12.9. Seija-Leena Nevala: Finland – 100 years of Independency

19.9. Raisa Harju-Autti: Finnish Education System

26.9. Katja Keisala: How to Communicate in Finland

3.10. Hannu Sinisalo: Boundaries of Finnishness and Ethnic Minorities in Finland

10.10. Ari Vanamo: Finnish Forests and Forestry

17.10. Katja Fält: Finnish Art History in a Nutshell

24.10. Johanna Peltoniemi: Finnish Political System

31.10. Lina van Aerschot: Finnish Welfare and Social Services

7.11. Marko Seppänen: Finnish Innovations: Past, Present and Future

14.11. Tarja Rautiainen-Keskustalo: About Music Scenes in Finland

21.11. Arja Luiro: Finnish Gastronomy

28.11. Jyrki Jyrkiäinen: Special Features of Finnish Mass Media

5.12. exam, time: 2pm-4pm

12.12. retake exam

Enrolment to the course

- TUT and TAMK students: enrolment with electronic form during the enrolment period 25.8.- 5.9.2017
- UTA students: enrolment in NettiOpsu, click below

We see and hear about globalization all the time: in the media, in statements by politicians, and buzzing around our social networks. We have a broad sense that politics, cultures, people, and organizations are all connected around the world. Yet, most people are hard-pressed to define what, precisely, globalization means. This course provides students with the basis for making sense of globalization and transnational connections in the contemporary world. It will go beyond popular, political and media rhetoric about globalization, and build a basis for students to gain a critical understanding of transnational connectivity. We will understand how events and forces outside national borders inform local trends, by examining global aspects of politics, policies, economics, environment, migration, history, popular culture, and religion. To do this, the course will unpack the three major social theoretic perspectives on making sense of globalization in these areas of modern life, with a spotlight on the emerging, cutting-edge, World Society Theory. We will also focus on the global-local interface: on how the local becomes global and how the global in turn, shapes what we think about as entirely local. By the end of the course, students will be able to describe how globalization impacts their own life, and to apply social theories of globalization to an empirical case of their interest.

In order to be able to participate in the course, students are required to complete either
(a) the lectures (5 ECTS), or (b) the lectures plus seminars (10 ECTS). It is not possible to attend only the seminars.

Students of the Master's Degree Programme on Global and Transnational Sociology are required to complete full course (10 ECTS).

Please note that you must enroll separately for the lectures and the seminar.

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

Many scenarios peace research engages with are mediated either through visual images or text-image hybrids such as those prevalent in
photojournalism: as peace researchers, we (like everyone else) are exposed to images as never before and we experience our subject matter mediated and communicated through visual images. We often do not analyze conditions, but visual representations of conditions. Thus, in a world dominated by images it is necessary for peace researchers to understand the visual construction of peace and war.

Visual peace research is research on the role and function of visual images in wars and conflict situations but also in peace and reconciliation processes on the local, national, regional, international and global levels. It analyzes the relationships among image producers, subjects and spectators because it is here that the meanings of a given image are constantly negotiated.

Visual Peace Research is also interested in the ways images and their interpretations contribute to or even create conflict. It is concerned with the visualization of peace. And it explores new forms of image production (for example, citizen photography, participatory photography and new photojournalism) and how these forms relate to society.

Methodologically hybrid, visual peace research analyzes such different forms of visual representation as film, painting, video, photography, television and comics including the relationships among different genres. It explores both the meaning assigned to images by means of language and the meanings and connotations images carry with them without the explicit support of language.

Max. 20 students.

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Sociology, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

The course is an introduction to scholarship that discusses how gender and sexuality have shaped global politics in the past, and how the category gender is an integral element of contemporary global debates today. The course offers the student a robust understanding of the scholarship that views debates about contemporary phenomena such as migration, development aid and homonationalism through gender. The student learns how gender intersects with other categories of analysis such as race, class and nation. Theoretical debates are introduced through empirical case studies addressing various world regions such as Europe, the Middle East and the African continent.

Thursdays 12-16, not on week 37. 

Seminar Sessions:

6.9.2018 Introduction & Colonial Legacies I

20.9.2018 Colonial legacies II 

27. 9.2018 The Power of Representations and Revolutions: The Middle East

4.10.2018 Gender, Development and “Africa”

11.10.2018 Gender, Race and Global Migration 

18.10.2018 Headscarves and homonationalism:  Migration discourses in Europe

The success of the Nordic countries' education systems have held the interest of educators and policy makers globally for years. Scores of teachers, principals and legislators from the US and elsewhere have visited Finland in hopes of understanding what it is that Finland does that could be copied and applied at home to obtain similar results. This course explores the goals, structures, incentives, funding and results of various education systems, with a focus on the Finnish and American systems. Recognizing that education systems are complex, the aim is to understand what combination of factors (class sizes, funding, teacher training, teaching philosophy and methods, etc) are most conducive in terms of encouraging and educating the student population.

This course is designed to familiarise students with conceptual tools relating to the sociology of knowledge that they need for studying topics such as global and transnational sociology. The course begins by examining varied respects in which human beings have observed connections between different cultures and the ways in which their inhabitants see the world; it then traces developments in the analysis of language and meaning that have led to specific understandings of social construction in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  In later stages of the course, students will be encouraged to collect and analyse examples from their own reading and experience.

Lectures + field trip to a museum (to be confirmed).

Max 16 students. Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

This course examines the ways in which certain forms of behavior are defined as being outside the bounds of the "normal" or acceptable, and the ways in which members of social groupings attempt to control such behavior.  Among the issues we will consider are the effects of deviant labels on identity, pathways to deviance, and alternative constructions of deviance. 

A variety of forms of deviance will be discussed, including deviance related to crime, sex, religion, drugs, body art, and mental illness.  We will pursue these topics from a sociological framework which seeks to understand the meaning of such behavior for the people involved.  No effort will be made to pass moral judgment on the behaviors or the people engaged in them.

This course introduces a bottom-up approach to innovation, socio-economic development and inclusiveness from the perspective of the innovation system theory and through the exploration of existing and emerging inclusive practices in local innovation contexts.

The first part of this course is devoted to the investigation of the key theories and concepts of territorial innovation models. These discussions offer students an in-depth understanding of spatial aspect of regional development and the debate revolving around the importance of physical and relational proximities for the innovation, learning and economic development.

The second part of the course links regional and spatial approach to current discussion concerning, for example, frugal innovations, openness and inclusiveness as a part of the knowledge-based economic development. Through literature, discussions and workshops, students will explore how inclusiveness redefines the requirements for the institutions fostering the interaction and learning in the region.

COURSE INFORMATION AND STRUCTURE

The course includes lectures, tutorials and workshops. In the frame of the lectures, students are introduced to the key theoretical concepts and approaches relevant to the understanding of territorial innovation models. During tutorials, students participate in discussions, explain their point of view, compare cases and synthesize different ideas. This contributes to enhanced understanding of the course material and develop presentation and communication skills. Workshops are aimed at development of students’ practical skills in the field of regional innovation research and analysis.

Lecture. Innovation as a context-dependent phenomenon (2 h)

Lecture. Systems of innovation: regional and spatial perspectives (2 h + 2 h)

Tutorial. Clusters and ecosystems (2 h)

Tutorial. Sectors and regimes of innovation (2 h)

Lecture. Wider societal challenges and Sustainable Development Goals (2 h)

Tutorial. Expanding range of heterogeneous innovators and stakeholders. Stakeholder analysis. (2 h + 2 h)

Workshop. Participation practices and mechanisms of user engagement in innovation activity on local and regional level (living labs, fab labs, etc.) (2 h)

Lecture. New perspectives on innovation processes (2 h)

The course is suitable for any UTA student that wishes to understand the specific context of innovation both in developing and developed countries. The course is designed for those who are currently or plan to work in academia or policy-making fields as an expert in innovation policy analysis and design. The course will also be useful for those who plan to work in innovative business as practitioners as knowledge obtained from this course can be used for finding new niches and innovative solutions of high social impact and responsibility.

The course will include the following lecture themes (not necessarily in this order):
- The Nordic Healthcare System
- Care Policies for Older People in Transition: the Case of Finland
- Basic Income and Nordic Welfare State
- Gender in/equality in Nordic working life: welfare state paradox revisited
- Welfare state and universal social policy
- Politics of childcare and early childhood education: Nordic perspective
- The Nordic Model of Industrial Relations
- Income inequality and poverty

COSOPO students: introductory lecture during Intensive Period in Vilnius in September (17.-28.9.2018), afterwards the course continues on-line.

Other UTA students (max 20 students): introductory lecture in Tampere on Tuesday 18 September at 10-12 in Linna 4013, afterwards course continues on-line. 

Webcourse “Introduction to Gender Studies” gives basic introductory knowledge about gender studies. The course begins with introduction to concept of gender and gender studies and continues with seven themes: feminist knowledge, men and masculinities, equality policy, family, intersectionality, gendered practices of working life, and body and sexuality. The course is for exchange students and everyone interested in gender studies. Previous studies in gender studies are not required.

The course will be 8.10.-30.11.2018. Each week the students will read text and/or other material available in the internet and discuss them in small groups in the Moodle learning environment.

