political and socio-cultural contexts of Belarus and Russia, as well as provides an overview of the methods used for the visual analysis. The course will introduce the key notions such as media ecology, international broadcasters, crisis reporting, news values, news production, protest reporting, gender, resistance, imagery, framing.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course, the students will be able to interpret visuals with the help of semiotic, framing and discourse analysis. They will be familiar with the academic debates on the topic of media ecology, news production and with the relevant works from the area studies. The students will be able to apply their knowledge to understand contemporary processes in other former Soviet Union states. Students will be able to utilize and cite research literature in accordance with the ethical principles, prepare a written analysis of pre-selected images and a group project presentation.

On successful completion of the course, the students will be able to: (i) contextualise contemporary news selection within relevant academic debates; (ii) construct arguments, in writing and orally, about the framing of the news by transnational media organisations; (iii) critically reflect upon and evaluate news reports with a specific focus on the analysis of the imagery.

The evaluation

The marking is within 5-point scale where 5 is the 100% (or maximum grade). The grading will take into account the following

• Attendance – not less than 90% of the course (20%)
• Written analysis of the selected image  (45%)
• Group presentation (35%).

If you missed a class, it will be necessary to complete additional tasks based on the materials of the lecture or seminar. Additional tasks are assigned by the teacher on an individual basis.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 8.9.–20.10.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Anton Kotenko

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Discuss the history of modern Ukraine;
2. Compare the history of a concept of modern Ukraine and its main competitors;
3. Analyse current state of historiography and most recent approaches to history of Ukraine in particular that of an entangled history.

Course outline

The course is a survey of history of Ukraine since the early modern period until 1991. While placing the past of Ukrainian territory and its multinational population in the context of a broader Eastern European history, it familiarises the students with history of Ukraine and its historiography. The main emphasis of the course is made on the long nineteenth century and Ukraine’s history in the Russian empire. In particular, it explores how the concept of modern Ukraine appeared and investigates its competition with other national projects.

Lectures

1. Introduction I: Does Ukraine have a history and what does it look like?
2. Introduction II: Does Ukraine have a history and what does it look like?
3. Ukraine as part of the Commonwealth of two nations. Cossacks, war, and faith.
4. From ashes to caviar: Ukraine enters the Russian empire.
5. Great Russian Discovery of Little Russia.
6. How Many Russian Nationalities Were There in the Romanov Empire?
7. Ukrainian Questions in the Russian Empire.
8. Revolutions and Civil Wars, 1917–1921.
9. Ukraine as a Part of the Affirmative Action Empires.
10. World War II, Chernobyl, independence. Conclusion.

Completion: Lectures, reading, presentation, and final essay

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 5.9.-13.10.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Simo Mikkonen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The Russian war in Ukraine has already had several far-reaching implications ranging from the level of international politics into personal tragedies. It has also had a major impact on the work of historians. In the study of Eastern European history, the focus has dominantly been in Russia. The other major problem has been the strong tendency to emphasize the point of view of nation states. The situation is complicated by the history politics, the use of history to justify political decisions from internal politics to foreign affairs.

This course will offer an overview of the complex history of the area, discuss how the history has been politicized and look into the future of Eastern European history. Few countries wish to be portrayed as being part of the East Europe, rather emphasizing their position in Central, Northern or South-Eastern Europe.

The course has three main aims: to introduce students to the complex history of Eastern Europe, to explore the politicized concept of Eastern Europe and look into its use and abuse, and finally, discuss how Eastern European can be better integrated into the broader European history.

The key question in the course is: What is Eastern Europe and how its definition is historically influenced and changes as a result of contemporary politics.

Completing the course requires participation in the lectures, reading the given materials and passing the final exam.

The lectures will not be recorded.

Workload: About 12 lectures and readings.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 5.9.–12.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) N.N.

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opintojakson suoritettuaan opiskelija tuntee liettualaisen kulttuurin eri kehitysvaiheet Liettuan historian kontekstissa. Hän tuntee Liettuan kulttuurin tärkeimmät saavutukset ja erityisesti tärkeimmät liettualaiset kirjailijat ja osaa nimetä heidän keskeiset teoksensa.

Lisätietoa / More information Huom! Kanditasoinen kurssi. Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 7.9.–19.10.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Katri Pynnöniemi

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The inter-disciplinary lecture course will explore Russia’s war against Ukraine in the context of contemporary military and political theory. The combination of lectures and list of readings seek to advance knowledge on Russia's war against Ukraine, in particular, Russian military strategy, on Ukraine’s military power (including the role of volunteers), the political context of warfighting and the future of European security. The lectures will also advance knowledge on contemporary European security and Russia’s future role in it.

The students are required to attend all the lectures, write a lecture diary and to read additional literature assigned for the course.

The lecture topics include the following: from Soviet to Russian armed forces; theory of war and Russia's war against Ukraine, the military reform in Ukraine, Russian military strategy and the war against Ukraine, the political framing of the war and its consequences for Russia, the role of volunteers in post-Euromaidan Ukraine, Ukraine and Kremlin's worldview: ideological and conspirational assumptions.

The lectures are well-known researchers from the leading universities and research institutes in Finland, Ukraine, and the US, for example senior researchers Pentti Forsström and Simo Pesu (NDU, Finland), Associate professor Ilmari Käihkö (Swedish Defence University); professor Bettina Renz (the University of Nottingham), Senior Fellow Mike Kofman (Carnegie Endowment), Senior researcher Jussi Lassila (FIIA), Associate Fellow Kateryna Zarembo (New Europe Center, Kyiv) and Chair of International Relations Maksym Yakovlyev (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy).

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 6.11.–15.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Zea Szebeni

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

tba

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 6.9.–20.10.2023

• We 6/9/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.203
• Fr 8/9/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Metsätalo, B525 (sali 25)
• We 13/9/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.203
• Fr 15/9/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Metsätalo, B525 (sali 25)
• We 20/9/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.203
• Fr 22/9/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Metsätalo, B525 (sali 25)
• We 27/9/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.203
• Fr 29/9/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Metsätalo, B525 (sali 25)
• We 4/10/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.203
• Fr 6/10/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Metsätalo, B525 (sali 25)
• We 11/10/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.203
• Fr 13/10/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Metsätalo, B525 (sali 25)
• We 18/10/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Kielikeskus, sh.203
• Fr 20/10/202312:15 PM–1:45 PM Metsätalo, B525 (sali 25)

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Eugenia Pesci, Mirzokhid Karshiev, Anna-Liisa Heusala

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The student gains an understanding of how norms and views on ethics have been produced, disseminated and contested in the REEE area, and their implications for societal transformation. The student gains skills and knowledge to analyze and situate governance trajectories in a global context.

The student identifies normative and ethical questions that are connected to state and societal development in Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe. The lectures may include such topics as the rule of law, historical development of government, institutional change.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 11.9.–11.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Silvio Cruschina

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opintojakson suoritettuaan opiskelija pystyy lukemaan ja analysoimaan keskeistä romaniankielistä kirjallisuutta. Hän tuntee Romanian kirjallisuudenhistorian pääpiirteet. Lisäksi hän on perehtynyt muutaman keskeisen nykykirjailijan tuotantoon niin muodon kuin sisällön kannalta ja tuntee jonkin verran Romanian kirjallisen elämän ajankohtaisia aiheita.

Opiskelija osaa myös ymmärtää Romanian kulttuurin historiallista kehitystä ja nykypäivää.

Lisätietoa / More information Note! Bachelor-level course. Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 5.9.–17.10.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Anton Kotenko

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Describe the methodology of spatial history;
2. Discuss the history of concepts of Central, Eastern, and East Central Europe;
3. Analyse recent trends and debates in the historiography of spatial history of East Central Europe.

