Event dates: 15–21 July 2024 (arrival on the 14th July, departure on the 22nd of July)

Location: Tallinn, Estonia. 5 ECTS.

This programme is aimed at university students and PhD students within the humanities or social sciences, as well as advanced high school students with an interest in the Baltic Sea region.

About
The Baltic Sea region (BSR) has been a contested cultural, political, and economic space throughout most of its history. Since the beginning of the twentieth century – from the upheavals brought about by both world wars, through the alienation during the time of the Cold War, the periods of opening and cooperation in the interwar period and after the breakup of the Soviet Union – the region has gone through changes and transformations of its political frameworks, and the foundations of its identities and cultures. In the recent decades alone, the BSR has gone from the hope of integration and region-building of the post-Cold War years, fuelled by the fall of the USSR and the advancing European integration, through a period of growing divergence, to the situation of today: the sense of threat brought about by the Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the resulting isolation of the Russian Federation in Europe and in the BSR, as well as the expansion of NATO to include Finland and Sweden. Furthermore, the region is vulnerable to the same challenges that all communities, globally and in Europe, face, such as climate change and the influx of immigrants and refugees from outside of the region.

The participants of the CBSS Summer University 2024 are invited to engage in the dialogue on questions of strategic narratives relating to cultural resilience in the face of the numerous, often challenging transformations, and the ways in which Balticness/BSR identity can help strengthen it. How do societies in the BSR respond to crises? How resilient are democratic structures and cultural practices in the face of renationalization, extreme ideologies, aggressor states, the climate crisis, and transformation? Can a shared, regional identity like Balticness help to establish and strengthen resilience of cultural practices and intangible knowledge in a region that shares the natural environment, the cultural memory of contact, cooperation, and conflict, as well as transnational democratic institutions?

The place of our Summer University is not coincidental: Estonia will not only hold the presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States since July 2024, but it is also the country which has had to face most of the challenges that appeared in the BSR in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. During the Summer University we will also visit Tartu, the European Capital of Culture 2024, to experience the cultural dimension first hand.

What will students learn when participating in the programme?
Participants will be trained to understand narrative strategies and identity construction related to the BSR, especially their capacity to build and strengthen cultural resilience. What narratives can be relevant in this context? What kind of social, cultural, political, ecological, and economic agency do these narratives possess (in the past, present and future)? Do different narratives with distinct effects exist alongside each other? After completing this CBSS Summer University, students will be aware of the interconnection between belonging and identity.

Registration and application:
- Submit the application to: https://cbss-summer-university-2024.konfeo.com/
- include a statement of intent with a short description of your interests and your motivation for taking the course (2,000–3,000 characters). Include your university affiliation, programme, and year.
- Deadline for applications: 20 April 2024
- Please note that if you need a visa, send your application at your earliest convenience.
- Number of places: 25.
- There are no registration or tuition fees. The organisers also cover the cost of lunches and some dinners.
- Housing: for participants from outside Tallinn can be provided free of charge in hostels (shared rooms) – indicate the need in your application.
- Travel: travel expenses to and from Tallinn must be covered by the participants.
- Detailed programme and syllabus will be updated on: https://yopenet.ug.edu.pl

Event organisers:
Marta Grzechnik (University of Gdańsk, Poland),
Saara Mildeberg (Tallinn University, Estonia),
Alexander Drost (University of Greifswald, Germany),
Magdalena Muszel (Zatoka Foundation, Poland).

The Summer University is supported by the Council of the Baltic Sea States Project Support Facility & Estonian Presidency of the CBSS.