Application to the course (max. 30 students)10.9.-28.9.2018 by e-form.For further information and enrolment, please see:

The course is organized by HILMA Network for Gender Studies.

If you are selected to the course, please contact the course contact person in Tampere University (Hanna-Mari Ikonen, hanna-mari.ikonen@uta.fi) for agreeing on the registration of the course.

The course focuses on the basic and general features of scientific research, methodology, and argumentation, as applicable to any field of study. Some central themes in the philosophy of science will also be discussed, in an introductory manner.

The course is intended to all new international UTA Master’s degree students, but it will serve also international Doctoral students. Other degree and exchange students may join if there are free places.

Contact person: Coordinator of international education, Anna Wansén-Kaseva

This course is a survey of American history from the end of Reconstruction through the Second World War. This class will focus on the social, cultural, and political, and environmental history of the U.S. during this period. Topics to be discussed include the growth of large corporations as significant features of American life; immigration; nativist movements; labor, left-wing, and reform movements; expansion of the nation into the American West; conflict with Native American tribes and the development of Indian reservations; American imperialism and colonialism; the Progressive Era and First World War; 1920s cultural and political history; the Great Depression; New Deal; and the Second World War abroad and on the homefront.  The course especially encourages students to analyze theways gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and other identities have shaped Americans’ lives.

This course strives to build bridges between experimental research on decision making in cognitive science, behavioral economics and organizational behavior – especially judgement and decision making (JDM) research - and broader sociological research. Sociological theorists have proposed numerous general sociological theories of action for theoretically grounding case-specific empirical research theories. Sociologists’ skepticism towards the utility of experimental behavioral research is understandable, as most experimental designs deliberately aim to isolate individual behavior from the social context of action. This course is premised on the conviction that sociological and behavioral research perspectives on action are complementary, not conflicting, and that cross fertilization of these fields holds more promise for theoretically ambitious social research than new iterations of disciplinarily isolated sociological theories of action. The course covers examples of the use of insights from the behavioral sciences in sociological settings, drawing inferences about decision strategies from new sources of data (e.g., online behavior), as well as a philosophy of science perspective on social scientific explanation.

The course format is a reading seminar with recent research articles as course material. In addition, each student will make a short presentation on an empirical research article related to the methodological topic in question. Default example articles are provided by the teacher, but students can also make suggestions based on their interests (such as their thesis topic).

Tentative schedule:

1. Introduction
2. History and theory of decision research I
3. History and theory of decision research II
4. Philosophy of social explanation
5. Preference construction
6. Situationalism and its critics
7. Dual-process theories
8. Emotions and decisions
9. Scarcity and decisions
10. Decision heuristics and on-line data
11. Social norms
12. Political psychology
13. Behavioral addictions

Level:

PhD-students and advanced students of social sciences and philosophy students interested in philosophy of social science.

Participants write short (2-3 page) essays on three topics which they see as most relevant for their studies as well as provide a presentation of a selected topic. The writing assignments are also based on the provided background material.

We will have three meetings. As this is an intensive course based on independent study, participation in class in all meetings is required. Texts will be made available in Moodle. 

Wed 19th Sep 4pm A preliminary meeting: divide the tasks.  

Fri Nov 9th 10am - 2pm. Carl Schmitt: The Concept of the Political. The participants give 5 min presentation on the alloted pages. Each participant reads the whole book and prepares a summary of the book with own comments.  

Tue Dec 4th 10 am - 4 pm Hannah Arendt: The Human Condition. The participants give 5 min presentation on the alloted pages. Each participant reads the whole book and prepares a summary of the book with own comments.

Students will learn to understand the basics of economic way of thinking, especially as expressed in the idea of competive markets in both national and international contexts. On this basis, students will get a grasp of the signifigance of economics to a modern liberal-democratic politics - apparent, for example, in interpretations of the ideas of freedom, justice and democracy.

In questions concerning course content, please contact Petri Räsänen: e.petri.rasanen(a)uta.fi

It is widely agreed that social criticism requires knowledge, preferrably from many disciplines of social research. Social ontology studies the most general questions of the nature of social reality. Different scientific approaches make different ontological commitments, and participation in everyday life may make some other ontological commitments appropriate. At least since Habermas (1968), the critical knowledge interest has been distinguished as possibly requiring its own kind of theory (cf. also Horkheimer's distinction between traditional and critical theory). These plural approaches raise the philosophical question of uniting the perspectives, but this lecture series focuses on the critical perspective, asking what kind of social ontology does critical theory require.

Enrolment by e-mail to the contact teacher, university instructor Kirsti Nurmela kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi Please, tell your student ID-number and the main subject in the mail.

Further information

The course will be completed entirely in the Moodle learning environment. Independent working (ca 135 hrs). Organized non-stop. For approval, all the tasks have to be completed within three months from the date of enrolment. Teaching language: English.

Further information: kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi

Enrolment by e-mail to the contact teacher, university instructor Kirsti Nurmela kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi Please, tell your student ID-number and the main subject in the mail.

The course will be completed entirely in the Moodle learning environment. Independent working (ca 135 hrs). Organized non-stop. For approval, all the tasks have to be completed within three months from the date of enrolment. Teaching language: English.

Further information: kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi

List of modes of study:

* Participation in classroom work

* Exercise(s)

* Assignment 

REQUIREMENTS FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS:

Forty students are accepted and those with major in Psychology in UTA have the priority. Like the Finnish majors, international exchange students should have completed both basic and intermediate studies (= approx. 85 credit units) in Psychology course prior to this course. Students with more completed Psychology courses will be given priority. When enrolling in the course, please include a list of the Psychology course(s) you have taken before, the credits and grades of the course and the university where the course was taken.

Enrolling at NettiOpsu from June 28 till September 20.

100% attendance is required.

REQUIREMENTS FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS:

Exchange students should have completed at least one Psychology course prior to this course. Students with more completed Psychology courses will be given priority. When enrolling in the course, please indicate what Psychology course(s) you have taken before and in what university.

Enrolling at NettiOpsu from June 20 till August 23.

Minimum of 80% attendance is required.

12.9. Seija-Leena Nevala: Finland – 100 years of Independency

19.9. Raisa Harju-Autti: Finnish Education System

26.9. Katja Keisala: How to Communicate in Finland

3.10. Hannu Sinisalo: Boundaries of Finnishness and Ethnic Minorities in Finland

10.10. Ari Vanamo: Finnish Forests and Forestry

17.10. Katja Fält: Finnish Art History in a Nutshell

24.10. Johanna Peltoniemi: Finnish Political System

31.10. Lina van Aerschot: Finnish Welfare and Social Services

7.11. Marko Seppänen: Finnish Innovations: Past, Present and Future

14.11. Tarja Rautiainen-Keskustalo: About Music Scenes in Finland

21.11. Arja Luiro: Finnish Gastronomy

28.11. Jyrki Jyrkiäinen: Special Features of Finnish Mass Media

5.12. exam, time: 2pm-4pm

12.12. retake exam

Enrolment to the course

- TUT and TAMK students: enrolment with electronic form during the enrolment period 25.8.- 5.9.2017
- UTA students: enrolment in NettiOpsu, click below

We see and hear about globalization all the time: in the media, in statements by politicians, and buzzing around our social networks. We have a broad sense that politics, cultures, people, and organizations are all connected around the world. Yet, most people are hard-pressed to define what, precisely, globalization means. This course provides students with the basis for making sense of globalization and transnational connections in the contemporary world. It will go beyond popular, political and media rhetoric about globalization, and build a basis for students to gain a critical understanding of transnational connectivity. We will understand how events and forces outside national borders inform local trends, by examining global aspects of politics, policies, economics, environment, migration, history, popular culture, and religion. To do this, the course will unpack the three major social theoretic perspectives on making sense of globalization in these areas of modern life, with a spotlight on the emerging, cutting-edge, World Society Theory. We will also focus on the global-local interface: on how the local becomes global and how the global in turn, shapes what we think about as entirely local. By the end of the course, students will be able to describe how globalization impacts their own life, and to apply social theories of globalization to an empirical case of their interest.

In order to be able to participate in the course, students are required to complete either
(a) the lectures (5 ECTS), or (b) the lectures plus seminars (10 ECTS). It is not possible to attend only the seminars.

Students of the Master's Degree Programme on Global and Transnational Sociology are required to complete full course (10 ECTS).

Please note that you must enroll separately for the lectures and the seminar.

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

The course departs from the idea that the media is one of the central actors through which national actors become aware of far-away events and through which these events become integrated with domestic policy discourses. However, this process is a complex one. On one hand, the journalists are central players in it as they decide what is topical or newsworthy for domestic audiences. They also frame the events so that they make good sense to domestic addressees. On the other hand, in domestic contexts there are many other actors that aim to influence the public understanding of the reported events. These actors bring far-way events into their political argumentation in their attempts to advance their own political interests and desires. Interpretations that appear widely convincing are typically taken up and reported by the media.
Starting from these premises, the course suggests, the media serve not merely as an arena through which far-away events are introduced to local audiences. If anything, the media can be seen as a political arena in which different accounts of the reported events meet thus constructing public understanding of these events. Sooner or later, these understandings convert into domestic policy decisions and practices.
The course approaches the above phenomenon especially from the perspective of the traditional news media institution, i.e. of how the national media serve as a forum through which foreign news events are incorporated into domestic policy discourses. Additionally, the course discusses the role of social media in processes in which far-way news events are brought into local political argumentation, thus affecting domestic policies.