Course outline

The course introduces students to a special methodological direction in studying the past, which is spatial history. To familiarise them with this approach and its historiography, the course provides an overview of recent studies and key themes in spatial dimensions of the history of East Central Europe in the long nineteenth century (1750s–1920s). Structured around Henri Lefebvre’s triad of physical- mental-social space, the course will enable students to actively engage with spatial dimensions of the past.
Lectures

1. Historical Geography, Geographical History, Environmental History, New Spatial History: What’s the Difference?
2. Central, Eastern, East Central Europe: What, Where and When?
3. Nature, Environment, and Landscape: New Approaches to History of Physical Space
4. Borderlands, Frontiers, Peripheries, Shatterzones: New Approaches to History of Political Space
5. Mapmakers and Visualising Space: New Approaches to History of Cartography
6. Imagined Noncommunities: New Approaches to History of Mental Space
7. Brothels, Train Stations, Zoos: New Approaches to History of Social Space
8. Farewell to East Central Europe: New Approaches to History of Migration
9. Missing East Central Europe: Nostalgia as a Spatial Disease and a Historical Problem
10. Conclusion

Completion: Lectures, reading, learning diary and final essay

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 6.11.–7.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Arseniy Svynarenko

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

The aim of this course is to present and overview of social and cultural aspects of the nation building and political processes after renewal of Ukraine’s independence in 1991.

Lectures

1. Nation, ethnicity, and nationalism: an introduction to the theoretical discussion.
2. From Chevona ruta music festival to the Revolution on Granite and Ukraine’s independence.
3. Was “Orange revolution” a revolution? Theories of revolutions and approaches to mass mobilization.
4. “Euromaidan” mass mobilisation. The soundtrack of the protest.
5. The political culture and the culture of protest. (in)equalities in Ukrainian politics and society.
6. Russia’s war against Ukraine. The impact of war on Ukrainian society
7. The reflections of war in Ukrainian visual art.
8. Ukraine’s regions: ethnicities, economies, and reforms of local governance. Language policies.
9. Religion in contemporary Ukraine.
10. Ukraine’s political system today. On the path to the EU.

Completion: Lectures, discussions in the class, group assignments, discussions on presented topics in Moodle, and learning diary

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 11.9.–11.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Outi Tanczos

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Suoritettuasi opintojakson hallitset Unkarin maantuntemuksen perustiedot ja omaksut unkarin kielen ja kulttuurin eri osa-alueiden keskeisimpiä kohtia.

Unkarin maantuntemuksen perustiedot sijoitamme itäisen Keski-Euroopan kontekstiin. Unkarin maantuntemuksen keskeisimmistä asioista nostamme esille mm. seuraavat: Unkarin maantieteelliset alueet, historia ja nykyaika, unkarin kieli menneisyydessä ja nykyään, unkarilaisen kulttuurin tärkeimpiä tekijöitä.

Lisätietoa / More information Kanditasoinen kurssi; linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 6.9.–13.12.2023

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Outi Tanczos

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Tunnistat unkarilaisen kulttuurin, historian ja yhteiskunnan erikoispiirteitä ja niiden vuorovaikutusta.

Opintojaksossa keskitytään kulttuurin, historian tai yhteiskunnan erikoiskysymyksiin tai näiden välisiin yhteyksiin.

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 30.10.–14.12.2023

• ma 30.10.202314.15–15.45, Päärakennus, U4072
• to 2.11.202314.15–15.45 Metsätalo, B313 (sali 8)
• ma 6.11.202314.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4072
• to 9.11.202314.15–15.45 Metsätalo, B313 (sali 8)
• ma 13.11.202314.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4072
• to 16.11.202314.15–15.45 Metsätalo, B313 (sali 8)
• ma 20.11.202314.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4072
• to 23.11.202314.15–15.45 Metsätalo, B313 (sali 8)
• ma 27.11.202314.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4072
• to 30.11.202314.15–15.45 Metsätalo, B313 (sali 8)
• ma 4.12.202314.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4072
• to 7.12.202314.15–15.45 Metsätalo, B313 (sali 8)
• ma 11.12.202314.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4072
• to 14.12.202314.15–15.45 Metsätalo, B313 (sali 8)

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Ira Jänis-Isokangas, Sari Autio-Sarasmo

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opiskelija tunnistaa Venäjän historiaan ja kulttuuriin liittyviä ominaispiirteitä. Opiskelija tunnistaa Venäjän historiaan liittyviä kehityskulkuja sekä jatkumoita menneisyydestä nykypäivään.

Lisätietoa / More information Kanditasoinen kurssi; linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 11.9.–11.12.2023

Ma 12-14 Metsätalo, B524 (sali 26)

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opintojakson jälkeen olet hankkinut perustiedot Viron yhteiskunnasta ja kulttuurista. Osaat tulkita virolaisen kulttuurin ilmiöitä ja analysoida yhteiskuntaa kuulumisen käsitteen avulla. Tunnet Viron historian keskeiset vaiheet ja tapahtumat ja osaat tarkastella Viroa ja virolaista kulttuuria alueellisessa kontekstissa. Osana opintojaksoa olet harjoitellut argumentaatiotaitoja.

Opintojakso tarjoaa katsaukseen Viron kulttuuriin ja yhteiskuntaan laajassa merkityksessä. Opintojakson teoreettisena ja käsitteellisenä kehyksenä toimii kuuluminen. Opintojakso jakautuu kolmeksi temaattiseksi kokonaisuudeksi: Viron asukkaat ja kuuluminen, kulttuuri ja kuuluminen sekä Viron alueellinen kuuluminen.

Lisätietoa / More information Kanditasoinen kurssi; linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 8.-20.4.2024

Teaching will take place on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Iryna Zbyr

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

This course is designed to offer an overview of Ukrainian literature from the 18th century to contemporary times. It will provide knowledge about Ukrainian literary heritage while discussing the philosophical, aesthetical, and political worldviews of individual poets and writers. The course will discuss Ukrainian literature in the context of Ukrainian history and society, while it will also address the styles and directions of European and world literature to show their influence on the development of Ukrainian literature. The course will also discuss screen adaptations of some of the best-known works of Ukrainian literature.

Course programme

1. Introduction to Ukrainian literature. Periods, genres and main literary texts from the beginning till the 18th century.
2. Ivan Kotliarevsky and his work – as a beginning of a New Period in Ukrainian literature.
3. Romanticism in Ukrainian literature. Taras Shevchenko – a national poet of Ukraine.
4. Ivan Franko and his work at the crossroads of styles and eras.
5. Modernism in Ukrainian literature. The work of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky and Lesya Ukrainka.
6. “Executed Renaissance”. Ukrainian literature of the 1920-30s.
7. Ukrainian Literature in Emigration.
8. Modern Ukrainian Literature. Styles, directions, representatives.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course students will

• be able to place Ukrainian literature in the historical development of European and world culture
• be familiar with the canonical works of Ukrainian literature in the context of European culture.
• understand the forming of Ukrainian statehood through the prism of literature
• be familiar with adaptations of famous works of Ukrainian literature in order to understand the peculiarities of Ukrainian cinematography in different periods.

Course requirements:

Active participation in teaching and final paper. The final paper will be turned in Moodle after the course.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 12.3.–25.4.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Kristiina Silvan

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The course analyses the evolution of politics and societies in post-Soviet Central Asia—a region that is here defined to cover the five former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Given its strategically important location between Russia and China, there is a growing need to understand Central Asian domestic and foreign policy dynamics in both research and policy-making communities. The course examines Central Asia’s political, economic, and societal development from the Soviet era up until the present day, but the emphasis is on the changes that have taken place in the post-Soviet era.

The course schedule can be found on the bottom of this page. Registration link will appear in due course. A detailed syllabus can be accessed on Moodle or it can be requested from the teacher. Please check the course Moodle page before the start of the course. Welcome!

