This practical two-day orientation is offered for international students studying in the Master's Degree Programmes offered through the medium of English. The orientation offers a general overview to academic and study-related practices as well as to livelihood and social security of a degree student in Finland.

The preliminary programme of the orientation is available at http://www.uta.fi/admissions/newstudents/orientation/intro_to_academic_culture_and_degree_studies_2013.pdf

The first meeting will be 11.9. at 12-14 in Pinni B3117. Rest of the course will be organised during the CBU autumn school 28.10. - 1.11.2013.

The course is mainly meant for students in the RES programme, but there is some room for others. Those interested in taking the course should contact Heino Nyyssönen, heino.nyyssonen@uta.fi.

Some places in the lectures for Master's level students outside the programme and Master's level exchange students.The seminar is only for students of the RES master's programme.

Selection criteria: Priority is given to degree students. Otherwise the selection criterion is the date of registration. Selections on view: The final course lists will be posted on the Language Centre's notice board on 30 August.

Some places available for Master's level students outside the RES Master's programme.

Lectures are open for all, but students need to register in NettiOpsu. The seminar group has places for 12 students, preference is given to RES programme students. Those interested in joining the seminar (8h) are asked to discuss this with the Jean Monnet professor Hanna Ojanen during the course.

Credits: lectures + learning diary 3 ECTS; seminar 2 ECTS

Course programme

10.9. Introduction (Hanna Ojanen)

• Europe and wider Europe; borders of Europe; European integration as a definer of Europe

12.9. EU enlargement, history (Hanna Ojanen)

• theoretical approaches to and explanations of enlargement

17.9. Widening and deepening, or differentiation? (Hanna Ojanen)

• the functions of widening on basic treaties, institutions, policies

19.9. Economic integration in the West and in the East during the Cold War (Dr.Soc.Sc. Suvi  Kansikas, researcher, Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki)

24.9. EU and its neighbourhood (Hanna Ojanen)

• ENP, EaP;  neighbourhood and security policy: ESS and beyond

26.9. The EU’s energy policy in the wider Europe and Turkey as a case study (Dicle Korkmaz) (including introduction to the seminar sessions)

1.10. EU-Turkey (Hanna Ojanen)

3.10. EU-Russia (Hiski Haukkala)

8.10. The shared neighbourhood of EU and Russia (Hiski Haukkala)

10.10. Russia’s integration into global economy (Anni Kangas)

Preliminary programme:

Social structures

18.9. Harri Melin (TAY): Russian social classes in flux

25.9. Jouko Nikula (Aleksanteri institute): Changing Russian countryside

2.10. Irina Sarno (City of Tampere): Russian managers

Traditional and new media

9.10 Svetlana Pasti (TAY): Comparative view on Russian media

16.10. Period break

23.10 Jukka Pietiläinen (Aleksanteri institute): Freedom of speech in post-Soviet media

30.10 Dmitry Yagodin (TAY): Citizen journalism in Russia

Friday 8.11. at 12-14 Markku Lonkila (TAY): Social media and Russian opposition movement, in Paavo Koli auditorium (please note the different day and place!)

Gender and civil society

13.11. Meri Kulmala (Aleksanteri institute): Women in Russian Civil Society

20.11. Freek van der Vet (HY): Diffusion of human rights in Russia

27.11. Laura Lyytikäinen (HY): Russian oppositional youth movement

4.12. Olga Gurova (HY): Consumption patterns in Russia

The course is meant for the international degree and exchange students.The course will start form the basics, no previous knowledge of Russian language is required. The teaching language will be English.

Please enrol to by sending an email to anna.tuusa (at) uta.fi by 26.9.

25 students are taken to the course, in the order of enrolment.

This module is made up of class sessions including group work (20 hours), as well as independent out of class tasks (61 hours). The module will be two periods long and will take place in the autumn semester of the first year of the master’s degree programme.

The course is only for IR students in the RES programme.

The course will start in the CBU autumn school in Tampere and continue in the spring school in Petrozavodsk.

Only for students in the RES programme.

This course will seek to strengthen our understanding of what is going on in Russian politics today. We will look at formal political institutions and different actors who contribute to Russian politics. We will also discuss practices which characterize the contemporary situation.

The English School perspective on Northern Europes international relations, in relation to other theories; northern Europes great power relations historically and in the contemporary context; institutional integration in the north; regionalisation in the north; small power dynamics in the north.

The course will be held during the CBU spring school in Petrozavodsk.

The course will begin in the CBU spring school in Petrozavodsk, and continue in the autumn 2014 in St.Petersburg.

Only for students in the RES programme.

Introduction to theoretical thinking and EU external relations (common foreign, security and defence policy of the EU: chronology and landscape, cases); federalism now and then; functionalism and neofunctionalism; realism and intergovernmentalism; theorising the theories: the impact of scientific disciplines and values on theories; institutionalism and supranationalism; enlargement and Europeanisation; normative power and international relations; inter-organisational relations.

Keywords

Theories of European integration, EU external relations, foreign, security and defence policy of the EU, EU enlargement, the EU’s relations with international organisations

The course is arranged in three basic topics. In the ‘Introduction’ I outline some theoretical approaches to the study of popular culture and focus on the current issues that exemplify three levels of analysis of popular culture: texts, practices, and institutions. An interdisciplinary approach to the topic mainly draws on the works in cultural studies (J.Thompson, S.Hall, J.Fiske, A.McRobbie et al.), the ‘production perspective’ for the sociology of culture (R.Peterson, D.Crane),  and ‘economy of culture’ (P.DiMaggio, P.duGay). In the course I apply this ‘optics’ to the study of representation of gender, sexualities, sports, politics and nation building through two discourses pertaining to Russian popular culture - glamour and nostalgia.

 The third part of the course discusses the new landscapes of Russian popular culture asking the question of whether and how cultural practices could be a tool for resistance. More specifically, I focus on three different cases: the representations of migrants in the popular sketch comedies and films, the Do-It-Yourself performance by Pussy Riot, and the recently emerged protesting practices of Russian ‘creative class’ as an element of popular culture.

The course is organized in cooperation with Aleksanteri Institute's Russian and East European Master's School.