14.1. Course Overview/Introductory Lecture: World as mediated: historical developments and effects on societies (Marjaana Rautalin, TaSTI)

15.1. Journalism cultures and globalization (Heikki Heikkilä, COMS)

29.1. News framing and domestication of the foreign (Marjaana Rautalin, TaSTI)

5.2. Foreign news reporting – professional’s perspective (Tom Kankkonen, YLE)

12.2. Sociatization, interaction and media (Hanna Rautajoki, TaSTI)

19.2. Mediatization of politics (Esa Reunanen, COMS)

 26.2. No lecture – Winter break!

5.3. Climate change communication: between globalization and domestication of science (Dmitry Yagodin, Aleksanteri Institute)

12.3. Social media and public understanding of (global) news events (Marjaana Rautalin, TaSTI)

19.3. Closing lecture: Media in synchronization of national policies (Marjaana Rautalin, TaSTI)

9.4. Essay deadline (based on the lectures)

In order to be able to participate in the course, students are required to complete either
(a) the lectures (5 ECTS), or (b) the lectures plus seminars (10 ECTS). It is not possible to attend only the seminars.

Students of the Master's Degree Programme on Global and Transnational Sociology are required to complete full course (10 ECTS).

Please note that you must enroll separately for the lectures and the seminar.

Max. 40 students. Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

The course departs from the idea that the media is one of the central actors through which national actors become aware of far-away events and through which these events become integrated with domestic policy discourses. However, this process is a complex one. On one hand, the journalists are central players in it as they decide what is topical or newsworthy for domestic audiences. They also frame the events so that they make good sense to domestic addressees. On the other hand, in domestic contexts there are many other actors that aim to influence the public understanding of the reported events. These actors bring far-way events into their political argumentation in their attempts to advance their own political interests and desires. Interpretations that appear widely convincing are typically taken up and reported by the media.
Starting from these premises, the course suggests, the media serve not merely as an arena through which far-away events are introduced to local audiences. If anything, the media can be seen as a political arena in which different accounts of the reported events meet thus constructing public understanding of these events. Sooner or later, these understandings convert into domestic policy decisions and practices.
The course approaches the above phenomenon especially from the perspective of the traditional news media institution, i.e. of how the national media serve as a forum through which foreign news events are incorporated into domestic policy discourses. Additionally, the course discusses the role of social media in processes in which far-way news events are brought into local political argumentation, thus affecting domestic policies.

In order to be able to participate in the seminar, students are required to complete the lecture part of this course. It is not possible to attend only the seminars.

Students of the Master's Degree Programme on Global and Transnational Sociology are required to complete full course (10 ECTS).

Please note that you must enroll separately for the lectures and the seminar.

Maximum of 12 students are accepted to the seminar in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

This module examines intersectional approaches to human mobility in peace and conflict research. Violent conflicts, ethnic, religious and gender-based discrimination, and human rights abuses produce forced  displacement. In this course, we will explore the global phenomenon of human mobility in a two-fold manner. The course introduces multiple critical perspectives and actors together with key theoretical and methodological debates. These debates are reflected in the local context of Tampere via close cooperation with a civil society organization that focuses on civic action and different dimensions of masculinity. Other field sites will also be visited during the course.

The course will offer the students a possibility to connect large-scale phenomena to their local manifestations and implications. The course seeks to facilitate understanding on how theories and abstract concepts shape, direct and resonate with people’s self-conceptions, and how forced migration enters into different people’s lives in multiple ways. What kinds of connections are formed between peaceful societies and conflict zones through human mobility?

Student of MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research can include this course either to "PEACE045 Understanding Conflicts and Violence in Global Society" or to "Professional and Transferable Skills".

Max. 25 students. Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Studies, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students (Master's level exchange students will be given priority)

Many scenarios peace research engages with are mediated either through visual images or text-image hybrids such as those prevalent in
photojournalism: as peace researchers, we (like everyone else) are exposed to images as never before and we experience our subject matter mediated and communicated through visual images. We often do not analyze conditions, but visual representations of conditions. Thus, in a world dominated by images it is necessary for peace researchers to understand the visual construction of peace and war.

Visual peace research is research on the role and function of visual images in wars and conflict situations but also in peace and reconciliation processes on the local, national, regional, international and global levels. It analyzes the relationships among image producers, subjects and spectators because it is here that the meanings of a given image are constantly negotiated.

Visual Peace Research is also interested in the ways images and their interpretations contribute to or even create conflict. It is concerned with the visualization of peace. And it explores new forms of image production (for example, citizen photography, participatory photography and new photojournalism) and how these forms relate to society.

Methodologically hybrid, visual peace research analyzes such different forms of visual representation as film, painting, video, photography, television and comics including the relationships among different genres. It explores both the meaning assigned to images by means of language and the meanings and connotations images carry with them without the explicit support of language.

Max. 20 students.

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Sociology, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

-Uncertainty, risk and reward
-Welfare theory: efficiency and justice
-Strategic behaviour and game theory
-Imperfect information

There are some places for master level exchange students. Previous studies in microeconomics, macroeconomics and mathematical economics is required.

Compensation in Economics: KATTAS21B Advanced Course in Microeconomics II 5 ECTS

The success of the Nordic countries' education systems have held the interest of educators and policy makers globally for years. Scores of teachers, principals and legislators from the US and elsewhere have visited Finland in hopes of understanding what it is that Finland does that could be copied and applied at home to obtain similar results. This course explores the goals, structures, incentives, funding and results of various education systems, with a focus on the Finnish and American systems. Recognizing that education systems are complex, the aim is to understand what combination of factors (class sizes, funding, teacher training, teaching philosophy and methods, etc) are most conducive in terms of encouraging and educating the student population.

Identities of enmity and belonging create a crucial role in conflicts and violence as well as in peace. Identities and the related subject positions, however, do not emerge naturally, but are socially and politically constructed, in discursive as well as material practices. This module provides an advanced introduction to questions and theories of identity, subjectivity and representation, addressing them through practical cases and examples in the field of peace and conflict research. The course is a combination of lectures and seminar work, where the students learn to apply the theories in and perspectives in concrete cases of peace and conflict.

The students are expected to participate in the lectures and seminars, read the assigned weekly readings, and do the related course work in the Moodle platform’s discussion forums. The main assignment of the course consists of a group project, handed in as a written research report, and presented and debated in a small student conference at the end of the course.

Max 25 students.

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Studies, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Gender Studies, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

This course is designed to familiarise students with conceptual tools relating to the sociology of knowledge that they need for studying topics such as global and transnational sociology. The course begins by examining varied respects in which human beings have observed connections between different cultures and the ways in which their inhabitants see the world; it then traces developments in the analysis of language and meaning that have led to specific understandings of social construction in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  In later stages of the course, students will be encouraged to collect and analyse examples from their own reading and experience.

Lectures + field trip to a museum (to be confirmed).

Max 16 students. Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

The course will be structured and scheduled according to five thematic sessions. In the beginning of the course we will draw an overview of the extent and distribution of the employment protection concepts in Russia. We will focus on outcomes and consequences of the economic recession in terms of employment and social risks. Secondly we will tackle the forms, methods and outcomes of employment protection introduced by individual countries and globally in the European Union. After critical analyses of the actual problems of employment protection, we will review the challenges and alternatives of future development of employment protection.

1 lecture: Introduction – Restructuring European work and welfare systems.

2 lecture: Short history of employment protection in the developed industrial countries (national regulations; ILO regulations, other international regulations, etc.).

3 lecture: The Concept of Employment Protection (early ideas of employment protection; dimensions of employment protection; waves of development in industrial countries). 

4 lecture: Transitional labour markets (national settings, the role of institutions).

5 lecture: Social risks of mobile labour (international mobility of labour, risks related to migration and national variation of social norms). New issues of labour and safety rules and labour law.

The course will include lectures in a class room. Materials for reading and discourses organised in the Moodle environment. Students receive in advance necessary materials as articles, chapters from books, methodological materials and examples on statistical processing the data and explanation of obtained empirical results. Each weekly topic consists of a lecture and readings in the Moodle and active participation.

This course examines the ways in which certain forms of behavior are defined as being outside the bounds of the "normal" or acceptable, and the ways in which members of social groupings attempt to control such behavior.  Among the issues we will consider are the effects of deviant labels on identity, pathways to deviance, and alternative constructions of deviance. 

A variety of forms of deviance will be discussed, including deviance related to crime, sex, religion, drugs, body art, and mental illness.  We will pursue these topics from a sociological framework which seeks to understand the meaning of such behavior for the people involved.  No effort will be made to pass moral judgment on the behaviors or the people engaged in them.

This course introduces a bottom-up approach to innovation, socio-economic development and inclusiveness from the perspective of the innovation system theory and through the exploration of existing and emerging inclusive practices in local innovation contexts.

The first part of this course is devoted to the investigation of the key theories and concepts of territorial innovation models. These discussions offer students an in-depth understanding of spatial aspect of regional development and the debate revolving around the importance of physical and relational proximities for the innovation, learning and economic development.