Course objectives

The objective of the course is to provide students with advanced knowledge about the societal and political dynamics of Soviet and post-Soviet Central Asia, as well as about the region’s relations with external actors. In addition, the course aims to develop students’ transferable skills that will be of use for their later employment. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate and apply their knowledge of the political, societal, and economic evolution of Central Asia from the Soviet era until the present day
• Create links between political, societal, and economic trends taking place in Central Asia and developments in the broader post-Soviet and global space
• Demonstrate their transferable analytical skills through written and oral presentations

Mode of Instruction

This course consists of seven lectures and seminars with input from the convening lecturer and an invited guest speaker, Dr. Margarita Zavadskaya. At each seminar, students will reflect upon the content of the week’s lecture and critically engage with the weekly readings. Active participation in class is desirable. Online participation is possible.

Assessment

Oral assignments include introducing pre-assigned reading at the seminar (10% of the final grade) and a group presentation (20%). Written assignments include a short op-ed (20%) and 2.500-word final essay (50%). The essay will be submitted in two stages: first as a draft which will receive comments from the teacher and other course participants, and then as an updated final version.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 13.3.–6.5.2024

Online course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Atina Nihtinen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

The aim of the course is to provide the students with an understanding of the complex history of South-East Europe during three crucial historical periods: the Balkan states right after the Second World War, their history before the fall of communism and the transition period thereafter.

Course outline

By focusing on the South-European states of Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and Yugoslavia before and after 1989, the course deals with the special features of each of these cases. Somewhat similarly to their development during the Cold War, countries’ different paths thereafter can be explored separately and in relation to one another.

Lectures

1.  Yugoslavia’s communism
2.  The dissolvement of Yugoslavia
3.  Communism in Bulgaria
4.  Bulgaria after 1989
5.  Romania before and after 1989
6.  Greece since 1945
7.  Albania and course conclusion
8.  Final exam

Completion

Attending to online lectures, reading, weakly assignments (approximately two pages a week), and final exam online

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 22.1.–26.1.2024

Hybrid lecture course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Visiting lecturers

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The course has three visiting international teachers:

• Dr Marco Puleri from the University of Bologna, Italy, approaches ethnic identities in Ukraine in post-Soviet times through the lenses of art.
• Dr. Medea Badashvili from the Tbilisi State University, Georgia, focuses on gender identities in Caucasus region from the point of view of family, religion and social policy.
• Dr. David Matsaberidze from the Tbilisi State University, Georgia, discuss conflicts, ethnicity, nationalism, and religion in the Caucasus region.

Keywords: Identities, ethnicity, gender, conflict nationalism, religion, family

Learning goals

• Student understands different ways of constructing ethnic and gender identities in the Caucasus region and Ukraine.
• Student recognizes historical, political, cultural, and social factors impacting the identities in the region.
• Students identifies the impact of geopolitics and conflicts to the identities in the Caucasus region and Ukraine.

Lectures

Mon 22.1.2024

10:15-11:45 Rewriting Ethnic identities in post-Soviet Ukraine: Art, Literature and the Intellectual Debate (Marco Puleri)
16:15-17:45 From Russianness to Russophonia: Understanding the impact of the war on the framing of ethnic identities in post-Soviet Ukraine (Marco Puleri)

Tue 23.1.2024

10:15-11:45 Conflicts, Ethnicity, Nationalism and Religion in the Caucasus : Grounding the Region [Part I]. (David Matsaberidze)
16:15-17:45 Studying Ethnic and Gender Identities in Caucasus region, part I (Medea Badashvili)

Wed 24.1.2024

10:15-11:45 Conflicts, Ethnicity, Nationalism and Religion in the Caucasus : Grounding the Region [Part II] (David Matsaberidze)
16:15-17:45 Studying Ethnic and Gender Identities in Caucasus region, part II (Medea Badashvili)

Thu 25.1.2024

10:15-11:45 Politicization of History and Ethnicity in the Caucasus (David Matsaberidze)
16:15-17:45 Gender, Family and Religion in post-socialist environment (Medea Badashvili)

Fri 26.1.2024

10:15-11:45 Politicization of History and Ethnicity in the Caucasus (David Matsaberidze)
16:15-17:45 Politics of Global Health: Social determinants of Health and social inequality in health care (Medea Badashvili)

Moodle course area including a link to an online meeting room will become available for students on the starting day of the course.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 11.3.–29.4.2024

Online course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Justyna Pierzynska

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

tba

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 12.3.–23.4.2024

The course is organised in a hybrid format. The lectures in Helsinki will be conducted in person and simultaneously broadcast on Zoom. Each lecture contains a 45-30 minute component reserved for discussion, where initially the students divide into smaller groups to deliberate, with the expectation that they then share their insights with the rest of the class.

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Karoliina Pulkkinen and Sari Autio-Sarasmo

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

This course maps the trajectory of the modest circumstances of science and technology in late Imperial Russia towards a substantial science system that the Soviet Union was known for. By tracking the influence of the WWI experience and Bolsheviks’ early science policy, we gain insight on how pure and applied research was organised into a vast network of research institutes, where these developments paved the way for space travel and military applications of unforeseen scope. After providing a closer look into chemistry, physics, geography, and biology, students are encouraged to examine the relationship between science, society, and politics in a context where science and technology simultaneously enjoyed both tremendous state support and ideological interference.                                  

Learning outcomes

1. Attuning the students to analyse the relationship between science and technology, and the broader societal context
2. Understanding different aspects of the science policy in the USSR                                                
3. Identifying the major markers of the Soviet science system, including Bolsheviks’
   encouragement of applied research and technology, and organisation of science and research into research institutes.                                                                           
4. Give analytical insights on the role of ideology at different periods of Soviet history whilst also critically reflecting on how “ideology” can be understood.
5. The methodological goals include understanding the reasons motivating the major disciplinary norms of history of science, including concerns related to presentism and Whig history, and ability to observe whether the readings exhibit totalitarian, revisionist, or post-revisionist models of understanding life in the Soviet union.
                                                                                                                                                

Examination

• Participation in the class discussions: 30%
• Short essays based on set questions regarding the class reading (max. 300 words): 30%
• Final essay (1 500 words): 40%

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 13.3.-2.5.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Eemil Mitikka

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

”Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis for Area Studies and Social Sciences” provides students of humanities and social sciences an opportunity to learn and update their quantitative data analysis skills. The course offers also a beginner-friendly introduction to the programming language R. During the course, students learn how to perform the data analysis process from beginning to end independently with R using real datasets relevant to area studies and social sciences. Students will also get ideas on where to find quantitative data relevant to their research work and gain insights on how to apply these data in practice. This course is a suitable introduction to those who have no previous experience in R and/or analyzing quantitative data, and are interested in enhancing these skills.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students will be able to perform data analysis with R independently. In practice, this process includes the steps of

1. importing data,
2. cleaning data,
3. transforming data,
4. visualizing data,
5. modeling data, and
6. communicating the data analysis results.

Since this is an introductory course for students with little to no experience with quantitative methods and R, modeling is left out of the scope of the course. However, after taking this course and knowing the basic data analysis workflow, students will be ready to take R courses covering this and other more advanced topics.

Timetable of the course

1. Introduction & Course Practicalities,13.3.2024
2. Theme 1: Data Wrangling Essentials,14.3.2024
3. Workshop Lecture, Theme 1, 20.3.2024
4. Theme 2: Data Visualization Essentials, 21.3.2024
5. Workshop Lecture, Theme 2, 27.3.2024
6. Theme 3: Data Transformations, part 1, 4.4.2024
7. Workshop Lecture, Theme 3, 10.4.2024
8. Theme 4: Data Transformations, part 2, 11.4.2024
9. Workshop Lecture, Theme 4, 17.4.2024
10. Theme 5: Data Visualizations Best Practices, 18.4.2024
11. Workshop Lecture, Theme 5, 24.4.2024
12. Theme 6: Survey Data in R, 25.4.2024
13. Course Wrap-up & Instructions for the Final Assignment, 2.5.2024

Instructions for completing the course

The course consists of 13 lectures. About half of these are thematic and the other half workshop-oriented lectures. Thematic lectures introduce new topics and give assignments related to these, and workshop lectures are used to go through and troubleshoot the assignments together. To successfully pass the course, students must return all the assignments given during the course.

