CfP: Kääriku Winter School “Between the Baltic and Black Seas”
BETWEEN THE BALTIC AND THE BLACK SEAS:
NEW REGIONALISMS AND NEIGHBORHOODS
CFP: Winter School
Kääriku, Estonia, 9-15 February 2020
The Johan Skytte Institute of the University of Tartu invites M.A. and PhD students to apply for the winter school “Between the Baltic and the Black Seas: New Regionalisms and Neighborhoods” that will take place in Kääriku, Estonia, on February 9-15, 2020. This event is part of cooperation between Ukrainian, Polish, Swedish, Lithuanian and Estonian Universities within the framework of the “Rethinking Regional Studies: the Baltic-Black Sea Connection” project supported by the European Commission (586281-EPP-1-2017-1-EE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP).
The school seeks to explore different dimensions of spatiality, territoriality and borders, and relate them to the ongoing domestic and foreign policy changes in a group of post-Soviet and post-socialist countries located at Europe’s eastern margins. School classes will particularly focus on juxtaposing, comparing and unpacking various facets of transformation dynamics in Central and Eastern Europe, Baltic states, and the South Caucasus, and discuss them through a variety of different interdisciplinary and country-based perspectives, including international relations, sociology, political philosophy, and cultural studies.
The tentative plan of classes includes a number of nodal topics to be taught by lecturers from the Universities of Lund, Bratislava, Odessa and Tartu:
- The Illiberal turn and the ontological insecurities
- Maritime security in the Black- Azov Seas nexus
- Contemporary myth-making in memory studies
- Biopower and necro-politics: critical analysis
- Populism and national-building: cross-national variations
The school is administered by Johan Skytte Institute of the University of Tartu as an educational and academic communicative platform for developing innovative approaches to topical issues in IR and comparative regional studies in Eastern and Central Europe and South Caucasus. The learning process consists of lectures and interactive classes based on students’ participation, including topical presentations and group-based debate. Basic knowledge in social, cultural and / or political theories, geopolitics, along with skills in comparative and critical analysis, as well as independent thinking are welcome and strongly encouraged.
The venue of the School is 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. The Centre provides 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 150km of cross country ski tracks, starting right outside the Centre.
The school 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 program.
Eligible candidates, for whom travel and accommodation costs will be covered, are students of the Mechnikov National University in Odessa, Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, Mariupol State University and Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, with academic backgrounds in the fields of international relations, regional studies and political science. All other applicants are expected to cover their travel to Kääriku (Estonia) and accommodation costs on their own.
The Johan Skytte Institute will provide travel information and advice, as well as issue visa invitations for those requiring a Schengen visa.
M.A. and doctoral students interested to learn more about different facets of regional politics, histories and cultures, and partake in professional discussions are invited to submit their CVs and one-page motivation letters as one pfd file entitled “name_application to Kaariku school 2020”, explaining their interest in the topic and its relevance for the applicant’s future career.
Applications should be sent by November 30, 2019 to Alexandra Yatsyk (University of Tartu, kaariku2020@gmail.com).