The second part of the course links regional and spatial approach to current discussion concerning, for example, frugal innovations, openness and inclusiveness as a part of the knowledge-based economic development. Through literature, discussions and workshops, students will explore how inclusiveness redefines the requirements for the institutions fostering the interaction and learning in the region.

COURSE INFORMATION AND STRUCTURE

The course includes lectures, tutorials and workshops. In the frame of the lectures, students are introduced to the key theoretical concepts and approaches relevant to the understanding of territorial innovation models. During tutorials, students participate in discussions, explain their point of view, compare cases and synthesize different ideas. This contributes to enhanced understanding of the course material and develop presentation and communication skills. Workshops are aimed at development of students’ practical skills in the field of regional innovation research and analysis.

Lecture. Innovation as a context-dependent phenomenon (2 h)

Lecture. Systems of innovation: regional and spatial perspectives (2 h + 2 h)

Tutorial. Clusters and ecosystems (2 h)

Tutorial. Sectors and regimes of innovation (2 h)

Lecture. Wider societal challenges and Sustainable Development Goals (2 h)

Tutorial. Expanding range of heterogeneous innovators and stakeholders. Stakeholder analysis. (2 h + 2 h)

Workshop. Participation practices and mechanisms of user engagement in innovation activity on local and regional level (living labs, fab labs, etc.) (2 h)

Lecture. New perspectives on innovation processes (2 h)

The course is suitable for any UTA student that wishes to understand the specific context of innovation both in developing and developed countries. The course is designed for those who are currently or plan to work in academia or policy-making fields as an expert in innovation policy analysis and design. The course will also be useful for those who plan to work in innovative business as practitioners as knowledge obtained from this course can be used for finding new niches and innovative solutions of high social impact and responsibility.

This practice-oriented course introduces students to the international criminal justice system, its origins and evolution. It also touches upon on some samples of psychological tests endeavoring to explain mass criminal behavior during conflict. Selected cases (Lubanga and Ongwen) are discussed in more detail. The course will also address deficiencies of the international criminal justice system, and those of the ICC in particular, as well as the tension between geopolitics and the concept of international criminal justice.

The course is composed of five lectures including group work critically discussing different aspects of international criminal justice system and reviewing selected reading materials. Students are required to produce a 6-10 page essay from a list of three optional topics.

Max. 24 students.

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Sociology, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

The course will include the following lecture themes (not necessarily in this order):
- The Nordic Healthcare System
- Care Policies for Older People in Transition: the Case of Finland
- Basic Income and Nordic Welfare State
- Gender in/equality in Nordic working life: welfare state paradox revisited
- Welfare state and universal social policy
- Politics of childcare and early childhood education: Nordic perspective
- The Nordic Model of Industrial Relations
- Income inequality and poverty

COSOPO students: introductory lecture during Intensive Period in Vilnius in September (17.-28.9.2018), afterwards the course continues on-line.

Other UTA students (max 20 students): introductory lecture in Tampere on Tuesday 18 September at 10-12 in Linna 4013, afterwards course continues on-line. 

Webcourse “Introduction to Gender Studies” gives basic introductory knowledge about gender studies. The course begins with introduction to concept of gender and gender studies and continues with seven themes: feminist knowledge, men and masculinities, equality policy, family, intersectionality, gendered practices of working life, and body and sexuality. The course is for exchange students and everyone interested in gender studies. Previous studies in gender studies are not required.

The course will be 8.10.-30.11.2018. Each week the students will read text and/or other material available in the internet and discuss them in small groups in the Moodle learning environment.

Application to the course (max. 30 students)10.9.-28.9.2018 by e-form.For further information and enrolment, please see:

The course is organized by HILMA Network for Gender Studies.

If you are selected to the course, please contact the course contact person in Tampere University (Hanna-Mari Ikonen, hanna-mari.ikonen@uta.fi) for agreeing on the registration of the course.

Gender-based violence and violence against women (VAW) are among the central and persistent challenges to human rights globally, and ones that need to be tackled collectively and in a consistent manner. This is a need clearly enunciated in the UN’s Sustainable Development goals (SDG’s) where violence against women and girls is explicitly addressed. During the course, we examine the key concepts and forms of gender related violence and their relations with tradition and culture, and with the contemporary crisis in the environmental and geo-political landscapes (such as forced migration, climate change, as well as political conflicts and war). The course participants will engage in mapping global landscapes of vulnerability that are constituted both by continuities and disruptions, and in critically contemplating gender-related violence in connection. The course familiarizes students with gender-related violence as it is addressed in central human rights and sustainability policies, and engages students in critically and analytically rethinking their own understandings and possibilities for action against gender-related violence through interdisciplinary gender and feminist research.

Application period: 3.9.2018 - 5.10.2018. For further information and enrolment, please see:

The course is organized by the Gender Studies in the University of Oulu and offered as part of the virtual courses in the UNIPID university partnership.

The course is offered by HILMA Network for Gender Studies.

If you are selected to the course, please contact the course contact person in Tampere University (Hanna-Mari Ikonen, hanna-mari.ikonen@uta.fi) for agreeing on the registration of the course.

The course focuses on the basic and general features of scientific research, methodology, and argumentation, as applicable to any field of study. Some central themes in the philosophy of science will also be discussed, in an introductory manner.

The course is intended to all new international UTA Master’s degree students, but it will serve also international Doctoral students. Other degree and exchange students may join if there are free places.

Contact person: Coordinator of international education, Anna Wansén-Kaseva

This course strives to build bridges between experimental research on decision making in cognitive science, behavioral economics and organizational behavior – especially judgement and decision making (JDM) research - and broader sociological research. Sociological theorists have proposed numerous general sociological theories of action for theoretically grounding case-specific empirical research theories. Sociologists’ skepticism towards the utility of experimental behavioral research is understandable, as most experimental designs deliberately aim to isolate individual behavior from the social context of action. This course is premised on the conviction that sociological and behavioral research perspectives on action are complementary, not conflicting, and that cross fertilization of these fields holds more promise for theoretically ambitious social research than new iterations of disciplinarily isolated sociological theories of action. The course covers examples of the use of insights from the behavioral sciences in sociological settings, drawing inferences about decision strategies from new sources of data (e.g., online behavior), as well as a philosophy of science perspective on social scientific explanation.

The course format is a reading seminar with recent research articles as course material. In addition, each student will make a short presentation on an empirical research article related to the methodological topic in question. Default example articles are provided by the teacher, but students can also make suggestions based on their interests (such as their thesis topic).

Tentative schedule:

1. Introduction
2. History and theory of decision research I
3. History and theory of decision research II
4. Philosophy of social explanation
5. Preference construction
6. Situationalism and its critics
7. Dual-process theories
8. Emotions and decisions
9. Scarcity and decisions
10. Decision heuristics and on-line data
11. Social norms
12. Political psychology
13. Behavioral addictions

Level:

PhD-students and advanced students of social sciences and philosophy students interested in philosophy of social science.

Participants write short (2-3 page) essays on three topics which they see as most relevant for their studies as well as provide a presentation of a selected topic. The writing assignments are also based on the provided background material.

We will have three meetings. As this is an intensive course based on independent study, participation in class in all meetings is required. Texts will be made available in Moodle. 

Wed 19th Sep 4pm A preliminary meeting: divide the tasks.  

Fri Nov 9th 10am - 2pm. Carl Schmitt: The Concept of the Political. The participants give 5 min presentation on the alloted pages. Each participant reads the whole book and prepares a summary of the book with own comments.  

Tue Dec 4th 10 am - 4 pm Hannah Arendt: The Human Condition. The participants give 5 min presentation on the alloted pages. Each participant reads the whole book and prepares a summary of the book with own comments.

It is widely agreed that social criticism requires knowledge, preferrably from many disciplines of social research. Social ontology studies the most general questions of the nature of social reality. Different scientific approaches make different ontological commitments, and participation in everyday life may make some other ontological commitments appropriate. At least since Habermas (1968), the critical knowledge interest has been distinguished as possibly requiring its own kind of theory (cf. also Horkheimer's distinction between traditional and critical theory). These plural approaches raise the philosophical question of uniting the perspectives, but this lecture series focuses on the critical perspective, asking what kind of social ontology does critical theory require.

Enrolment by e-mail to the contact teacher, university instructor Kirsti Nurmela kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi Please, tell your student ID-number and the main subject in the mail.

Further information

The course will be completed entirely in the Moodle learning environment. Independent working (ca 135 hrs). Organized non-stop. For approval, all the tasks have to be completed within three months from the date of enrolment. Teaching language: English.

Further information: kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi

Enrolment by e-mail to the contact teacher, university instructor Kirsti Nurmela kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi Please, tell your student ID-number and the main subject in the mail.

The course will be completed entirely in the Moodle learning environment. Independent working (ca 135 hrs). Organized non-stop. For approval, all the tasks have to be completed within three months from the date of enrolment. Teaching language: English.

Further information: kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi

REQUIREMENTS FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS:

Forty students are accepted and those with major in Psychology in UTA have the priority. Like the Finnish majors, international exchange students should have completed both basic and intermediate studies (= approx. 85 credit units) in Psychology course prior to this course. Students with more completed Psychology courses will be given priority. When enrolling in the course, please include a list of the Psychology course(s) you have taken before, the credits and grades of the course and the university where the course was taken.