The course can be taken entirely either in the online format, by partly attending the contact teaching and partly online (hybrid model), or by participating only in contact teaching.

Before the first lecture, students are expected to install R and RStudio to their personal/study computer and to perform a small warm-up of task. R and RStudio are open-source and free technologies, and they can be installed also to University of Helsinki computers. More detailed installing instructions will be given on the Moodle page of the course for the registered course participants.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 16.1.–27.2.2024
Online course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Heli Reimann

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

The students will:

1. Gain an understanding of the historical course and nature of Soviet jazz culture

2. Be able to relate the development of jazz to different socio-cultural phenomena

3. Discern the role of Soviet jazz in global context

4. Learn to compare the development of jazz in different Soviet regions

5. Develop critical thinking towards the sources on Soviet jazz (media, archival and scholarly texts, visual and aural)

Course outline

The course discovers how jazz as a global cultural phenomenon shaped its path in former Soviet Union in interaction with other cultural forms (dance, theatre, cinema, estrada) and how it molded into the social and administrative structures of the country. It shows how jazz was affected by the ambiguities in the relationship between power and society while experiencing constantly oscillating political tolerance. At the same time as an elitist urban cultural form it was enthusiastically practiced and developed by musicians, supported by the fans who symbolically fulfilled their American Dream under the influence of American jazz diplomacy. Especial focus of the course is on the pioneering role of Baltics in the history of Soviet jazz.

Lectures

1. Soviet socio-political and cultural conditions in early 1920s and the appearance of jazz into cultural arena; Valentin Parnakh, Alexander Tsfasman; the beginning of politicization of jazz.
2. ‘Red jazz age’ of 1930s; Thea-jazz Leonid Utyosov; jazz in the army.
3. Ideological attacks against jazz during late-Stalinism-the example of Estonian jazz.
4. Cold War ideological struggles and jazz. The impact of American jazz diplomacy, Jazz Hour and Willis Conover.
5. New awakening in 1950s and 1960s: Shestidesyatniky and jazz fandom, jazz clubs, festivals and music.
6. The pioneering role of Baltics in Soviet jazz history. Lithuanian free-jazz, jazz festivals in Tallinn
7. New music, avant-garde and ethno-jazz in 1970s and 1980s

Completion

Attending to online lectures, study materials (reading and video examples), group work and discussions based on reading materials, final essay

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 11.3.–15.4.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Marina Vituhnovskaja-Kauppala

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Venäjän imperiumin romahduksella vuonna 1917 oli monta perussyytä, kuten ensimmäinen maailmansota, siitä johtanut sosiaalinen jännitys, poliittinen kriisi ja kansan eri ryhmien tyytymättömyys. Viime vuosikymmenien tutkimuksessa yhä useammin kiinnitetään näiden lisäksi huomiota kansallisiin kysymyksiin. Yhä selkeämmin käsitetään, että paikallisten nationalismien ja etnisismien synty ja nopea kehitys vaikuttivat massiivisesti romahdusten edellytysten hahmottumiseen.

Monikansallinen imperiaalinen Venäjä oli hyvin monimutkainen kokonaisuus, jonka hallitseminen vaati erityisiä keinoja ja strategioita. Valtiovallan tilanne tuli vielä haastavammaksi 1800-luvun toisella puolella, kun maassa alkoi nopea modernisaatioprosessi, ja samanaikaisesti eri vähemmistökansa-alueilla hahmottui kasvavia nationalistisia liikkeitä. Kansalliset ja etniset ryhmät –usein yhteydessä paikallisiin regionalistisiin venäläisiin- alkoivat kehittää poliittisia vaatimuksia. Maan heterogeenisuus syveni.

Tarkempi ohjelma päivittyy tuonnempana.
 

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 16.1.–27.2.2024

Online course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Inna Häkkinen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

Students are able to:

1.  identify the key issues of communicating ‘nuclear energy’ within East Central European narratives;
2.  use critical thinking skills of combining the theoretical bases of East Central European studies and nuclear energy humanities’ agenda in order to outline the current nuclear policies in East Central Europe;
3.  critically assess the conceptual parameters of nuclear narratives of the post-Chernobyl discourse in East Central European context.

Course outline

The course is to introduce students to major theoretical and practical frames of communicating nuclear humanities’ agenda in East Central European context in order to provide with the critical toolkit for assessing political/social/cultural perspectives of current nuclear narratives of East Central Europe and beyond. Such approach equips students with the basic knowledge of debating the nuclear history of East Central Europe and expands their understanding of concepts and agenda of energy humanities.

Lectures

1.  Nuclear Humanities’ Agenda within Eastern / Central European Context (Dr. Inna Häkkinen, University of Helsinki)
2.  Constructing Techno-scientific Promises Through(out) History: On the historical Underpinnings of Today’s Nuclear Promises (Dr. Markku Lehtonen, University of Pompeu Fabra)
3.  Nuclear Diplomacy, Energy Security and War in Ukraine (Prof. Kacper Szulecki, Oslo University)
4.  Eastern European Risk Narrative: the Persistence of Nuclear Trauma in Cultural Memory (Dr. Anna Barcz, the Polish Academy of Science)
5.  The Nuclear History of Lithuania: From Centrality to Marginalization (Dr. Nicola Belli, Kaunas University of Technology)
6.  The Reinvention of an Envirotechnical System and Nuclear Infrastructure in East Europe within the Cold War. (Dr. Achim Klüppelberg, KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
7.  Intermediality of Debating ‘the Nuclear’ in Eastern and Central European Environmental Humanities (Prof. Adrian Ivakhiv, the University of Vermont)

Completion

Attending to online lectures, reading, ‘reflection paper’ (one page writing on the topic of one lecture or on one book from the obligatory/recommended reading list), and final essay (‘idea paper’)

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 18.3.–3.5.2024

Online course

18.03.2024 13.00 - 14.00    Online             Course Orientation
20.03.2024 09.00 - 11.00    MS306            Lecture
22.03.2024 09.00 - 11.00    MS306            Lecture
05.04.2024 12.00 - 14.00    Online             Lecture
09.04.2024 13.00 - 15.00    Online             Lecture
16.04.2024 13.00 - 15.00    MS306            Seminar
18.04.2024 13.00 - 15.00    Online             Lecture
03.05.2024 09.00 - 12.00    Online             Lecture, Seminar

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Jussi Kauhanen, Sohaib Khan

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Through this online course, students will obtain basic understanding of various regional health-related changes and trend that have followed the collapse of the Soviet Union since early 1990s. Main focus is in Russia and other former Soviet states, but some of the content covers also the larger geopolitical region in which Soviet Union had immediate influence until 1980s. Post-change trends in public health are reviewed, as well as challenges of current population health and future public health prospects in the region. Public health implications of the Russian war and aggression against Ukraine is one of the topics/modules during the course.

Foundations of public health, such as food safety, health systems, and environmental health in the region are visited. A general goal is to underline the link between social, political, economic, and cultural changes on one hand, and public health on the other. The course will help students with little prior experience in health sciences to independently examine public health data and reports. More advanced students of public health may develop their skills in updating health-related data on different macro-regions, for which the former Soviet Union makes an interesting historical example. The Russian-instigated war in Ukraine makes a brutal but also and interesting public health case of study for this course. Generally, the course aims at students finding out not only data on health problems in the region, but also encouraging them to look for possible policy suggestions and solutions of how to tackle existing and emerging challenges.

