The course will introduce students to various aspects of Russian digital culture. We will start with the historical perspective: how can digital communication be studied in the broad context of the history of reading and how the Russian internet, Runet, has evolved technologically, culturally and socially. We will take a closer look to specific areas of digital culture, such as, electronic libraries, social media, internet’s regulation and online popular culture. All these topics offer important insights into Russian contemporary culture and society from the point of view of digital communication while introducing theoretical and analytical frameworks that will be useful when planning individual theses and further studies.

The course consists of 20 hrs lectures and seminar work as well as individual assignments prepared outside the class work. The students are expected to attend lectures, read 1-2 articles before each lecture and participate in class discussion. There will be 2 mini-assignments during the course, which are presented and discussed in the last class. In addition, the students will write a final paper (7-10 pages) on a selected topic related to the course theme. The return date of the final papers is one month after the last lecture.

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

The course will introduce students to various aspects of Russian digital culture. We will start with the historical perspective: how can digital communication be studied in the broad context of the history of reading and how the Russian internet, Runet, has evolved technologically, culturally and socially. We will take a closer look to specific areas of digital culture, such as, electronic libraries, social media, internet’s regulation and online popular culture. All these topics offer important insights into Russian contemporary culture and society from the point of view of digital communication while introducing theoretical and analytical frameworks that will be useful when planning individual theses and further studies.

The course consists of 20 hrs lectures and seminar work as well as individual assignments prepared outside the class work. The students are expected to attend lectures, read 1-2 articles before each lecture and participate in class discussion. There will be 2 mini-assignments during the course, which are presented and discussed in the last class. In addition, the students will write a final paper (7-10 pages) on a selected topic related to the course theme. The return date of the final papers is one month after the last lecture.

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

This course is offered as an art/research workshop where students explore questions related to gender politics of masculinities in Finnish and Russian societies. The course consists of pre-readings, short lectures, discussions and independent work on men studies, and Finnish and Russian case studies.

The course/workshop offers a forum for cross-cultural and cross-sectoral knowledge production in the field of men studies. Of special interest will be the image making, both in visual arts and verbal contexts. Both the speakers and the pre-readings will critically focus on the politics of gender and masculinity, both in Finland and in Russia. By utilizing the cooperation of academic research and artistic practice (especially film) we seek to recognize problems related to gender and masculinities in the Finnish and Russian contexts.

The point of departure of the workshop is the idea that while questions related to sexual and gender politics are differently structured in Finnish and Russian societies, much is also shared. The workshop will explore masculinities in the following contexts:

(1)   Masculinities and the representations of fatherhood in Finnish and Russian film and research

(2)   Affective history of war and peace

(3)   Politics of sexuality and image making and the role of media in de/re-constructing of masculinities

Teachers/Speakers (2. and 3. Dec. 2016)

Research: E.g. Ville Kivimäki (History, UTA), Jiri Nieminen (Politics, gender studies UTA), Elena Mescherkina (Sociology, Moscow Russia), Aleksandrina Vanke (Culture and History, Moscow, Russia), Tatjana Rjabova (History, gender studies Ivanovo, Russia), Cai Weaver (Politics, gender studies, Helsinki); Arja Rosenholm (Russian language and culture UTA), Anni Kangas (Politics, UTA)

Arts: E.g. Elena Pogrebizhskaya (Moscow); Nina Rokosa; Juhani Haukka; Masha Godovannya (St.Petersburg)