Enrolling at NettiOpsu from June 28 till September 20.

100% attendance is required.

Schedule:

16.1. Seija-Leena Nevala: Finland – 101 years of Independency

23.1. Katja Keisala: How to Communicate in Finland

30.1. Johanna Peltoniemi: Finnish Political System

6.2. Juho Kaitajärvi-Tiekso: Finnish Popular Music from "Humppa" to Lordi

13.2. Hannu Sinisalo: Boundaries of Finnishness and Ethnic Minorities in Finland

20.2. Marko Seppänen: Finnish Innovations - Past, Present and Future

27.2. no lecture

6.3. Tuija Koivunen: Women, Men and Work

13.3. Ari Vanamo: Finnish Forests and Forestry

20.3. Lina van Aerschot: Finnish Welfare and Social Services

27.3. Raisa Harju-Autti: Finnish Education System

3.4. Katja Fält: Finnish Art History in a Nutshell

10.4. Arja Luiro: Finnish Gastronomy

17.4. Jyrki Jyrkiäinen: Special Features of Finnish Mass Media

24.4. exam

+ the date of retake exam will be announced later

Please enrol before the first lecture (16.1).

The goal of the course Introduction to Criminal Justice is to provide students with means to understand the phenomenon of crime and its control in Finland; we will not delve deeply into any single topic, rather there will be a broad overview of many topics. This will be accomplished through thought-provoking lectures and discussion of the controversies and challenges of crime, some potential solutions and the machinations of justice.

The objective of the course is to provide the student with an understanding of the processes and institutions of criminal justice in the society as well as means to critically to evaluate their roles and functioning. Hence, the course aims to offer a broad foundation of knowledge to pursue more comprehensive and rigorous analysis in advanced courses.

The course departs from the idea that the media is one of the central actors through which national actors become aware of far-away events and through which these events become integrated with domestic policy discourses. However, this process is a complex one. On one hand, the journalists are central players in it as they decide what is topical or newsworthy for domestic audiences. They also frame the events so that they make good sense to domestic addressees. On the other hand, in domestic contexts there are many other actors that aim to influence the public understanding of the reported events. These actors bring far-way events into their political argumentation in their attempts to advance their own political interests and desires. Interpretations that appear widely convincing are typically taken up and reported by the media.
Starting from these premises, the course suggests, the media serve not merely as an arena through which far-away events are introduced to local audiences. If anything, the media can be seen as a political arena in which different accounts of the reported events meet thus constructing public understanding of these events. Sooner or later, these understandings convert into domestic policy decisions and practices.
The course approaches the above phenomenon especially from the perspective of the traditional news media institution, i.e. of how the national media serve as a forum through which foreign news events are incorporated into domestic policy discourses. Additionally, the course discusses the role of social media in processes in which far-way news events are brought into local political argumentation, thus affecting domestic policies.

14.1. Course Overview/Introductory Lecture: World as mediated: historical developments and effects on societies (Marjaana Rautalin, TaSTI)

15.1. Journalism cultures and globalization (Heikki Heikkilä, COMS)

29.1. News framing and domestication of the foreign (Marjaana Rautalin, TaSTI)

5.2. Foreign news reporting – professional’s perspective (Tom Kankkonen, YLE)

12.2. Sociatization, interaction and media (Hanna Rautajoki, TaSTI)

19.2. Mediatization of politics (Esa Reunanen, COMS)

 26.2. No lecture – Winter break!

5.3. Climate change communication: between globalization and domestication of science (Dmitry Yagodin, Aleksanteri Institute)

12.3. Social media and public understanding of (global) news events (Marjaana Rautalin, TaSTI)

19.3. Closing lecture: Media in synchronization of national policies (Marjaana Rautalin, TaSTI)

9.4. Essay deadline (based on the lectures)

In order to be able to participate in the course, students are required to complete either
(a) the lectures (5 ECTS), or (b) the lectures plus seminars (10 ECTS). It is not possible to attend only the seminars.

Students of the Master's Degree Programme on Global and Transnational Sociology are required to complete full course (10 ECTS).

Please note that you must enroll separately for the lectures and the seminar.

Max. 40 students. Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

The course departs from the idea that the media is one of the central actors through which national actors become aware of far-away events and through which these events become integrated with domestic policy discourses. However, this process is a complex one. On one hand, the journalists are central players in it as they decide what is topical or newsworthy for domestic audiences. They also frame the events so that they make good sense to domestic addressees. On the other hand, in domestic contexts there are many other actors that aim to influence the public understanding of the reported events. These actors bring far-way events into their political argumentation in their attempts to advance their own political interests and desires. Interpretations that appear widely convincing are typically taken up and reported by the media.
Starting from these premises, the course suggests, the media serve not merely as an arena through which far-away events are introduced to local audiences. If anything, the media can be seen as a political arena in which different accounts of the reported events meet thus constructing public understanding of these events. Sooner or later, these understandings convert into domestic policy decisions and practices.
The course approaches the above phenomenon especially from the perspective of the traditional news media institution, i.e. of how the national media serve as a forum through which foreign news events are incorporated into domestic policy discourses. Additionally, the course discusses the role of social media in processes in which far-way news events are brought into local political argumentation, thus affecting domestic policies.

In order to be able to participate in the seminar, students are required to complete the lecture part of this course. It is not possible to attend only the seminars.

Students of the Master's Degree Programme on Global and Transnational Sociology are required to complete full course (10 ECTS).

Please note that you must enroll separately for the lectures and the seminar.

Maximum of 12 students are accepted to the seminar in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

Information plays a crucial role in creating the grounds for and later maintaining the very possibility for democracy. Many credit the information gained through social media for the pro-democracy movements in the Arab Spring. In more mature democracies, information about candidates allows us to make political choices; information about representatives allows us to monitor their behavior. Information about policy alternatives helps us to distinguish among them. All of these can affect our voting behavior. Portrayed in this manner, media is clearly an essential source of information. However, media comes in all varieties and in very different qualities. There have also been recent attacks on the media, and on journalists, in dictatorships and in democracies. This course explores the role of information in democracy in general, how the quality of the media can affect this information, and what types of rules, systems, etc can affect media quality. Much of the material will focus on media in the United States, but the ideas extend to all countries.

Class meetings: The class will meet once a week. Students should complete the reading assigned in the syllabus and the homework before each meeting. Each class period will be devoted to a discussion of the main ideas encountered in the reading and students are expected to fully participate in the discussions.

Missed Classes: I count participation in each class towards the total participation grade. Everyone can miss one class without a problem. Any additional missed classes can be made up by writing a 1 page summary of the readings for that day.

SYLLABUS (subject to revision)

Week 1 (8 Jan) Course Introduction: Media, Information and Democracy

Week 2 (15 Jan) Media Ownership: Constraints, Goals and Needs

Week 3 (22 Jan) How Americans Consume News

Week 4 (29 Jan) Media Bias

Week 5 (5 Feb) Media Effect on War and Elections

Week 6 (12 Feb) Pundits, Humor and News

Week 7 (19 Feb) The Internet and Social Media

26 February – No class

Week 8 (5 March) Information Rights versus Security Concerns - Wikileaks

Week 9 (12 March) Fake News

Week 10 (19 March) New Media as a Force of Change

Week 11 (26 March) Paper presentations

Week 12 (2 April) Paper presentations Final Paper Due

In this course, students will be introduced to basic economic tools and practise applying them to the study of social institutions. Throughout the course, Universal Basic Income is used as an example of such institutions. Most assignments are completed in groups. No previous studies are required.

Final deadline for assignments: 23 May 2018

The global geo-political context of terrorism and war is analysed with the central focus directed to the evolution of global terrorism and the forms it has taken in the post WWII and post Cold War era. Terrorism is one of many challenges to the sovereign power of nation-states and the most pressing of the political problems associated with this ‘global crisis’ of terrorism will be evaluated. Students explore this challenge essentially through themes inclusive of terror organizations/movements and their development, the complex relationship between terrorism groups and insurgency movements, and the response of modern nation-states and the international community to various types of terrorist organizations. Students apply critical reasoning to complex issues through independent and collaborative research.

Course Content

The course content will be drawn from but not restricted to:

1. Discussions of the socio-political origin of terrorism as a means of achieving certain ends.

2. The conceptual understanding of different types of terrorist organizations and movements including differences and similarities in sacred and secular terror and the various ideological justifications that have been employed to sanction armed insurgency and terror.

3. Case studies of specific terrorist and insurgency movement in South/South Asia, Middle East and Europe.

4. The public policy response to terror including most significantly the US response to 9/11

5. The relationship between terrorist organizations and the mass media

6. The relationship between national liberation struggles and terrorist organizations

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Studies, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students (Master's level exchange students will be given priority)

The course deepens the students' understanding of the functioning of world society and the role of epistemic governance in it. In addition to showing how world culture is seen in the global spread of world models, the course approaches the circulation of global ideas from the perspective of national actors, especially policymakers. In the national political fields, actors justify new policies by international comparisons and by the successes and failures of models adopted in other countries. Consequently, national policies are synchronized with each other. Yet, because of the way such domestication of global trends takes place, citizens retain and reproduce the understanding that they follow a sovereign national trajectory. The lectures introduce the key ideas of the neoinstitutional global sociology coupled with perspectives from studies on epistemic governance.