Generic skills: A multidisciplinary look into the specific social and public health development in Eurasian macroregion that was once known as the Sovien Union and its immediate sphere of influence. One of the courses in which digital health data sources become familiar.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 17.1.2024–24.4.2024

Opetus järjestetään hybridiopetuksena.

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Anna Kyppö

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opiskelija tutustuu slaavilaisiin kieliin ja kansoihin. Kurssilla tutkitaan eri slaavilaisten kielten rakenteita vertaillen lähisukukieliä (esim. länsislaavilaisia, etelä- ja itäslaavilaisia kieliä). Kurssilla tutustutaan slaavilaisten kansojen historiaan ja kulttuuriin slaavilaisten kielten puhujien näkökulmasta. Kurssi sopii myös muiden kielten sekä humanististen tieteiden opiskelijoille.

Suoritustavat

Luennot ja harjoitukset, ryhmätyöskentely, slaavilaisten vieraiden esitelmät omasta maasta, kielistä ja kulttuurista, reflektiivinen oppimispäiväkirja.

Kurssin käytyään opiskelija kykenee

• - tunnistamaan slaavilaisia lähisukukieliä yhdistävät ja erottavat piirteet
• - tuntee myös kunkin kielen sekä maan / kansan historiaa
• - osaa tunnistaa ja erottaa eri slaavilaisia kieliä sekä
• - tuntee yksittäisten slaavilaisten kansojen historiaa pääpirteittäin
• - on tietoinen kulttuurienvälisistä eroista

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivuille

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 19.1.-22.3.2024

The course will take place in the spring term 2024. The course will be organized by Tampere University and University of Helsinki.

• FRI January 19th at 10-12 HELSINKI + Zoom
• FRI January 26th at 10-12 TAMPERE + Zoom
• FRI February 2nd at 10-12 HELSINKI+ Zoom
• FRI February 9th at 10-12 TAMPERE+ Zoom
• FRI February 16th at 10-12 HELSINKI+ Zoom
• FRI February 23rd at 10-12 TAMPERE+ Zoom
• FRI March 15th at 10-12 HELSINKI+ Zoom
• FRI March 22nd at 10-12 TAMPERE+ Zoom

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Anatoly Pinsky

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

This course examines the essays, speeches, and other texts of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian political leaders, and does so using the tools of several disciplines: history, literature, and political science. Our focus will be on texts on empire and the national question, as well as on Ukraine wherever possible. The course will be discussion-based; each week students will closely read and discuss one or more texts by a Soviet or Russian leader. In the first, introductory session the instructor will set the stage with a lecture on the role of political oratory and writing in the tsarist period as well as in the wider global context. Each subsequent session will be devoted to the texts of a single political leader, beginning with Vladimir Lenin. In discussing the readings we will pay close attention to continuity and change as regards central themes and the genres in which they are expressed, e.g., the journal article, speech, published diary entry, and so on. We will close with a discussion of texts by Vladimir Putin, including the two speeches he delivered, on February 21 and 24, 2022, on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Our goal in this course will be not only to provide context with which to better understand Putin’s words, but also to reveal the historical significance of political oratory and writing in the Soviet Union, Russia, and beyond.

Learning outcomes

This course aims to be of value to two sets of students: those who seek to pursue academic careers and those who seek to pursue non-academic careers (e.g., to work in government, for cultural institutions, non-governmental organizations, etc.). Students who wish to become academics in the Russian/Eurasian field will be introduced to important questions scholars ask of key periods in twentieth-century Russian/Eurasian history and of classic primary sources. Students who seek to pursue careers in policy, culture, and so on, will be trained in habits of mind useful for all professionals, including how to make sense of data that tells a variety of stories, professionally work through difficult questions with colleagues, and clearly and concisely express one’s arguments in writing.

Lecture titles

• Session 1—Introduction
• Session 2—Vladimir Lenin: Soviet Nationality Policy and World Revolution
• Session 3—Joseph Stalin: Socialism in One Country and the Great Russian Nation
• Session 4—Nikita Khrushchev: Peaceful Coexistence and Anti-Colonialism
• Session 5—Leonid Brezhnev: War Memory and Détente
• Session 6—Mikhail Gorbachev: New Thinking
• Session 7—Boris Yeltsin: Against Empire
• Session 8—Vladimir Putin: Russia’s Return

For all meetings (except the first, introductory session) students will read roughly 50 pages. Shortly following the final session students will be required to submit a short essay, described at the end of the schedule below.

Final Essay

Shortly after the last session students will be required to submit an essay of 1,000–1,200 words, roughly the length of an opinion piece, in reply to the following question: To what extent may Vladimir Putin’s speeches of February 21 and 24, 2022, be seen as in continuity with earlier patterns of Russian and Soviet history? Students may respond in different ways; they may take a middle road, pointing to both continuity and change, or they may argue more forcefully for one or the other. The essays should draw in detail on course readings, although outside texts, both primary and secondary, may be used as well. 

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 9.1.-20.2.2024

Kurssin opetus pidetään 9.1.2024 alkaen tiistaisin klo 14-16.

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Reeta E. Kangas ja Jenniliisa Salminen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Kurssilla tutustutaan sodan ja rauhan tematiikkaan venäjänkielisessä kirjallisuudessa sekä tarkastellaan venäjänkielistä kirjallisuutta laajana käsitteenä, johon sisältyy venäjänkielisiä kulttuureita myös nykyisen Venäjän valtion rajojen ulkopuolella, kuten Ukrainassa ja Valko-Venäjällä. Tematiikkaa tarkastellaan osana kirjallisuuden eri lajeja, kuten kertomuksissa, romaaneissa, runoissa ja sarjakuvissa. Kirjallisuusesimerkit ajoittuvat aina 1800-luvulta nykypäivään ja sijoittuvat entisen Venäjän keisarikunnan ja Neuvostoliiton alueille.

Osaamistavoitteet:

Kurssi tutustuttaa opiskelijoita venäjänkieliseen kirjallisuuteen sekä valmentaa heitä pohtimaan kirjallisuuden tematiikkoja erilaisissa historiallisissa, yhteiskunnallisissa ja kulttuurisissa konteksteissa. Kurssilla käsiteltävä kirjallisuus avaa opiskelijoille näkymiä venäjänkielisen kirjallisuuden alueelliseen laajuuteen ja venäjän kielen merkitykseen kielenä, joka on elinvoimainen myös Venäjän federaation ulkopuolella. Opiskelijat syventävät osaamistaan jäsentää ajatuksiaan kirjallisesti tieteellisiä konventioita noudattaen ja harjaantuvat kriittisen keskustelun käymisessä.

Aikataulu:

Kurssi järjestetään kevätlukukaudella 2024, 3. periodin aikana. Kurssi käsittää 7 hybridiopetuksena toteutettavaa luentoa, mikä mahdollistaa myös etäopinnot. Luentoihin liittyy oheislukemistoa. Opiskelijat kirjoittavat kolme pienimuotoista kirjoitelmaa kurssin tematiikkaan liittyvistä aiheista. Kirjoitelmat palautetaan kurssin aikana.

