Call for Applications

15.10.2015

6th International Winter School

THE STATE AND THE BODY:
BORDERS, SECURITY, AND THE REFUGEE CRISIS

Kääriku, Estonia, 14-20 February 2016

The University of Tartu and the Higher School of Economics, Moscow invite graduate and post-graduate students to apply for the winter school “The State and the Body: Borders, Security and the Refugee Crisis”. This school is part of an international project “Escapes from Modernity” which has been organizing Summer and Winter Schools since 2007. In February 2016, the school will keep exploring different dimensions of biopolitics, biopower and corporeality and relate them with domestic and foreign policies of major international actors. We shall particularly focus on various facets of global migration flows and refugees problems that raise a number of acute issues of borders, boundaries and securitization.

The intensive one-week winter school will include both lectures and interactive classes based on students’ inclusive participation. Basic knowledge in social theories, along with skills in comparative and critical analysis based independent thinking are welcome and strongly encouraged.

The preliminary plan of classes includes:

  • The Biopolitics of Insecure Borders
  • Securitization of Migration
  • (Un)making Spaces of Indistinction
  • People on the Move: Theoretical and Empirical Reflections on the Refugee Crisis in Europe
  • Student presentations

The winter school will take place in Kääriku Leisure and Sports Centre of the University of Tartu, situated in a beautiful area in Valga County, about 40 km south of Tartu, near the Otepää winter resort. Participants of the School will be provided with comfortable accommodation, full board, free internet access and numerous sports and outdoor opportunities, including a gym, indoor basketball and volleyball courts, cross-country skis for rent, and will be able to use 150 km of cross country ski tracks, starting right outside the Centre.

The working language is English. Participation is equal to 4 ECTS credits, which will be confirmed by a certificate awarded to each student upon successful completion of the School.

International applicants are welcome. Participants are expected to cover their lodging expenses (double room accommodation during the whole duration of the School) and to arrange their travel to and from Kääriku by regular buses from Tartu. For the location and prices please see http://www.kaariku.com/eng.

Center for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS) will provide travel information and advice, and issue visa invitations for those requiring a Schengen visa (normally visas are free of charge for students participating in exchange programmes).

Senior B.A., M.A. and PhD students interested to learn more about different facets of biopolitics and partake in discussions on migration and refugee crisis are asked to submit their CVs and motivation letters (max 2 pages) explaining their interest in the topic and its relevance for the applicant’s future career. The deadline for submission is 25 November 2015.

Applications should be sent to:

Dr. Andrey Makarychev andrey.makarychev[at]ut.ee (University of Tartu) –  for Estonian and international students

Gleb Starshiy (Higher School of Economics) – escapes[at]hse.ru (for Russian students)

For further information about the Kääriku Winter School (including about previous schools) please turn to either Andrey Makarychev or Professor Eiki Berg (eiki.berg[at]ut.ee)