Max 15 students. Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

Deviant behavior is an important area of study for criminologists and criminal justice practitioners and is, therefore, one of the most important courses for graduate students in the field. Criminologists and criminal justice practitioners need to have a strong comprehension of both historic and modern theories of behavior in order to understand the rational for the policies and programs that are currently utilized by the organizations that employ them. A strong understanding of the concepts covered in this course will help students not only excel within the systems in which they work, but give them a basis for improving those systems.  

To put it simply, the focus of this criminal behavior course is centered on the question: Why are some people delinquent or criminal and why do others follow the law? This question is simple to pose, but challenging to answer. The course will first explore the standards by which a theoretical answer to the question should be judged and will then explore the theories proposed to explain deviance by criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, and geneticists over the last two centuries.    

The course is much more than a recitation of the most popular and empirically researched criminological theories. Students will need to critically evaluate theoretical propositions. They will learn to see theories as dynamic and understand how they evolve over time. They will learn how their hypotheses are empirically evaluated and in which settings each is most supported. They will explore how theories are related to policy and programmatic changes.

The course builds on lectures and readings on the dimensions of urban marginalization, and ethnographic fieldwork carried out by the students. The fieldwork will be located in a neighbourhood of Tampere.

The course requirements include reading assignments as well as ca. 300 word reflections on the reading each time; conducting the assigned fieldwork as well as ca. 600 edited field notes each time; and a presentation at the final conference, composed on the basis of the previously mentioned writing tasks. Presence in all course sessions is necessary.

Programme (venue TBA)

Jan 11 Introduction: Social Dimensions of Urban Marginalization: Lotta Junnilainen           

Jan 18 Visit to the fieldsite + Introduction to Tampere City Marginalization Indicators: Lotta Junnilainen, Liisa Häikiö, Eeva Luhtakallio, Jenni Mäki (City of Tampere)

Jan 25 Urban ethnography in practice + Planning the fieldwork: Lotta Junnilainen

Feb 1 Political Dimensions of Urban Marginalization (Reading workshop and lecture): Eeva Luhtakallio

Reading Period + Getting in to the field (3 weeks)

Feb 22 Reading workshop + How to proceed?: Lotta Junnilainen  

Fieldwork Period I (2 weeks)

March 8 Fieldwork Clinic I: Lotta Junnilainen

March 15 Economic Dimensions of Urban Marginalization (Reading workshop and lecture): Liisa Häiki

Fieldwork Period II (3 weeks)

April 5 Fieldwork Clinic II: Lotta Junnilainen 

April 12 Final Conference

Max 20 students. Acceptance on the course depends on previous studies in social sciences.

The course gives an overview of the various roles the environment and the use of natural resources can play in conflicts, and on the other hand, what role they might have in the promotion of peace and security and sustainable development. The course consists of a general introduction and selected case studies that will allow deeper understanding of the interconnections in a spefic context.  Land ownership and the management of natural resources and climate change will be the main focuses of the case studies in the course.

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Sociology, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

The course focuses on the basic and general features of scientific research, methodology, and argumentation, as applicable to any field of study. Some central themes in the philosophy of science will also be discussed, in an introductory manner.

The course is intended to all new international UTA Master’s degree students, but it will serve also international Doctoral students. Other degree and exchange students may join if there are free places.

Contact person: Coordinator of international education, Anna Wansén-Kaseva

The course topics will emphasize comparative perspective of Finnish history in its Northern, Scandinavian, Baltic and European context from the early modern period to contemporary EU-Finland. Special emphasis will be given to versatile course materials (lectures, reading materials, videos, news articles, museum tips, websites etc.), taking into account students’ competence in English and former knowledge of the subjects at hand. Discussions during the lectures will check students’ understanding of the topics and challenge their critical thinking on history, whereas the learning diary (c. 8–10 pages) will encourage studying further their chosen topic/period within the course outline. Topics for learning diaries will be agreed with the teacher, and each student will get personal supervision and feedback on his/her paper.

Lectures

10.1. Introduction to course and overview to Finnish history

17.1. Finland and the Swedish realm during the early modern period, c. 1520–1809

24.1. Grand Duchy of Finland, 1809–1917

31.1. Making of Finnish nation

7.2.  Century of independence: Finnish state, 1917–2019

14.2. From independent peasantry to welfare state: Transformation of Finnish society

21.2. Life and culture in modern Finland

28.2. Final discussion and review

The course introduces the latest methodological developments related to causal inference in the social sciences. The course begins with the basics of the formal theory of causal reasoning (by Judea Pearl) and its philosophical foundations. We will then explore more specific issues and methodologies, such as the concept of social mechanism, how to construct a good causal variable, quasi-experimental designs, field and laboratory experiments in the social sciences, and case-based process tracing. The course format is a reading seminar with recent methodological research articles as course material. In addition, each student will make a short presentation on an empirical research article related to the methodological topic in question. Default example articles are provided by the teacher, but students can also make suggestions based on their interests (such as their thesis topic).

Course outline:

1. Introduction
2. Foundations of Causal Inference I
3. Foundations of Causal Inference II
4. Foundations of Causal Inference III
5. Causal Mechanisms and social theory
6. Mechanistic thinking and statistics
7. What is a good causal variable?
8. Quasi-experimental strategies
9. Qualitative evidence and process tracing I: within-case
10. Qualitative evidence and process tracing II: comparative process tracing
11. Experimental social science: field experiments
12. Experimental social science: laboratory experiments

Target audience: masters and PhD students in the social sciences and philosophy students interested in philosophy of science. Maximum number of participants: 12.

This course introduces students to the study of global history of empires across the varied centuries 1400-1900. Examined and explored here are the emergence of empires in global history and the role of building contacts, commerce and colonization on the foundation of transcontinental dynasties. We analyze and learn about the functions of empires, how they were managed, what kind of attempts different empires have made at unifying and/or assimilating their populations such as russification. The course explores how questions of representation, multi-ethnicity and multi-religious identity were solved and how empires in general made reforms. The Ottoman, Russian, German, and Habsburg empires are studied in detail and in relation to one another. Also, closely analyzed are maritime empires in the examples of the Danish, Swedish and Dutch sway, as well as the continental empire of the United States. We address the roots of today’s globalization by discussing how empires in the later 18th and 19th centuries created an intense era of integration, the legacies of which are crucially still felt still today. This course seeks to overcome a sharp division between ´the internal’ and ‘the external’ by treating imperial centers and colonies within a single analytical field and by mapping multidirectional networks and flows of ideas, practices, and peoples - within and in between empires. In doing so, we address also the assimilation policies of ethnic minorities such as the Saami, Finnish settlers in America, missionaries, and explorers in the service of empires, as well as transnational flows of raw materials and commodities. Finally, we take stock over how empires came apart and we compare the dissolution of the eight empires closely studied in class.

Enrolment by e-mail to the contact teacher, university instructor Kirsti Nurmela kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi Please, tell your student ID-number and the main subject in the mail.

Further information

The course will be completed entirely in the Moodle learning environment. Independent working (ca 135 hrs). Organized non-stop. For approval, all the tasks have to be completed within three months from the date of enrolment. Teaching language: English.

Further information: kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi

Enrolment by e-mail to the contact teacher, university instructor Kirsti Nurmela kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi Please, tell your student ID-number and the main subject in the mail.

The course will be completed entirely in the Moodle learning environment. Independent working (ca 135 hrs). Organized non-stop. For approval, all the tasks have to be completed within three months from the date of enrolment. Teaching language: English.

Further information: kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi

Schedule:

16.1. Seija-Leena Nevala: Finland – 101 years of Independency

23.1. Katja Keisala: How to Communicate in Finland

30.1. Johanna Peltoniemi: Finnish Political System

6.2. Juho Kaitajärvi-Tiekso: Finnish Popular Music from "Humppa" to Lordi

13.2. Hannu Sinisalo: Boundaries of Finnishness and Ethnic Minorities in Finland

20.2. Marko Seppänen: Finnish Innovations - Past, Present and Future

27.2. no lecture

6.3. Tuija Koivunen: Women, Men and Work

13.3. Ari Vanamo: Finnish Forests and Forestry

20.3. Lina van Aerschot: Finnish Welfare and Social Services

27.3. Raisa Harju-Autti: Finnish Education System

3.4. Katja Fält: Finnish Art History in a Nutshell

10.4. Arja Luiro: Finnish Gastronomy

17.4. Jyrki Jyrkiäinen: Special Features of Finnish Mass Media

24.4. exam

+ the date of retake exam will be announced later

Please enrol before the first lecture (16.1).

The course includes lectures and seminars, 4 hours on Tuesdays: 5-26.3.2019 and 2-16.4.2019

Programme

5.3.2019 Lecture at 12-14: Introduction to Gender Studies (Jaana Kuusipalo). Seminar at 14-16: ‘Who we are’ -round and instructions for the small group work for student presentations on 16th of April.