1. Sotaa ja rauhaa: Johdatus sotahistorian merkitykseen venäjänkielisissä kulttuureissa – Reeta E. Kangas
2. Sotakuvauksia venäläisissä klassikoissa: Tolstoin Sevastopolin kertomuksia – Jenniliisa Salminen      
3. Vsevolod Garšinin sodanvastaiset sotakuvaukset – Tintti Klapuri 
4. Sotapropagandaa Neuvostoliitossa: Samuil Maršakin runous Pravdan pilapiirroksissa – Reeta E. Kangas
5. Sotaan kohdistuvaa kritiikkiä Neuvostoliitossa ja Valko-Venäjällä: Svetlana Aleksijevitšin haastatteluromaanit – Jenniliisa Salminen
6. Venäläistä sotahistoriaa fantasiaelementein: Bubble Comicsin -sarjakuvat – Reeta E. Kangas
7. Kirjailijoiden reaktioita Ukrainan sotaan: Linor Goralikin ROAR-projekti – Jenniliisa Salminen

Suoritusohjeet:

Opetukseen osallistuminen (paikan päällä tai etänä), oheislukemiston lukeminen ja 3 pienimuotoisen kirjoitelman laatiminen. Kurssin voi suorittaa joko lähi- tai etäopintoina. Kurssin opetuskielenä on suomi. Kurssin oheislukemisto on alkuperäiskieleltään venäjänkielistä, mutta opiskelijoille tarjotaan materiaalista suomen- tai englanninkieliset käännökset. Oheislukemisto julkaistaan kurssin alussa.

Kurssin arviointi:

Kurssisuoritus arvioidaan opiskelijoiden kirjallisten töiden pohjalta. Osallistumisaktiivisuus tunneilla voi vaikuttaa arvosanaan korottavasti.

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 13.03.2024 - 24.04.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Mari Pajala ja Pia Koivunen + guest lecturers

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Since its beginning in 1956, The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has been entangled with the history of Europe. Originally a Western European event in the context of the Cold War, the ESC has expanded to include former socialist countries of Eastern Europe since the 1990s. Eastern European countries have used the ESC to represent themselves to an international audience and negotiate their place in Europe. At the same time, political struggles and tensions within Europe have played out in the ESC: shifting relations between East and West Europe, questions about LGBTQ+ representation, and international conflicts have all been debated around the ESC. Currently, Russia’s war in Ukraine is reshaping the contest, with Ukraine’s overwhelming win and Russia expulsion from the contest in 2022. Over the past two decades, research on Eurovision’s cultural and political significance has developed in many disciplines, including history, media studies, musicology, area studies, gender and sexuality studies, and others.

The course examines the ESC in the context of history and media studies, asking how have the politics of Eurovision in Eastern Europe developed from the Cold War era to the current era of conflict between Russia and the “West”, and from the era of television to the era of online media. The course brings together scholars working on the Eurovision Song Contest and Eastern Europe, focusing on themes such as Eurovision and nation branding, LGBTQ+ rights, the role of new media technologies in transnational media events and the strategic use of Eurovision in e.g. Ukraine and Russia.

The course consists of lectures as well as group work where students work on case studies of their own building on the themes of the lectures.

Learning outcomes:

After completing the course, a student understands the political significance of mega-events and popular media culture in contemporary Europe. The student can analyze cultural, social and political meanings of major cultural events and gains understanding of the long-term development of one of the best known and popular cultural events in Europe.

Programme:

• Pia Koivunen: Introduction & mega-events
• Dean Vuletic: Eurovision & Intervision during the Cold War
• Mari Pajala: Eurovision & Eastern Europe post-1991
• Paul Jordan: Ukraine in Eurovision
• Vitaly Kazakov & Marco Biasioli: Eurovision in Russian media and social media
• Catherine Baker: Eurovision & the politics of sexuality

Assignments: Group work & structured learning diary

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 15.1.–22.2.2024

Online course

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Heta Hurskainen and Teuvo Laitila

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

Upon completing the study unit, a successful student will:

• Be familiar with the different concepts and characteristics of East Slavonic Christianity
• Know the history of Russian and Soviet Jewish policy, the Holocaust in Ukraine, and antisemitism after World War II, particularly in Ukraine
• Understand churches’/religions’ roles during Soviet times
• Be able to describe and compare church–state relations in Ukraine and related countries, especially in the post-Soviet era

Course description

The course deals with church–state relations and the state’s religious policy in the Soviet Union, Ukraine, Russia, and other Eastern European countries from 1917 to 2023, with particular emphasis on the post-Soviet period. The history of Russian and Soviet Jewish policy, the Holocaust in Ukraine, and antisemitism in post-second world war times, particularly in Ukraine will be discussed at the course.

Lectures

1. Kyivan Christianity or Holy Rus?
2. Autocephaly, independence, and Soviet authority 1917–1944
3. Ukrainian dissidents of the Soviet era
4. Churches and the Cold War
5. Russian Jewish policy and the position of Jews in the Soviet Union before 1939
6. The Holocaust in Ukraine and its memory in Soviet times
7. Antisemitism in Soviet and post-Soviet times (particularly in Ukraine)
8. National and transnational identities and church politics 1991–2013
9. Protecting the Holy Rus, creating Ukrainian autocephaly 2014–2019
10. Two orthodoxies? Reasons for and consequences of war 2019–2023

Completion

Lectures including discussions, assignments (written reflections on lectures and what has been learnt), written assignment (Two to five different themes will be given, and students can choose one of these topics) and reading (approx. 300 pages)

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 4.3.2024 – 17.5.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Lina Klymenko

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The students will explore the manifold ways of how political actors shape foreign policy through references to past events. By taking examples from Eastern European countries (Ukraine, Baltic countries, Central Europe and Southeast Europe), we will discuss a number of mechanisms that shed light on the link between memory practices and foreign policy in a complex and reciprocal way, and we will link the memory concept to the notions of security, language, gender, identity, trauma, justice, law, and the like.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 17.1.–28.2.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Katja Kahlina

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

The students will learn about the recent rise of anti-gender politics in CEE and Southeast Europe and its complex relationship with right-wing populism. In addition to learning about key strategies and discourses used by anti-gender actors, the students will gain insights into transnational links among actors from Eastern and Western Europe, USA, and Russia. They will learn to grasp the interactions across the West/East divide and to see anti-gender politics as a wider transnational phenomenon.

Course outline

The course will explore the current rise of anti-gender politics in Eastern Europe and beyond. It will provide a detailed insight into the strategies and discourses used in opposing LGBTI+ rights and the concept of gender. At the same time, the aim of the course is to critically examine transnational networks of anti-gender actors across the West-East geopolitical divisions and their links with contemporary right-wing populist politics. Special attention will also be given to the recent use of anti-gender arguments in legitimizing Russian war of aggression against the Ukraine.
 

The course consists of 20 contact hours divided in 7 meetings (one per a week):

1. Introduction to the course (2h)
2. Historical background: Globalizing family values in the 1990s (3h)
3. Anti-gender mobilizations in Eastern Europe: arguments, initiatives, and strategies (3h)
4. Anti-gender politics and religion (3h)
5. Anti-gender and right-wing populism (3h)
6. Anti-gender politics across the West/East Divide I: Initiatives, organizations and collaborations (3h)
7. Anti-gender politics across the West/East Divide II: World Congress of Families (3h)

Completion: Attending to lectures, mandatory reading for each lecture, discussions, final exam

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 16.1.–30.4.2024

Ti 10-12 Päärakennus, U3040

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opintojakson jälkeen sinulla on perustiedot sosialistisen yhteiskunnan eri vaiheista Virossa. Olet perehtynyt virolaiseen arkikulttuuriin ja jokapäiväiseen elämään Neuvosto-Virossa. Osaat tarkastella kriittisesti neuvostovirolaisen yhteiskunnan ristiriitoja eri aineistojen ja lähteiden perusteella. Osana opintojaksoa olet harjoitellut argumentaatiotaitoja.

Opintojakson yhteydessä perehdytään arkikulttuuriin ja jokapäiväiseen elämään Neuvosto-Virossa. Siinä käsitellään virallisen ja epävirallisen tason ristiriitoja sekä analysoidaan tekstien ja käytäntöjen avoimia ja piileviä merkityksiä. Opintojakson aikana tarkastellaan kansalaisten ja muiden yhteiskunnallisten toimijoiden kokemuksia, valintoja ja toimintaa Neuvosto-Virossa.

