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Keily Tammaru, Ana Marić | December 15, 2021


18.–19. novembril toimus Humanitaarteaduste magistrikooli (HUMA) tudengikonverents, kus magistrandid esitlesid oma lõputööideid. Kokku oli esinejaid 43 ja nende seas 13 semiootikatudengit. Mõned vastused on esitatud suuliselt, teised kirjalikult, mõned eestikeelselt, teised inglise keeles. Saa teada, keda sel kevadel lõpetamisel näha võib!

On 18th and 19th november 2021 took place The student conference of Faculty of Arts and humanities (HUMA). There were altoghether 43 presentations and 13 of those by the master’s students of semiotics department. Some of the responses are given orally, others by writing, some of those are in Estonian, others in English. Get know, whou will graduate this spring!

On the foto: (left) Hongjin Song, Yulia Tishkina, Levan Ilariani, Sergio Alejandro Velásquez Sabogal.


Kes olid tudengikonverentsil?
Who were there?

Marko Karilaid on semiootika ja kultuuriteooria magistriõppe teise aasta üliõpilane. Oma bakalureusekraadi lõpetas ta inglise filoloogia erialal Tallinna Ülikoolis. Marko ettekande teemaks on „Nõukogude historiograafia võrdlev analüüs“, mille raames on tal plaanis võrrelda, kuidas on ajaloosündmused kajastatud nõukogudeaegsetes õpikutes ja Eesti õpikutes, ning analüüsida, mille poolest ajaloosündmuste kajastused erinevad.

Yulia Tishkina is a semiotics second-year master’s student. She has studied Russian philology in Moscow. In the autumn school she spoke about “The OBERIU Declaration as an Avant-garde Art Manifesto”. OBERIU, The Union of Real Art (Russian: Объединение реального искусства) was a small group of avant-garde artists who did not fit, in a way, the official Soviet canon. The group was more or less active during the 1920s. Yulia focuses mainly on the declaration of OBERIU (published in 1928), from both semiotic and historic points of view.

Ragnar Peets lõpetas semiootika osakonnas bakalaureuseõpingud ja õpib nüüdseks kokku juba 5. aastat semiootikat. Tudengikonverentsil kõneles ta teemal „Psümioos, semioosi vundament“. Ragnar proovib semioosi termini kõrvale luua teist terminit psümioos [või siis psühhodeelne semioos?], mille abil oleks võimalik kogu märgiprotsessi ja selle tagajärjel ka inimeseks olemist sügavamalt mõista. Teistele soovib Ragnar järgmist: „Tehkem rohkem autokommunikatsiooni. Olgem uudishimulikud selle vastu, mida see, mida sa teed, teeb. Ja mida see, mida maailm teeb, teeb.“

Hongjin Song is from China, and he used to study linguistics in his bachelor’s years. Roughly speaking, his thesis is about traumatic memory. His presentation was titled “Representing the Scars: How Traumatic Past is Mediated and Remembered in the Case of Covid-19 Outbreak in Wuhan”.

Andrei-Ioan Bleahu is from Romania, and has a BS and a MS in physics. “My thesis is of course in progress. At the moment I am focusing on representations of mental illness in popular films in Hollywood. I am not focusing that much on the accuracy of representations, but more like constructing a structural form of the revolution within the wider narratives.”

Sergio Alejandro Velásquez Sabogal is from Colombia, and his thesis mainly concerns the semantic question of naming. “It is a discussion about the political possibilities that naming brings to the academy in general. In my thesis I am studying a specific case that is FARC, the Colombian guerilla, which became a political party. So what I am doing there is not just studying the name of the guerilla, but the different processes of naming and re-naming which occurred during its history.” 

Kuidas Sa selle teema juurde jõudsid?
How did you choose or end up working with this topic?

