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"This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This
publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein."

SEMKNOW General Semiotics module at the University of Lapland

1. General description of SEMKNOW General Semiotics module

Basic Methods for Semiotic Analysis 5 ECTS

Faculty of Art & Design- Dario Martinelli

Social and Pragmatic Semiotics 5 ECTS

Faculty of Social Sciences-Suvi Ronkainen

Interpretation and Experience in Semiotics 5 ECTS

Faculty of Social Sciences-Suvi Ronkainen

Images and communication 5 ECTS

Faculty of Art and Design- Riitta Brusila-Räsänen

Semiotics of the Body 5 ECTS

Faculty of Social Sciences-Soile Veijola

Legal semiotics 5 ECTS

Faculty of Law-Juha Karhu

EUROPEAN MIND: Doctoral Studies in Semiotics for a Knowledge and Value Based Society (SEMKNOW)
Grant Agreement Number: 2009 - 3528 / 001-001

SEMKNOW Course Syllabus: Basic Methods for Semiotic Analysis, lectures and data session
1 Name of the subject in English
2 Volume (ECTS)
3 Language of instruction
4 Target groups (audience, level of studies)
5 Prerequisites for passing the subject
(compulsory and recommended
prerequisite subjects, prior qualification
etc.)
6 General objectives of the subject
7 Learning objectives of the subject
(speciality related skills and knowledge to
be acquired; generic skill)
8 Ways and criteria of assessment.
Requirements established to be allowed
to take an exam or pass-fail evaluation/to
re-sit an exam/to make up for missed or
failed assignments
9 Content of the subject (themes to be
covered), brief description
10 Volumes and working formats
(independent work, class attendance:
lecture, seminar, colloquia, practical
work, e- learning, working practice etc.)
12 Independent work (list of works and
guidelines)
13 Compulsory and recommended study
materials
14 Additional information, course www
EUROPEAN MIND: Doctoral Studies in Semiotics for a Knowledge and Value Based Society (SEMKNOW)
Grant Agreement Number: 2009 - 3528 / 001-001
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Basic Methods for Semiotic Analysis, lectures and data session
2 + 3 = 5 ects
English
All students
Introductory module or equivalent
To give students an idea what is semiotic analysis of most varied
cultural, artistic and other objects; on which kind of methodology and
epistemology such an analysis is based; which type of philosophical
presumptions, categories and concepts constitute the background
and foundation for an empirical semiotic analysis. How they
developed historically and which are the most recent innovations in
this field.
Students should be able to understand more profound aspects of
semiotic analysis, than merely applying them to chosen topics.
students read books, follow lectures and write their own essays on
the selected materials; altogether these form the examination
Structuralist, poststructuralist, postmodern, phenomenological and
existential foundations of semiotic analysis
class attendance if a seminar is arranged; otherwise reading and
writing home essays
list of books will be provided
selectively: Winfrid Nöth: Handbook of semiotics; Thomas A. Sebeok:
Global semiotics; Susan Petrilli: Signifying and Understanding; Michel
Foucault: The Order of Things; Dario Martinelli: Authenticity,
Performance and Other Double-Edged Words; Eero Tarasti ed. Global
Signs; E. Tarasti ed. Communication:
Understanding/Misunderstanding I-III; E. Tarasti: Fondements de la
sémiotique existentielle