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 9.4.–3.5.2024

• Tue 9.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071
• Wed 10.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4062
• Thu 11.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071
• Tue 16.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071
• Wed 17.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4062
• Thu 18.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071
• Tue 23.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071
• Wed 24.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U4062
• Thu 25.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071
• Tue 30.4.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071
• Thu 2.5.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071
• Fri 3.5.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, U2071

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Marianna Muravyeva

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Would you like to know about gender and anti-gender movement? What makes Eastern European countries resist human rights of women and LGBTQI+ peoples' rights? Come and join the discussion

This course asks how do gender (in)equalities work in Russia and Eastern Europe? What are the main challenges to implementation of human rights of women and LGBTQI+ people in these countries? What are the reasons for strong anti-gender movements and gender-sensitive policy backsliding? These and more issues will be discussed using feminist lenses and localised gender studies theories and frameworks. Therefore, this course examines the main tenets, methodologies, and controversies in gender development of Russia and Eastern Europe including the meaning of equality, the intersection of race and law, the public/private divide, concepts of objectivity and neutrality, and how gender is central to reproducing hierarchies while also having the ability to contribute to significant social change. We will also analyse debates regarding essentialism, women’s sexual agency, masculinity, and concepts of the family and basic rights of citizenship.

Using these methodologies we then examine a number of areas of gender development including equal protection, reproductive rights, the sex trade, work family issues, and violence. The goal of the course is to think broadly and critically regarding the interaction of law, society, and gender taking into account regional diversities and different post-Soviet choices.

Attendance is compulsory at 75%: first and last class attendance is required.

Conduct of the course

The course involves problem-based learning and suggests active student involvement and preparation to each class. The structure of the class is: introductory lecture following discussion and group-based activities for students to be able to apply lecture material to problem-solving. The course also includes project-based work towards the final reflection paper.

The course finishes with Final reflection paper (30% of the grade):

Final paper on most acute gender-related issue in Russia and Eastern Europe: Students will be required to complete a final reflection paper (not more than 4,500 words including footnotes and references) analysing the problem in depth.

Assessment criteria: The final grade will be calculated based on meeting the course requirements. Submission of the final research paper is compulsory to pass the course. The grading scale of the course is 0-5. The highest grade is 5 and the lowest passing grade is 2.

In addition to class presentations and various video and audio materials, two main texts are to be a compulsory read:

• Katalin Fábián, Janet Elise Johnson, and Mara Lazda (eds) The Routledge handbook of gender in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia (Routledge 2021);
• Fábián, Katalin, and Elzbieta Korolczuk, eds. Rebellious Parents: Parental Movements in Central-Eastern Europe and Russia. Indiana University Press, 2017.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 10.01.2024 – 23.02.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Rinna Kullaa

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

The course consists of lectures. We study historical works and historians of Ukraine published in English language or in English translation as well as additional primary sources written by experts. The course addresses core questions of how Ukraine´s statehood and identity was formed and cemented. We discover how Ukraine´s history has been impacted by economic, political, societal and international relations developments and begin our examination from the 17th century onwards. The course deals with the emergence of post-imperial Soviet Union from the perspective of Ukraine´s development and also the contribution Ukrainian historical figures made towards the USSR. We examine the post-Soviet transition towards democracy. Key topics including the Orange Revolution (2004-2005) and Euromaidan (2013-2014) uprisings as well as Nato´s 2008 Bucharest summit to shed light on the nature of development of Ukraine as a regional and international actor. We consider the relationship between Ukraine´s post-Communist development and the European Union and international politics. We examine the ongoing Russia´s war of aggression against Ukraine. 

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 19.2.–1.3.2024

• Mon 19.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, F3017
• Tue 20.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• Wed 21.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Porthania, P673
• Thu 22.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Porthania, P673
• Fri 23.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• Mon 26.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, F3017
• Tue 27.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• Wed 28.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Porthania, P673
• Thu 29.2.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Porthania, P673
• Fri 1.3.2024 at 14.15–15.45 Päärakennus, F3005

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Marianna Muravyeva

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning outcomes

This course introduces students to human rights protection in the Global East with the focus on post-Soviet countries from an interdisciplinary perspective. During the course, we will examine how human rights can still be protected in the situations of authoritarian governments and conflicts in the region. We will particularly focus on three main issues: 1. how human rights lawyers and activists give legal aid to victims while facing legal obstacles to their work; 2. how post-Soviet countries have built national human rights institutions; 3. how post-Soviet countries has interact with international human rights institutions within the region and, especially, with the EU (such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe) and UN (mostly UNDP).

The course will enable students to critically reflect upon a) the relation between political reform and human rights violations and b) the strategies of human rights defense in a semi-authoritarian political systems and alternatives in transitional rule-of-law states. Students of law will learn to analyse key human rights issues through theories of social change, activism, public interest litigation, and social movement theory. The course will furthermore enhance students’ understanding of how lawyers make difficult choices: whom to represent when funding is scarce and how to deal with harassment and legal obstacles. Students will also learn how familiar legal strategies such as strategic litigation, international litigation, and legal mobilisation operate within the post-Soviet context. Through class discussions students should develop a critical understanding of human rights practice versus human rights law. The final essay will enhance the students’ ability to write a critical essay about a current human rights issue.

Content

The course consists of lectures. Each lecture focuses on one of the major human rights issues in Russia today. Students are expected to read a selection of journal articles in preparation of each lecture.

1. Attitudes to Human Rights in Post-Soviet countries: Rights vs Human Rights
2. History of Human rights in Post-Soviet Context
3. Human rights in post-Soviet constitutions: various approaches
4. Human Rights Protection Instruments: why do authoritarian states need HR?
5. International Human Rights Protection Instruments and post-Soviet countries: Eurasian Union, CoE and UN;
6. Gender and Human Rights: Human rights of Women;
7. Gender and Human Rights: Human rights of LGBTQI+ people;
8. Race, Ethnicity and Human Rights;
9. Civil and Political Rights: freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

Learning materials

In addition to legislation, policy documents and reports, literature:

• Juviler, P. (2010). Freedom's Ordeal: The Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy in Post-Soviet States. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Marat, E. (2018). The politics of police reform: society against the state in Post-Soviet Countries. Oxford University Press.
• Mälksoo, L., & Benedek, W. (Eds.). (2017). Russia and the European Court of Human Rights: The Strasbourg Effect. Cambridge University Press.
• Partlett, W., & Küpper, H. (2022). The Post-Soviet as Post-Colonial: A New Paradigm for Understanding Constitutional Dynamics in the Former Soviet Empire. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Wilson, S. V. (2011). Human Rights and Law Enforcement in the Post-Soviet World; or How and Why Judges and Police Bend the Law. University of Washington.

Completion methods

Contact teaching (28 hours). Participation is based on engagement in classroom discussion and attendance.

Each student should write research paper as a final exam, using the obligatory reading material and academic literature. The essay should be driven by a research question. Each student will propose their topic to the instructor.

The research essay should be 14-15 pages (12 pt. times new roman, 1,5 spaced, 4000–5000 words).

Activities and teaching methods in support of learning

The course is based on problem-based learning and suggests active student involvement and preparation to each class. The structure of the class is: introductory lecture following discussion and group-based activities for students to be able to apply lecture material to problem-solving. The course also includes project-based work on the gender expertise paper to learn specific policy skills to assess policy and legal documents. The course is skills-based and focused on students learning via problem-solving and critical thinking methods.

Assessment practices and criteria

Class participation 30%

Assignments (quizzes and small essays): 40%

Research project 30%

Assessed on the general scale.