12.3.2019 Lecture at 12-14: Gender and Intersectionality in Working Life (Rebecca Lund). Seminar with readings at 14-16.

19.3.2019 Lecture at 12-14: Gender and Politics (Jaana Kuusipalo). Seminar with readings at 14-16.

26.3.2019 Lecture at 12-14: Gender, Naturecultures, Environmental Politics (Marja Vehviläinen). Seminar with readings at 14-16.

2.4.2019 Lecture at 12-14: Anti-gender backlash in Europe (Barbara Gaweda). Seminar with readings at 14-16.

9.4.2019 No teaching.

16.4.2019 Seminar at 12-16: Student presentations.

Teaching on Tuesday afternoons, 6 x 4 h.

This course will look at the criminal justice system within a global context.  The course will look at theories of criminality, deviance and punishment within socio-political context of the different countries studied as well as the comparison between the countries.  Within this framework, students will examine theories of crime including but not limited to: the learning theory, corporate crime, and restorative justice.

The course is directed primarily at upper division undergraduate students, but would also be beneficial to master’s level students. It is appropriate for students majoring in sociology, criminology, social welfare and justice, and political science, or any students with a career interest in criminal justice. 

The course will utilize a variety of teaching methods, including lectures, discussions, videos, guest speakers and tours of prisons in Finland and Karosta Prison in the city of Liepaja. Latvia.  These countries were chosen because of the contrasting style of responding to crime between/ among the Latvia (harsh punishment), Finland [Gentle Justice] (a penal system of two countries with two different extremes). We will also analyze the USA penal system, another Western country with a very harsh punishment policy.   

METHODOLOGY

The course is designed as both lecture and discussion.  Evaluation will be based on:

A) A class journal (notes from lecture/discussion).

B) A reaction paper that builds off course materials or reflects upon those materials.  

Classroom activities will be designed to encourage students to play an active role in the construction of their own knowledge and in the design of their own learning strategies.

We will combine short lectures with other active teaching methodologies, such as group discussions, cooperative group solving problems, analysis of video segments depicting scenes relevant to criminology topics and debates. Class participation is a fundamental aspect of this course. Students will be encouraged to actively take part in all group activities and to give short oral group presentations throughout the course.

The fifteen days lectures/seminars will provide a practical component, with guest speakers (including criminal justice practitioners, former inmates, and other experts), videos, Training Institute for Prison and Probation Services, and tours of prisons in Finland, Estonia, The Karosta Prison in the city of Liepaja. Latvia and (possibly a detour visit) to a Lithuania prison. 

Lectures at UTA: time and place, (To be announced later)

• Excursions:  Field trips to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, including a visit to Finnish Open Prison as seen below:

  • Tallinn Prison (Tallinna  Vangla)
  • Lecture at the Estonian College of Justice in Tallinn
  • Guided tour of the KGB museum in Riga
  • Prison experience at Karosta prison in Liepaja Lithuania (Day trip)
  • Lecture at University of Vilnius on The History of Lithuania modern Penal System
  • Prison visit in Vilnius Lithuania
  • Open Prison visit in Finland

Travel Agent responsible for both excursions is www.aikamatkat.fi

For further information on combined student price for both excursions will be posted later. 

Course requirements:

All Students are required to participate in class discussion and readings.

Presentations: Each student is expected to write a short presentation, using the required reading materials that will be sent to registered students in advance.

1. Daily Diary of activities including notes from lecture and discussion.
2. Final paper integrating the overall course experience.

To register, the first 20 students to send in a synopsis of their interest in the course and their academic background to ikponwosa.ekunwe@uta.fi will be accepted.

Course is available for all the students at the University of Tampere.  

Compensations in certain studies:

North American Studies: NAM-III Law and Politics

Degree Programme in Social Sciences: Optional studies or compensations on certain courses agreed with teacher responsible

Degree Programme in Social Work: Optional studies

The goal of the course Introduction to Criminal Justice is to provide students with means to understand the phenomenon of crime and its control in Finland; we will not delve deeply into any single topic, rather there will be a broad overview of many topics. This will be accomplished through thought-provoking lectures and discussion of the controversies and challenges of crime, some potential solutions and the machinations of justice.

The objective of the course is to provide the student with an understanding of the processes and institutions of criminal justice in the society as well as means to critically to evaluate their roles and functioning. Hence, the course aims to offer a broad foundation of knowledge to pursue more comprehensive and rigorous analysis in advanced courses.

The course consists of five meetings with pre-assigned reading materials. Each meeting will focus on a specific topic such as media representations of trans, medicalisation of trans bodies, and human rights issues. During the course we will work individually as well as in small groups.

The course workshops will be held at 10-14 

Wed 13.3.2019, Fri 15.3, Wed 20.3, Fri 22.3, and Wed 27.3.

OBS. The course includes also pre-tasks to be done BEFORE the first meeting (15.2-).

Participants are required to have finished SOS4.4 Introduction to Gender Studies or equivalent course(s) before taking the course.

Working language will be English, but the final essay can also be written in Finnish.

Information plays a crucial role in creating the grounds for and later maintaining the very possibility for democracy. Many credit the information gained through social media for the pro-democracy movements in the Arab Spring. In more mature democracies, information about candidates allows us to make political choices; information about representatives allows us to monitor their behavior. Information about policy alternatives helps us to distinguish among them. All of these can affect our voting behavior. Portrayed in this manner, media is clearly an essential source of information. However, media comes in all varieties and in very different qualities. There have also been recent attacks on the media, and on journalists, in dictatorships and in democracies. This course explores the role of information in democracy in general, how the quality of the media can affect this information, and what types of rules, systems, etc can affect media quality. Much of the material will focus on media in the United States, but the ideas extend to all countries.

Class meetings: The class will meet once a week. Students should complete the reading assigned in the syllabus and the homework before each meeting. Each class period will be devoted to a discussion of the main ideas encountered in the reading and students are expected to fully participate in the discussions.

Missed Classes: I count participation in each class towards the total participation grade. Everyone can miss one class without a problem. Any additional missed classes can be made up by writing a 1 page summary of the readings for that day.

SYLLABUS (subject to revision)

Week 1 (8 Jan) Course Introduction: Media, Information and Democracy

Week 2 (15 Jan) Media Ownership: Constraints, Goals and Needs

Week 3 (22 Jan) How Americans Consume News

Week 4 (29 Jan) Media Bias

Week 5 (5 Feb) Media Effect on War and Elections

Week 6 (12 Feb) Pundits, Humor and News

Week 7 (19 Feb) The Internet and Social Media

26 February – No class

Week 8 (5 March) Information Rights versus Security Concerns - Wikileaks

Week 9 (12 March) Fake News

Week 10 (19 March) New Media as a Force of Change

Week 11 (26 March) Paper presentations

Week 12 (2 April) Paper presentations Final Paper Due

In this course, students will be introduced to basic economic tools and practise applying them to the study of social institutions. Throughout the course, Universal Basic Income is used as an example of such institutions. Most assignments are completed in groups. No previous studies are required.

Final deadline for assignments: 23 May 2018

The global geo-political context of terrorism and war is analysed with the central focus directed to the evolution of global terrorism and the forms it has taken in the post WWII and post Cold War era. Terrorism is one of many challenges to the sovereign power of nation-states and the most pressing of the political problems associated with this ‘global crisis’ of terrorism will be evaluated. Students explore this challenge essentially through themes inclusive of terror organizations/movements and their development, the complex relationship between terrorism groups and insurgency movements, and the response of modern nation-states and the international community to various types of terrorist organizations. Students apply critical reasoning to complex issues through independent and collaborative research.

Course Content

The course content will be drawn from but not restricted to:

1. Discussions of the socio-political origin of terrorism as a means of achieving certain ends.

2. The conceptual understanding of different types of terrorist organizations and movements including differences and similarities in sacred and secular terror and the various ideological justifications that have been employed to sanction armed insurgency and terror.

3. Case studies of specific terrorist and insurgency movement in South/South Asia, Middle East and Europe.

4. The public policy response to terror including most significantly the US response to 9/11

5. The relationship between terrorist organizations and the mass media

6. The relationship between national liberation struggles and terrorist organizations

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Studies, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students (Master's level exchange students will be given priority)

This course is an introduction to conflict analysis and peace mediation as an approach to conflict resolution in the international political sphere. We will look at the practices of conflict analysis and mediation, their methods and analyze the opportunities and challenges in applying these in peace processes. The course seeks to simplify the field and bridge theoretical approaches with more practice oriented approaches on the one hand and equip students with practical tools and skills in conflict analysis and mediation that can be applied in diverse policy fields on the other.

Lectures: Each lecture gives an introduction and presents different aspects of a given topic. Students are expected to have done the recommended reading and engage in the discussion.

Seminar & small group discussion: In this round, students will discuss together with the instructors the subject matter and raise questions for consideration. Students are expected to read relevant newspapers and other social media and to come prepared to discuss current affairs.

Conflict Analysis Exercises: Students will be asked to form smaller groups and work interactively.

Role-plays:  These are meant to practice the lessons learned in the lectures and seminars.

Degree students of the Peace programme can either include this course in the module PEACE046 Practices of Peace or compensate the course PEACE047 Peace Mediation and Dialogue Processes within "Professional and Transferable Skills".

