The Estonian Centre for British Studies at the University of Tartu

The Estonian Centre for British Studies was founded at the University of Tartu in 1994 at the joint initiative of the university's Department of English and the British Council. The Centre was opened by the then British Council Baltic Director Susan Maingay and the then British Council consultant Chris Tribble. In the subsequent years, the Centre has received considerable support from the British Council. The Centre owes a special debt of gratitude to the British Council ELT Consultant in Estonia Colin Campbell whose personal backing and encouragement were invaluable in helping the Centre to take off.

From its very inception, the Centre has been both interdisciplinary and multifunctional in character. However, its nucleus is formed by members of the staff of the Department of English who have extended their qualifications with a view to carrying out interdisciplinary research and teaching that combines Cultural Studies with History, Sociology, Politics, and other related fields. Two of the members of the Centre have MA degrees in British Studies. Pilvi Rajamäe wrote and defended hers at the University of Tartu under British Council auspices, while Berk Vaher acquired his at the University of Warwick with Professor Susan Bassnett as his research advisor. Both continue as doctoral students at the University of Tartu. Other members of the Centre have come to British Studies from various fields ranging from American Studies and Literature to Linguistics.

The main tasks of the Centre include

• research into British society from a variety of angles: cultural, sociological, political, economic, etc.
• offering a minor in British Studies (combined with North-American Studies) to students from all faculties of the university (under the new, three-plus-two, system, the minor continues its existence in the form of two 16-credit interdisciplinary modules)
• arranging community outreach programmes designed to promote a better understanding of Britain in Estonia (e.g., arranging English language/culture contests for secondary school students, in-service training courses for secondary and tertiary level language teachers, etc)
• promoting international academic relations in the field of British Studies.

All these tasks are carried out continuously but culminate in two major events: the biennial conferences on British Studies and the publication of the selected proceedings of the conferences in Tartu University Cultural Studies Series.

The international Tartu conferences on British Studies have so far numbered four (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002), with the fifth forthcoming on April 23 -25, 2004 (click here for Call for Papers). All conferences have featured, alongside members of the Centre and speakers from elsewhere in Estonia, scholars from Britain, a number of other European countries as well as the United States. The conferences have received support from both the successive British Ambassadors in Estonia and the British Council.

The issues devoted to British Studies are No. 2 (click here for Table of Contents) and 5 - forthcoming. The series is peer-reviewed, and has won international recognition.

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