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 11.3.–3.5.2024

• ma 11.3.202410.15–11.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• pe 15.3.202410.15–11.45 Metsätalo, B214 (sali 4)
• ma 18.3.202410.15–11.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• pe 22.3.202410.15–11.45 Metsätalo, B214 (sali 4)
• ma 25.3.202410.15–11.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• pe 29.3.202410.15–11.45 Metsätalo, B214 (sali 4)
• ma 1.4.202410.15–11.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• pe 5.4.202410.15–11.45 Metsätalo, B214 (sali 4)
• ma 8.4.202410.15–11.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• pe 12.4.202410.15–11.45 Metsätalo, B214 (sali 4)
• ma 15.4.202410.15–11.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• pe 19.4.202410.15–11.45 Metsätalo, B214 (sali 4)
• ma 22.4.202410.15–11.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• pe 26.4.202410.15–11.45 Metsätalo, B214 (sali 4)
• ma 29.4.202410.15–11.45 Päärakennus, F3005
• pe 3.5.202410.15–11.45 Metsätalo, B214 (sali 4)

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Katri Pynnöniemi

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content -

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 23.1.–22.2.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Jarno Hänninen

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Huom: kurssilla tarkemmin analysoitavat elokuvat esitetään kurssin aikana Kino Reginassa. Aikataulun ja lisätietoja löydät Kino Reginan verkkosivulta.

Oppimistavoitteet

Kurssin tavoite on antaa perustiedot puolalaisen elokuvan historiasta niin, että opiskelija osaa kurssin jälkeen itsenäisesti etsiä lisää tietoa häntä kiinnostavasta aiheesta. Kurssilla käydään läpi millaisia tyylisuuntauksia, koulukuntia ja tekijöitä esiintyi puolalaisessa elokuvassa vuosien 1902-2023 välisenä aikana. Lisäksi kiinnitetään huomiota niihin kulttuurisiin, poliittisiin ja taloudellisiin tekijöihin, jotka muokkasivat elokuvan olemusta eri aikakausina.

Kurssin sisältö

Puolalaisen elokuvan kautta avautuvat selvästi ja koskettavasti puolalaisen kulttuurin käännekohdat viimeisen sadan vuoden aikana.

Kurssilla keskitytään etupäässä fiktiivisten näytelmäelokuvien historiaan, mutta niiden ohella käsitellään myös merkittäviä dokumenttielokuvia, animaatioita ja lyhytelokuvia.

Kurssi etenee vuosikymmenittäin, niin että kullakin luennolla käsitellään yleensä yhden vuosikymmenen elokuvaa. Analysoimme myös tarkemmin neljä pitkää näytelmäelokuvaa eri aikakausilta. Aleksander Ford: Ulica Graniczna (1948), Wojciech Jerzy Has: Opimmeko rakastamaan (1963), Witold Leszczyński: Konopielka (1981) ja Marek Koterski: Nic śmiesznego (1995). Analyysien tarkoitus on opettaa oppilaita huomaamaan miten erilaiset kulttuuriset, poliittiset ja taloudelliset tekijät tulevat esiin elokuvissa.

Kurssilla opiskelija saa kokonaiskuvan puolalaisen elokuvan historiasta ja esseessään opiskelija syventää tietämystään häntä kiinnostavasta aiheesta

Suoritustapa

Osallistuminen luennoille, oheislukemisto, luennoilla yhdessä tehtävät elokuva-analyysit, loppuessee

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 17.1.–24.4.2024

Ke 10-12 Metsätalo, B402 (sali 18)

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opintojakson suoritettuasi olet perehtynyt kulttuurisen muistin käsitteeseen ja merkitykseen Virossa. Osaat tarkastella Viron kulttuurista muistia laajemmassa alueellisessa ja yhteiskunnallisessa kontekstissa ja analysoida Viron menneisyyttä suhteessa kulttuuriseen muistiin. Kykenet analysoimaan Viron kulttuurista muistia eri muistivälineiden kuten kirjallisuuden, elokuvan ja rituaalien pohjalta. Osana opintojaksoa olet harjoitellut argumentaatiotaitoja.

Opintojakso rakentuu kulttuurisen muistin käsitteen ympärille. Viron kulttuurista muistia tarkastellaan laajemmassa alueellisessa ja yhteiskunnallisessa kontekstissa sekä analysoidaan suhteessa Viron menneisyyteen. Opintojakso lähestyy kulttuurista muistia Virossa eri muistivälineiden kautta. Käsitteellistä pohdintaa havainnollistetaan käytännön esimerkkien avulla. Kulttuurisen muistin välineinä analysoidaan esimerkiksi kirjallisuutta, elokuvaa, rituaaleja ja kulttuuriperintöä.

Lisätietoa / More information Linkki kurssisivulle

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 15.1.–1.3.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Daria Kondakova

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Learning goals

Students will become familiar with the figures of prominent Ukrainian modernist artists and get the notion of main artistic movements and their characterics, which will help them on the basis of aesthetic experience of appreciation of modernist masterpieces (paintings, literary texts, cinema) to form their own judgement and mould the general picture of Ukrainian art, dynamics of its development and its national distinctive features.

Course outline

The course is to introduce students to Ukrainian Modernism which developed in the historical period of transition from being part of Russian Empire to the new Art of early soviet Ukraine. This course allows students to identify key figures and texts of Ukrainian Avant-Garde (not to be confused with Russian), to use critical thinking skills of combining the theoretical essentials of semiotic approach and visual arts studies in order to form their own understanding of the intermedial nature of Ukrainian artistic production of the 1910-1930s.

Lectures

1. Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century: History, Art and Culture.

2. Kyiv to Paris: Ukrainian Art in the European Avant-Garde.

3. Tools for text and image analysis: Semiotics.

4. The Futurism Art Movement in Ukraine.

5. Finnish-Ukrainian ties in the realms of Literature and Fine Arts.

6. The Visual Studies approach: investigating the city and its reflection in literature.

7. Propaganda in Revolutionary Ukraine: Leaflets, Pamphlets, and Cartoons.

8. New Ukrainian Urban Novel: «The City» (Misto) by Valerian Pidmohylny.

9. Modern Ukrainian Cinema: VUFKU (Vse-Ukrainske Foto Kino Upravlinnia = All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration) as a meeting place for artists (writers, artists, painters, composers).

10. Modernism in Today’s Ukrainian Cultural memory: musical and poetic projects of contemporary Ukrainian writer, translator, and social activist Serhiy Zhadan.

Completion

Attending to lectures, reading and visual materials, excursion to the National Library (to see rare examples of the Ukrainian modernist œuvre), learning diary

Lisätietoa / More information Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 19.1.–3.5.2024

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) N.N.

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opintojakson suorittanut opiskelija on saanut yleiskuvan Romanian historiasta ja yhteiskunnasta. Hänellä on valmiudet laajentaa tietojaan näistä aiheista ja seurata ajankohtaisia tapahtumia Romaniassa.

Lisätietoa / More information  Note! Bachelor-level course. Link to the course page

Aika ja paikka / Time and Place 15.1.–29.4.2024

Ma 10-12 Metsätalo, B312 (sali 9).

Luennoitsija(t) / Lecturer(s) Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus

Tavoite ja sisältö / Aim and content

Opintojakson jälkeen tiedät Viron kirjallisuuden kehitysvaiheet, perusteokset ja keskeiset kirjailijat eri aikakausilta. Osaat analysoida Viron kirjallisuuden kehitystä laajemmassa kulttuurikontekstissa ja yhteiskunnallisessa kontekstissa. Olet lukenut erilaisten kirjailijoiden tuotantoa ja harjaantunut pohtimaan lukemaasi.

Opintojakso tarjoaa kronologisen katsauksen Viron kirjallisuuden kehitykseen, käsittelee keskeisiä kirjailijoita, heidän teoksiaan ja niihin liittyvää kirjallisuuden tutkimusta. Opintojakson aikana luetaan ja analysoidaan eri aikakausien kirjailijoiden kaunokirjallisia tekstejä.

Lisätietoa / More information Kanditasoinen kurssi, Linkki kurssisivulle