Entry requirements

60 credits in the social sciences or humanities. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

Upon completing the course, the student should have:

Knowledge and understanding

• of the general historical development of Belarus in modern times, as well as the key features of state and society in Belarus today;
• of key challenges facing Belarus past, present, and future;
• of the place of Belarus in a broader European, Eurasian, and global context;
• of multidisciplinary area studies as an approach to understanding a given society;
• of the basic premises of the debates on decolonisation of area studies as a discipline.

Competence and skills

• apply basic research methods relevant and feasible for producing knowledge about a closed society that one cannot practically visit in person;
• select relevant theoretical concepts to analyse societal challenges, identity issues, and trajectories for development.

Judgment and approach

• problematise available methods for studying closed societies, and evaluate the pros and cons of conducting such research;
• identify and critically assess preconceptions, disinformation, and propaganda through source criticism and self-reflexivity;
• assess critically the academic and societal debates on decolonisation in postsocialist Eurasia.

Content

The interdisciplinary course aims to offer not only a better understanding of Belarus as a society, but also to contextualize this knowledge in the broader issues facing post-Soviet eastern Europe, Europe more generally, and the world as a whole.

A key objective of the course is the development of effective methodologies for studying “closed” societies – those that, for various reasons, cannot be visited or experienced directly. This will be achieved by applying a diachronic, multidisciplinary approach to the case study of Belarus – especially in the context of current trends toward closed and authoritarian societies.

Students will have the opportunity to engage with a range of thematic areas – such as societal resilience, cultural and religious diversity, sustainable development, democratization and authoritarianism – that they may already be familiar with from other contexts. However, by examining these specifically through the lens of Belarus and collaboratively identifying the most suitable methodological approaches to study it, students will gain new contextually grounded insights and develop a mature set of analytical tools to approach such complex issues. Moreover, by learning how to independently research and critically reflect on knowledge production about “closed” societies, as well as the limitations of digital research methodologies, students are expected to acquire skills applicable to other areas of their studies or future work.

The course aims at enhancing students’ critical thinking and practical competencies, strengthening the connection between academic knowledge and its real-world application, and preparing them to navigate and address future challenges in understanding and engaging with international realities.

As an online-only course within the ENLIGHT framework, students will also benefit from the opportunity to learn alongside students and teachers from other universities within the ENLIGHT network.

Instruction

Instruction is in the form of seminars, lectures, and practical exercises. All instruction is online. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

The course is examined by active participation in seminars and submitted assignments.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator or a decision by the department's working group for study matters.