Keily Tammaru | December 17, 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 photo. We catched Richard, Ene and Kaustubh on the foto in the student conferece in the university library.
Kes olid tudengikonverentsil?
Who were there?
Levan Ilariani is from Georgia and has his bachelor’s degree in Sociology. Besides being a second year master’s student in Department of Semiotics in Tartu, he also has started a master’s degree in Sociology in Georgia and he plans to graduate both. Now, he presented his thesis about „Hegemony of Conflict: Crisis of Political Meaning Making in Georgia“. It is a research of semantic freedom, it is about not being able to make a choice of articulation and being bound with quantitative structures.
Ulla Juske on pärit Tallinnast ning õppis enne semiootika osakonda astumist EKAs skultpuuri, Dublini kunstikolledžis uusmeediat ja natuke aega Tallinna Ülikoolis filosoofiat.
Oma magistriprojektis uurib Ulla absurdi, selle tähendust ja funktsiooni kujutava kunsti näitel. Nii kõlas ka ettekanne teemal “Kuidas luua absurdi (kunstis)? Absurdi semiootiline definitsioon ja selle rakendus kujutava kunsti näitel”.
Richard McLawhorn is from America, and he earned his undergraduate degree in biology. In the conference he presented „Postmodernity 2: Why Is Being Alive So Expensive When I’m not Even Having a Good Time“. In other words he says: “My thesis is primarily about the cultural logic of the economy and the university, I think.”
Ene Lill on pärit Tallinna lähedalt ning viimati õppis ta TLÜs terviseedendust, aga ka magistritasemel kultuuriteooriat ja pedagoogikat, Hiina meditsiini ja palju muud. Tal on ka magister kunstiteadustes. Tudengikonverentsil kõneles ta teemal “Söömahimu, surmahirm ja semiootika”, mida iseloomustab kultuurisemiootilise vaate domineerimine inimese biosemiootilise ja loomuliku toimimise üle ning sellega kaasnev tervisekahju.
Kaustubh Khare is from India and made his BA in archidecture. He has been working on urban disain, he started his own company about growing plants on the roofs, but I had to close it when covid pandemic started. Then he worked as a fleelancer art disainer. Kaustubh has also been teaching visual communication in India. Kaustubh told us about „Semiotic Analysis of Structured Pedagogy Toolkits“. His thesis is about analysing teaching learning resources for primary school maths teachers in India that he was involved in creating. It will also build a framework to analyse usage of the resources by teachers in classrooms.
Denys Sultanhaliiev is from Ukrain and he has graduated BA program in Philosophy. In the student conference he had a presentation about „Materiality and Meaning: Ontological Relations“. It is an attempt of philosophical analysis of the relations between meanings and world of material objects.
Kuidas Sa selle teema juurde jõudsid?
How did you chose or end up working with this topic?
Levan. It was the frustration. I came to semiotics, because one of my professors introduced me semiotics. On the other hand I was working as a social media analyst, where one of my co-workers had a background in philosophy… and it seemed as a way towards the meaning.
In the beginning it was just as an instinct to understand my frustrations about Georgian politics and digital communication. Working with Nelly and others… essays that I have written during my studies… That gave me opportunity to have a creative working process and helped me to come out with a concrete topic, which is still in progress.
Ulla. Tulin semiootika osakonda mõttega analüüsida sõjaväest pärit käsku ämbriga pimedus toast välja kanda.
Richard. It strikes me as irresponsible to not acknowledge the serious issues of the university while being within it.
Ene. Maailma uurides – miks inimesed teevad neid asju, mida nad teevad, loodavad positiivseid tulemusi rakendades mittetoimivaid meetodeid.
Kaustubh. About a year ago, I was hired to be a disainer for the materials for teachers in India. The project including some videos and books for schools. Now the material is ready, they start giving it to the teachers to test it out. I will analyse how the teachers will interpret there resources.
Denys. I was interested in it already when I started my studies in philosophy. Later, I went more specific with my topic and then I found the semiotics program. Those topics form a very basic level of knowledge.
Milliseid meetodeid Sa oma töös kasutad?
Which methods do you use in your thesis?
Levan. Critical discourse analysis for analysing the material (both analysing textual and visual materials), connective action theory. I am also using Andreas Ventsel’s [and Peter Selg’s] book „Introducing Relational Political Analysis: Political Semiotics and a Theory and Method“ published last year.
Ulla. Lõputööks teen magistriprojekti, mille teoreetiline osa on kvalitatiivne uurimus mõiste absurd tähendusväljast ja funktioonist. Praktilise osana valmib kunstiprojekt, milles mõtestan teoreetilise uurimuse tulemusi kunstilise keele kaudu.
Richard. Largely ad hoc, unfortunately. Rigid methodologies seem to be one of the academic tendencies I seek to critique, so it would likely be too ironic to adhere to one. My primary objective is to write something interesting, as opposed to a serious academic work.
Ene. Semiootilisi (kvalitatiivseid analüüsimeetodeid).
Kaustubh. Semosphere, multimodality, translation. Textual analysis, filedwork of observing classroom, focus group interviews with teachers.