Marko. Kultuur on huvitav. Ma leidsin eelmisel aastal YouTube’st intervjuu Yuri Bezmenoviga, kus ta räägib sellest kui mõjuvõimas oli Nõukogude Liit läänele. Näiteks 80ndatel–90ndatel olid isegi Kanada kompaniid Nõukogude liidu poolt kallutatud. Sealt tekkis huvi kirjutada teemal, kuidas Nõukogude Liit maailmas eksisteerib. Selle mõttega läksingi juhendaja Andreas Ventseli juurde. Tema aitas teemat üledefineerida ja teemat kitsendada nii, et sellest saaks teha magistritöö. Nii jõudsingi võrdleva analüüsini. Nõukogude liit on huvitav näide sellest, kuidas kõik saab valesti minna.

Kokkupuutumine vene keelega on kindlasti väljakutse, huvitav väljakutse millega toime tulla. Lahendusi on mitmeid, võrrelda materjali mõne olemasoleva analüüsiga, paluda väljavalitud tekstiosad tõlkida jm.

Yulia. I do not know exactly why, honestly speaking. The poetry is rather significant –it is rather subjective. This summer in Moscow there was a presentation of the second full edition of Aleksander Vvedensky’s works prepared by philologist and musician Anna Gerasimova (Umka). The presentation was inspiring, so I realized that the choice was correct.

The poems by each of the OBERIU members are unusual, even extraordinary and marginal, especially when we know something about that time. You can just read the texts and feel it – some of them are translated into English and even into Chinese (at least I read about it somewhere).

The poets are not well-known even now. However we know much more about them than was possible in the Soviet Union. I read in one of the books by Mikhail Meilakh, who is now one the most important people in OBERUI studies, the history of introducing the group into humanities related to Tartu University. Mikhail Meilakh worked in Leningrad with the archive of Oberiury’s text. Around the middle of the 1960s he met Gabriel Superfin, who was at time one of Juri Lotman’s students, and he proposed to prepare a publication about texts from the archive. So, basically, it is the beginning of Oberiutiana tartuensis –early forbidden texts were opened

Ragnar. Lihtsalt üks hetk tundus mulle, et semioos ei kirjelda üleni seda, kuidas mina aru saan märgiprotsessidest. Et ta kirjeldab vaid osa sellest ja et oleks vaja veel sõnu, millega kirjeldada puuduolevat.

Hongjin. Wuhan is my hometown and I was there when the lockdown was set. I am interested in how my people remember the event and how their memory was mediated in the social sphere.

Andrei. I was quite inspired by the semiotics developed by Jacques Fountanille, and I was also inspired by the biosemiotic perspective. I think that is very interesting, but my thesis at the moment is not directly related to biosemiotics, but mostly inspired by it, because I am trying to incorporate this biopolitics topic, so overall I think semiotics itself was the main inspiration.

Sergio. There are different factors. First of all, my BA is very important in this decision, because my BA was in political science, and I came here because I was interested in a dialogue between political dialogue and semiotic theory. But on the other hand, the first final essay that I made for the first semester was a general idea about this topic, names or labels that FARC had. However, at that moment I didn’t approach it through naming, but some more speculative perspective about the semiosphere. And maybe another reason could be that I am from Colombia and this topic about the guerilla is quite common and famous in Colombia.

Milliseid meetodeid Sa oma töös kasutad?
Which methods do you use in your thesis?

Marko. Lähilugemine, sotsiosemiootiline analüüs.

Yulia. It is about different types of linguistic analysis: theory of speech acts, methods from the sphere of lexicography, and theories related to the essence of poetic language.

Ragnar. Ma ei tea mis see õige sõna nüüd on? Filosoofilisi, arutlevaid?

Hongjin. I use interviewing, textual analysis and discourse analysis.

Andrei. At the moment I am using the central concept of forms of life (formes de vie) developed by Jacques Fountanille for my thesis, and this is a brief attempt of mine to explain what I have in my research.

Sergio. In the theoretical dimension, I take the notion of naming mainly from Juri Lotman and Boris Uspenski, but I also take some elements from the theory of discourse from Ernesto Laclau through Andreas Ventsel’s work.

Mis Sind Sinu lõputöö juures kõige rohkem köidab?
What is the most fascinating thing for you in your topic?