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Global and Transnational Sociology, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

The course deepens the students' understanding of the functioning of world society and the role of epistemic governance in it. In addition to showing how world culture is seen in the global spread of world models, the course approaches the circulation of global ideas from the perspective of national actors, especially policymakers. In the national political fields, actors justify new policies by international comparisons and by the successes and failures of models adopted in other countries. Consequently, national policies are synchronized with each other. Yet, because of the way such domestication of global trends takes place, citizens retain and reproduce the understanding that they follow a sovereign national trajectory. The lectures introduce the key ideas of the neoinstitutional global sociology coupled with perspectives from studies on epistemic governance.

Max 15 students. Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP Global and Transnational Sociology

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Public Choice, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, MDP in Gender Studies)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

Deviant behavior is an important area of study for criminologists and criminal justice practitioners and is, therefore, one of the most important courses for graduate students in the field. Criminologists and criminal justice practitioners need to have a strong comprehension of both historic and modern theories of behavior in order to understand the rational for the policies and programs that are currently utilized by the organizations that employ them. A strong understanding of the concepts covered in this course will help students not only excel within the systems in which they work, but give them a basis for improving those systems.  

To put it simply, the focus of this criminal behavior course is centered on the question: Why are some people delinquent or criminal and why do others follow the law? This question is simple to pose, but challenging to answer. The course will first explore the standards by which a theoretical answer to the question should be judged and will then explore the theories proposed to explain deviance by criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, and geneticists over the last two centuries.    

The course is much more than a recitation of the most popular and empirically researched criminological theories. Students will need to critically evaluate theoretical propositions. They will learn to see theories as dynamic and understand how they evolve over time. They will learn how their hypotheses are empirically evaluated and in which settings each is most supported. They will explore how theories are related to policy and programmatic changes.

The course builds on lectures and readings on the dimensions of urban marginalization, and ethnographic fieldwork carried out by the students. The fieldwork will be located in a neighbourhood of Tampere.

The course requirements include reading assignments as well as ca. 300 word reflections on the reading each time; conducting the assigned fieldwork as well as ca. 600 edited field notes each time; and a presentation at the final conference, composed on the basis of the previously mentioned writing tasks. Presence in all course sessions is necessary.

Programme (venue TBA)

Jan 11 Introduction: Social Dimensions of Urban Marginalization: Lotta Junnilainen           

Jan 18 Visit to the fieldsite + Introduction to Tampere City Marginalization Indicators: Lotta Junnilainen, Liisa Häikiö, Eeva Luhtakallio, Jenni Mäki (City of Tampere)

Jan 25 Urban ethnography in practice + Planning the fieldwork: Lotta Junnilainen

Feb 1 Political Dimensions of Urban Marginalization (Reading workshop and lecture): Eeva Luhtakallio

Reading Period + Getting in to the field (3 weeks)

Feb 22 Reading workshop + How to proceed?: Lotta Junnilainen  

Fieldwork Period I (2 weeks)

March 8 Fieldwork Clinic I: Lotta Junnilainen

March 15 Economic Dimensions of Urban Marginalization (Reading workshop and lecture): Liisa Häiki

Fieldwork Period II (3 weeks)

April 5 Fieldwork Clinic II: Lotta Junnilainen 

April 12 Final Conference

Max 20 students. Acceptance on the course depends on previous studies in social sciences.

The term “global” is everywhere, used by everybody for all kinds of different purposes. Yet, “global” only exists when we invoke it and we invoke it necessarily locally, from a certain place and point of view. We tend to think of the global in terms of the image of the earth, i.e. as a generative frame of unity within which local variations can be mapped. But, the seeming universality of the term “global” could be misleading: depending on where people are and what their interests might be, “global” could mean different things. Is the global truly as universal as the photograph of the earth from space would suggest? What are the politics of knowledge that have constructed the global, and continue to do so? What implications does this construction have for knowing and hearing the Global South or East, or alternative epistemologies? How should we think about temporality in the idea of the global? What can new postcolonial research tell us about the construction of “global,” and the “local” where this construction takes place? This unique course will probe these questions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. For the first time students from three faculties in Tampere will have the opportunity to attend lectures by a series of leading, visiting lecturers from around the world probing the “global.” The course is organized by the Tampere Network for Global & Transnational Research (T-Global) network as part of the New Social Research (NSR) Program (https://research.uta.fi/t-global/2019-2/).

The entire course offering will be in English.

The course comprises at least five visiting lectures:

• Dr. Daniel Tröhler, University Professor of Education, University of Vienna, Austria. Lecture title: Claims of universalized nationalism and banal nationalism as resistance. Frontstage and backstage of current education policies across the globe. (Friday, April 26, 1015 to 1200, VIRTA LS 109).
• Dr. Yasemin Soysal, Professor of Sociology, University of Essex, UK. Lecture title: Global Citizens or Global Individuals?  Educational Migrations of Chinese Tertiary Students. (Tuesday, April 30, 1015 to 1200, VIRTA LS 109).
• Dr. Neilesh Bose, Canada Research Chair and Assistant Professor of History, University of Victoria, BC, Canada). Lecture title: Reconciling Religion in Histories of Globalization — India in and of the World (Friday, May 3, 1015 to 1200, VIRTA LS 109).
• Dr. Alex Jeffrey, Reader in Human Geography, University of Cambridge, UK. Lecture title: Decentering international law: enacting war crimes trials in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Wednesday, May 8, 1015 to 1200, VIRTA LS 109).
• Dr. Tom Griffith, Associate Professor of Education and program leader of the Comparative and International Education Group at University of Newcastle, Australia. Lecture title: Re-centering a de-centered global. (Monday, May 20, 1015 to 1200, VIRTA LS 109).

Master’s and doctoral seminars:12 April 9-12 and 23 May at 9-12 in Linna 6017

Doctoral workshop 24 May at 9-15 in Linna 5014

A limited number of seats are available for students at all levels in Tampere University faculties of Social Sciences (SOC), Education (EDU), and Management and Business (MAB). Seats will be allocated by faculty on a first-come, first-served basis by educational level: SOC (15 BA, 10 MA, 10 PhD), MAB (10 MA, 5 PhD), and EDU (5 BA, 5 MA, 5 PhD). Students are advised to register early.

The course introduces the latest methodological developments related to causal inference in the social sciences. The course begins with the basics of the formal theory of causal reasoning (by Judea Pearl) and its philosophical foundations. We will then explore more specific issues and methodologies, such as the concept of social mechanism, how to construct a good causal variable, quasi-experimental designs, field and laboratory experiments in the social sciences, and case-based process tracing. The course format is a reading seminar with recent methodological research articles as course material. In addition, each student will make a short presentation on an empirical research article related to the methodological topic in question. Default example articles are provided by the teacher, but students can also make suggestions based on their interests (such as their thesis topic).

Course outline:

1. Introduction
2. Foundations of Causal Inference I
3. Foundations of Causal Inference II
4. Foundations of Causal Inference III
5. Causal Mechanisms and social theory
6. Mechanistic thinking and statistics
7. What is a good causal variable?
8. Quasi-experimental strategies
9. Qualitative evidence and process tracing I: within-case
10. Qualitative evidence and process tracing II: comparative process tracing
11. Experimental social science: field experiments
12. Experimental social science: laboratory experiments

Target audience: masters and PhD students in the social sciences and philosophy students interested in philosophy of science. Maximum number of participants: 12.

This course introduces students to the study of global history of empires across the varied centuries 1400-1900. Examined and explored here are the emergence of empires in global history and the role of building contacts, commerce and colonization on the foundation of transcontinental dynasties. We analyze and learn about the functions of empires, how they were managed, what kind of attempts different empires have made at unifying and/or assimilating their populations such as russification. The course explores how questions of representation, multi-ethnicity and multi-religious identity were solved and how empires in general made reforms. The Ottoman, Russian, German, and Habsburg empires are studied in detail and in relation to one another. Also, closely analyzed are maritime empires in the examples of the Danish, Swedish and Dutch sway, as well as the continental empire of the United States. We address the roots of today’s globalization by discussing how empires in the later 18th and 19th centuries created an intense era of integration, the legacies of which are crucially still felt still today. This course seeks to overcome a sharp division between ´the internal’ and ‘the external’ by treating imperial centers and colonies within a single analytical field and by mapping multidirectional networks and flows of ideas, practices, and peoples - within and in between empires. In doing so, we address also the assimilation policies of ethnic minorities such as the Saami, Finnish settlers in America, missionaries, and explorers in the service of empires, as well as transnational flows of raw materials and commodities. Finally, we take stock over how empires came apart and we compare the dissolution of the eight empires closely studied in class.

Enrolment by e-mail to the contact teacher, university instructor Kirsti Nurmela kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi Please, tell your student ID-number and the main subject in the mail.

Further information

The course will be completed entirely in the Moodle learning environment. Independent working (ca 135 hrs). Organized non-stop. For approval, all the tasks have to be completed within three months from the date of enrolment. Teaching language: English.

Further information: kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi

Enrolment by e-mail to the contact teacher, university instructor Kirsti Nurmela kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi Please, tell your student ID-number and the main subject in the mail.

The course will be completed entirely in the Moodle learning environment. Independent working (ca 135 hrs). Organized non-stop. For approval, all the tasks have to be completed within three months from the date of enrolment. Teaching language: English.

Further information: kirsti.nurmela[at]staff.uta.fi