Denys. Comparison of concepts of different fields. Usage of this concept in dialectical thinking about the nature or biological phenomenas.
Mis Sind Sinu lõputöö juures kõige rohkem köidab?
What do you like the most about your topic?
Levan. It is not something I like, but something that is necessary. It gives me an opportunity not only to write something academically reliable, but also to make sense of my life.
Ulla. Et kõik teavad, mis on absurd ja kasutavad seda sõna tihti, kui mõistena on see defineerimata. Akadeemilised uurimused piirduvad tavaliselt filosoofilise absurdi kirjeldamisega, milles nad lähtuvad 1950ndate Prantsuse eksistensialismist. Minu eesmärk on absurdi määratleda lähtudes selle tänapäevasest kasutusest.
Richard. I like that I have the freedom to pursue what I am passionate about, even if it is ill-advised.
Ene. Looduse ja kultuuri koflikti tajumine, koostoimimise võimaluste väljaselgitamine, õnnelikuks saamise tingimused.
Kaustubh. It is very applied. It has a strong empirical side. It is a way for me to improve my grafical design tequnique and to critically analyse myself. Moreover, that is related to a big problem in India – the quality of education. I can make an input in a very important place in my country.
Denys. I could create space for dialogue between very different authors.
Kui palju oled Sa oma lõputööst valmis kirjutanud?
How much have you written your thesis by now? (in percentages/pages/hours?)
Levan. I don’t consider that I have written at all by now. I have written around my paper around 40 pages. The most coherent is maybe 5 pages, which I wrote for the master’s seminar. I am now reading extra materials and basically just starting writing.
Ulla. Kirjutanud olen vähe, ca 6–10 lk, märkmeid on nii 50 lk kanti.
Richard. I would like to say eighty percent. It would not be true, but I would like to say it.
Ene. 20% sõnasegadikke ehk olemas on ka pealkirjad. Näen oma peas juba ladusaid ja korrastatud lehekülgi.
Denys. I have worked a lot of hours already, but I haven’t written any pages. I have a lot of notes, which are very caotic. Now I should start my writing process.
Kaustubh. 0. But I have drawn a lot. I first draw and then I write.
Milline oli kõige huvitavam küsimus, mis Sinult küsiti, või parim soovitus?
Which was the most interesting question that the audience asked or which was the best recommentation you got?
Levan. All that happened even before my presentation. The concept of articulation. Now, (an hour is passed), I can think only about the concept of articulation. I got good comments and broader implications about it.
Ulla. Soovitus uurida, kuidas mõistete tähendus on aja jooksul muutunud. Kirjutada rohkem eesti kunstnikest.
Richard. I received a lot of good feedback regarding the basis of my research, as well as some idea of what points seem controversial or poorly founded.
Ene. Mida müütidega peale hakata – kas kustutada (kultuurimälust)?
Kaustubh. I think I got from Levan one more author that I can apply. There are challenges when I do my fieldwork. The problem is that when I do the observation in the class – some of that is my interpretation, other part is the interpretation of the participants. The problem is being able to distinguish it. I do not know the solution yet, but it is good that it was highlighted.
Denys. The most interesting was Israel’s comment, because I had never thought about physical perspective of semiotics, which is like opposite of biosemiotic perspective.
Mida semiootika Sulle annab?
What does semiotics give you?
Levan. Choice and freedom. It is like legitimation of poetics of life. It gives the freedom to think. It gives the possibility to enjoy the life and being scientific at the same time. It is hard to put in words – that is also valuable for me.
Ulla. Aitab maailma läbimõeldumalt mõtestada.
Richard. Semiotics gives me the perspective necessary to imagine relationships in a more critical manner, which is necessary for understanding the very twisted nature of academic research and critique.
Ene. Arusaamise, kuidas maailm toimib, mil moel inimesi nende protsessidesse kaasatusest teavitada saaks.
Kaustubh. A couple of things. My background is very diverse. Semiotics is abstract field enought to connect all those fields that I have done before. Semiotics helps to unite them.
For a disaigner of any sort, semiotics is a very useful framework to work on. Other diciplines are concentrated on natural or linguistic-centric language, but semiotics is very-very broad. You can connect, biology, culture and many other fields.
Denys. It helps to restrict my thoughts.
Mis Sa pärast ülikooli lõpetamist teha plaanid?
What are your plans after you graduate?
Levan. I first return to Georgia and finalize by second master’s there. In the future I am planning on PhD, but I do not know where yet, but I am planning to continue extending the topics that I am working on now. Against the dominance of mathematics. I see myself in Academia, it is my passion since my childhood.
Ulla. Plaanin tegeleda kunstiloominguga.
Richard. Please do not ask difficult questions.
Ene. Õppida ja tööd teha, elada.
Kaustubh. I haven’t got a very serious plan yet. I will continue with the thesis project at least more one year. And after I will see what I do. I do not make so long plans.
Denys. Probably I would like to make a PhD, I dont know yet if in semiotics or philosophy and probably not immediately. I need some time to think about the topic. I will take some time and then I will apply.