Yulia. I really like that this is a story about real people and their texts. Humanities is about people, and it is so interesting to know more about some of them. Also, it is always important for me to have concrete text to work with. Like the OBERIU poets proposed to “read with eyes and with fingers”, I really need to “touch” texts and to be sure that I can understand them.

Ragnar. Mõtlen ja mõtlen… ma ei teagi mis mind köidab selle juures. Ma vist ei teagi, miks ma seda üldse teen? Miks ma ei kirjutanud Tammsaare märgikasutusest mõnes tema raamatus. Tundus, et on vajalik panus inimkonnale või teadusele, et edasi liikuda. Mingi kinnistunud arusaam teadusest mul ütles, et teaduse mõte on välja selgitada, mis toimub ümberringi ja me sees. Ja siis ma ei näinud mõtet Tammsaarest kirjutada.

Hongjin. I like the part about the interaction between the collective memory, and social representations the most.

Andrei. I think I was struck by how different people who suffer from various mental illnesses are represented in film and there is a huge discrepancy between how we see characters in popular films and what those sufferings are actually like. And for me this was a problem of presentation and also introducing bias. It is really easy to look at those representations and think that mentally ill people are violent or comical. Those are two main polarizing directions in film, but in reality, they suffer and they need help and they need compassion and understanding.

Sergio. One important point here is that I haven’t finished it, I am still in the process, but I would say that the most interesting point is to see how semiotics can bring up tools and concepts to something. I think differently about guerilla because, as I said, it is a most famous and common topic in Colombia, but the approach is usually very similar, so I think probably that’s the most interesting thing, how semiotic tools allow me to make new connections.

Kui palju oled Sa oma lõputööst valmis kirjutanud?
How much have you written your thesis by now? (in percentages/pages/hours?)

Marko. 1000 sõna mustandit. Eesti keelne ülevaade ideoloogiast on olemas. Pean selle tõlkima inglise keelde.

Yulia. This is not a very big part. Some readings and the notes with quotations. A logical framework seems to be done, but the consolidated text is not ready at all.

Ragnar. Null protsenti, null lehekülge, sadu ja sadu töötunde. Või peaksin ma ütlema mõttetunde, filosofeerimist, videoid, raamatuid, vestlusi, sisekaemusi. Ma ei saa veel siiani päris täpselt aru, mis kujuga teda kirjutada. Millest ma täpselt kirjutan? Ühe termini loomine ei ole mingi uurimus ega lõputöö vist tegelikult. Kuidas sellele mingi ratsionaalne ja uurimuslik vorm anda, see alles selgub. Kirjutamine on lihtne, seda võib teha tundide viisi järjest. Ma võiksin kohe 100 lehekülge kirjutada mõtteid selle kõigega seoses. Aga selline kirjanduslik vorm ei ole lõputöö. Peab olema õige vorm ja usaldusväärsed viited ja nii.

Hongjin. I have just started writing the literature review by now.

Milline oli kõige huvitavam küsimus, mis Sult küsiti, või parim soovitus?

Which was the most interesting question that the audience asked or which was the best recommentation you got?

Marko. Ettekande lõpus sain näiteks kolm uut autori nime, kelle tööde kohta uurida.

Sain auditooriumist teada mitu uut viisi, kuidas lahendada probleemi, et minu uurimismaterjali maht on väga suur.

Yulia. Maybe it was about the genetic connection of the OBERIU manifesto with the Communist Manifesto. It is always taken for granted that the latter influenced Soviet culture in general and literary manifestos in particular, although I have not yet gone deep in it. So, it is time to compare rhetoric and main ideas represented.

Ragnar. Miks sa seda teed?

Hongjin. The most interesting question would be from my classmates about how I would organize my structure and where I position myself as a researcher.

Mida semiootika Sulle annab?
What does semiotics give you?

Marko. Mulle meeldib, et semiootika on justnagu liim, mis on erinevate ainete vahel. Ühtlasi ka alus. Ta on tähendus, ta on sümbolid, mida kõik kasutavad. Mulle ei meeldi süsteemis kinni olla, mulle meeldib olla erinevate teemade vahel justnagu semiootikagi. Semiootika annab võimaluse mängida erinevate koolkondade, institutsioonide ja mõtetega.

