The Baltic-Nordic Network for the Advancement of Methodology in Area Studies (BAMSE) promotes state-of-the-art research and education in area studies in the Baltic-Nordic area by concentrating on the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of area studies. The network is a meeting point for ideas and people aiming to reevaluate and advance area studies theories and methodologies. BAMSE is a collaboration of teachers, researchers, students and stakeholders from various partner institutions.
One of the key activities of the BAMSE 2020 project is an intensive course for advanced bachelor’s students and master’s students in Vilnius in the end of 2021. The joint course highlights the significance and embedded potential of area studies in understanding transnational challenges regarding underlying changes in power structures/relations, identity constructions, communication, symbolic politics and culture.
In the framework of the follow-up project BAMSE 2021, an intensive course will be organized in Tartu in 2022. Our focus is to discuss how the Covid-19 pandemic has altered the state of democracy. As such, the intensive course elaborates on the resilience of Baltic and East European societies and political systems in times of crisis, analyzing how extraordinary Covid-19-measures have affected these countries’ overall development.
During the second follow-up project BAMSE 2022 an intensive course will be organised in Riga in 2023. The course goes deeper into changed and ever-changing political landscapes in the region. A key concept of the course is resilience, both in domestic and transnational contexts; much attention will be paid to Russia’s foreign policy and its effects on neighboring regions.
BAMSE 2020, BAMSE 2021 and BAMSE 2022 are funded by the Nordplus Higher Education Programme and coordinated by the East Central European, Balkan and Baltic Studies (ECEBB) and the Expertise in Russian and Eastern European Studies (ExpREES) programmes at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki. Network partners include the Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University, Master’s Program in European Studies and Economic Diplomacy, University of Latvia and the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu.