International academic seminar “Textbook as an Ideological Text“

Textbooks are a topic that concerns and fascinates students, teachers and scholars. Textbooks can be studied from multiple angles and with different pragmatic aims. On 29-30 September the Department of Slavic Studies of the University of Tartu College of Foreign Languages and Cultures organises an interdisciplinary academic seminar “Textbook as an Ideological Text” that focuses on textbooks as mediators of ideology and instruments shaping the worldview of young people.

The seminar grows out of the institutional research grant “Ideology of Translation and Translation of Ideology: Mechanisms of Cultural Dynamics under the Russian Empire and Soviet Power in Estonia in the 19th – 20th Centuries“ and brings together literary scholars, semioticians, historians, and social scientists from Tartu, Helsinki, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Šumen (Bulgaria). Papers will be given by recognised scholars as well as PhD, MA and even BA students.

The textbooks discussed have been issued in different periods and different countries: Russian empire, independent Estonia, Soviet Union, today’s Russia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Finland. Professor Sirkka Ahonen from the University of Helsinki discusses the topical issue of the reconstruction and deconstruction of national myths in textbooks. The papers of presenters from Tartu – Anu Raudsepp, Timur Guzairov, Aljona Kuts, Olga Skaistkalne – are dedicated to the same topic. Heiko Pääbo considers the related topic, the formation of the image of the “other” in today’s Estonian textbooks. Merit Rickberg speaks about the concept of time in a 5th form history textbook. Anna Senkina from St. Petersburg, Lea Pild and Anna Vesselko from Tartu focus on the development of literature textbooks. Lea Pild analyses the polemic over the inclusion of Estonian translation fragments from the novel Peter I in a Stalin era reader. Anna Gerassimova speaks about the reception of canonical school texts by contemporary Russian readers. Antoaneta Alipieva from Šumen introduces the presentation of Russian literature in today’s Bulgarian textbooks. Boriss Lanin from Moscow discusses the difficulties with ideological discourses that present themselves to the authors of Russian literature textbooks of today. Ljubov Kisseljova’s talk is dedicated to the translation of the ideology of the empire into the language of pre-revolutionary secondary school (gymnasium) textbooks. Katrin Kello engages with the presentation of Russian history in Post-Soviet Estonian history textbooks. Juho Eemeli Hakoköngäs (Helsinki) introduces two important problems: the use of visual devices and the shaping of the image of the EU in textbooks.

The seminar concludes with a roundtable that sums up the discussion and explores possible future directions of research. The working languages are English and Russian. The event is open to all interested listeners.

Link to the programme.

Additional information:

Ljubov Kisseljova ([email protected], tel. 737 5353)
Professor of Russian Literature
Head, Department of Slavic Studies

Milvi Kaber ([email protected], 737 5228)
Coordinator