Näiteks inglise keele erialal ma peaks minema süvitsi lingvistikasse või kirjandusse, aga semiootika annab laiemad võimalused. Semiootika uurimisobjekt ei ole tema enda sees. Selle töö puhul ainuke lähenemine ongi interdistsiplinaarne lähenemine.

Yulia. This program and Tartu with its own history was very important when I applied. My supervisor in Moscow was strictly connected with the tradition of the Tartu-Moscow school and with Lotman’s in particular. As well in Russian philology, at least at my program, this tradition is rather significant –many really good Soviet humanitarians were related to it. In Russian, when you read any kind of memoirs and interviews about the time of the 1960s, lots of people talk about the amazing atmosphere of relatively freedom of thinking and real humanitarian school. Now, of course, I understand that what passed is passed, and the Semiotics Department is much more now in a broader European context, and it is about lots of things other than history.

Ragnar. Võimaluse maailmast ja iseendast paremini aru saada. Võime näha rohkem detaile maailmas. Võime minna sügavuti struktuuridesse ja tajuda väiksemaid hammasrattaid suurte protsesside sees. 

Hongjin. Semiotics gives me the ability to “think through”, i.e. the way to see the textures behind what the world presents to me.

Andrei. Semiotics gave me a way of looking at the world and the building ways of looking at the world. Semiotics was a very interesting experience, a very complex one, and I think it showed me how important meaning making is, regardless of discipline, of  what your background is, or where you come from, there is always a way you can benefit from semiotics.

Sergio. Well, a lot of things, I could say it gave me some moments of happiness, but also some very specific moments of confusion, kind of anxiety, and everybody who gets into semiotics experiences it. Actually, that is the great point of semiotics, you have all these varieties of experiences, emotions and different signs. I feel after this first year in the MA, I feel more confident to approach any text regarding how I can interpret it or read it. I think it’s one of the pragmatic terms that I could thank to semiotics.

Mis Sa pärast ülikooli lõpetamist teha plaanid?
What are your plans after you graduate?

Marko. Õpin kõvale andmeanalüüsi ja R-i. Tahan selles vallas saada põhiteadmised ning sooviksin leida enrty-level töökoha ja töö juures edasi areneda. Eesti IT maastik ootab töötajaid. Tahan akadeemiast väljuda. Humanitaarkraad on õpetanud mind kirjutama, mõtlema ja analüüsima. See on väga väärtuslik.

Yulia. It is difficult to say something concrete. At the moment I am just focusing on making a good and high quality analysis. Maybe, after graduation there is a reason to apply to some kind of PhD program in Moscow.

Ragnar. Ideaalis ma oleksin kirjanik, kunstnik, muusik, filosoof. Aga kuidagi peab leiba ka teenima. Kultuuritöö tundub kõige magusam.

Hongjin. I would like to continue my study on semiotics in UT after graduation.

Andrei. Well, at the moment, my plans are not very clear on the topic. I am not sure if I would go into the PhD programme, because PhD programmes are very interesting at the University of Tartu. My main idea is that I go into science writing and technical writing, because my BA degree and my MA degree is in physics, so it is nice to learn how to communicate scientific findings to multiple audiences by incorporating semiotic practices.

Sergio. Well, I definitely want to study my PhD and I want to become a professor in some university, but right now, I am kind of facing a difficult decision, because I don’t know if I want to study my PhD immediately after my MA or I want to work and teach some stuff for at least one or two years, I do not know yet, but I plan to apply here for the PhD or in some other place.


hortus semioticus

Hortus Semioticus is a peer reviewed online journal of semiotics featuring new generation of semiotic researchers.

Hortus Semioticus on eelretsenseeritav semiootika võrguajakiri, mis on pühendatud uue põlvkonna semiootilistele uurimustele.

HORTUS SEMIOTICUS BLOG

Our blog is a digital resource where everyone passionate about semiotics can share their knowledge, questions and experience on stuff that matters.

Meie blogi on koht, kus semiootikahuvilised saavad vahendada mõtteid ja infot kõigest, mis loeb.