SEMKNOW Course Syllabus: Social and pragmatic semiotics
1 Name of the subject in English
2 Volume (ECTS)
3 Language of instruction
4 Target groups (audience, level of studies)
5 Prerequisites for passing the subject
(compulsory and recommended
prerequisite subjects, prior qualification
etc.)
6 General objectives of the subject
7 Learning objectives of the subject
(speciality related skills and knowledge to
be acquired; generic skill)
8 Ways and criteria of assessment.
Requirements established to be allowed
to take an exam or pass-fail evaluation/to
resit an exam/to make up for missed or
failed assignments
9 Content of the subject (themes to be
covered), brief description
10 Volumes and working formats
(independent work, class attendance:
lecture, seminar, colloquia, practical
work, e- learning, working practice etc.)
12 Independent work (list of works and
guidelines)
13 Compulsory and recommended study
materials
14 Additional information, course www
EUROPEAN MIND: Doctoral Studies in Semiotics for a Knowledge and Value Based Society (SEMKNOW)
Grant Agreement Number: 2009 - 3528 / 001-001
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Social and pragmatic semiotics
5 ects
English
Doctoral students
Introductory module or equivalent
Knowledge on pragmatic philosophy and its links to social semiotics;
basics on cultural semiotics and critical semiotics.
Good understanding in pragmatism and, based on that, ability to use
ideas from social semiotics, cultural semiotics and critical semiotics on
the analysis of social and inter-relational phenomena.
exam: pass/fail and evaluation of independent work: pass/failed
Pragmatism, social semiotic, critical semiotics, discourse analysis,
cultural semiotics: culture, sociality, media texts, politics
Combination of lectures, basic texts (exam: pass/fail) and independent
work where student collects articles (4-6) from the Journal of Social
Semiotics and write a review on them.
Student collects articles (4-6) from the Journal of Social Semiotics and
write a review on them. The articles can be chosen according to the
students own research interests. Essay max 15 pages, formulated as a
review text or scientific discussion.
Pragmatism: A reader. Mehad, Lois (ed) (1997), Vintage Books, New
York or Kilpinen, Erkki (2000) The Enormous Fly-Wheel of Society:
Pragmatism’s habitual conception of Action and social theory.
Univ. of Helsinki, Dep. of Sociology, 235.
Hodge, R & Kress, G (1988): Social Semiotics or Leeuwen, Theo van
(2004): Introducing social semiotics. Routledge, London & New
York.
Wiley, Norbert (1994, rep): The Semiotic Self. Univ. of Chigaco Press.
Halliday, M.A.K (1978): Language as Social Semiotic. The Social
Interpretation of Language and Meaning or Lemke, J. L. (1995):
Textual Politics, Discourse and Social Dynamics. Taylor & Francis,
London

SEMKNOW Course Syllabus: Interpretation and experience in semiotics
1 Name of the subject in English
2 Volume (ECTS)
3 Language of instruction
4 Target groups (audience, level of studies)
5 Prerequisites for passing the subject
(compulsory and recommended
prerequisite subjects, prior qualification
etc.)
6 General objectives of the subject
7 Learning objectives of the subject
(speciality related skills and knowledge to
be acquired; generic skill)
8 Ways and criteria of assessment.
Requirements established to be allowed
to take an exam or pass-fail evaluation/to
resit an exam/to make up for missed or
failed assignments
9 Content of the subject (themes to be
covered), brief description
10 Volumes and working formats
(independent work, class attendance:
lecture, seminar, colloquia, practical
work, e- learning, working practice etc.)
12 Independent work (list of works and
guidelines)
13 Compulsory and recommended study
materials
14 Additional information, course www
EUROPEAN MIND: Doctoral Studies in Semiotics for a Knowledge and Value Based Society (SEMKNOW)
Grant Agreement Number: 2009 - 3528 / 001-001
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Interpretation and experience in semiotics
5 ects
English
Doctoral students
Introductory course or equivalent
The understanding of the semiotic theories and discussion on the
relationship between interpretation and experience: how knowledge
is always partial, semiotic formation from certain perspective, and
how language and/or visual art is both giving room for the expression
of experience and shaping it.
Knowledge on the relationship between text and experience,
knowledge on the difference between scientific interpretations of
experience and/or how experience is analysed scientifically and the
narratives of experience (linguistic, visual). Skills on analytical reading
of experience from different types of material.
Hermeneutic theory on experience, Ricoeur and semiosis, Irigaray’s
theory on embodiment, system of sign, language and experience
18 hours lectures, readings and seminar. The seminar includes
individual works (mainly interpretation and semiotic analysis from the
material) that are analysed together.
Peirce, C P (1994): Peirce on Signs: Writings on semiotic. Univ. of
North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, chapters 8, 16 (or Collected
Papers, vol 2, 281-302: What is Sign)
Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1979): Truth and method. Sheed and Ward,
London 1979.
Ricoeur, Paul Ricoeur, Paul (1976): Interpretation Theory: discourse
and the Surplus of Meaning. Texas Chrirstian University Press, Fort
Worth.
The Irigaray reader: Luce Irigaray. Whitford, M. (ed). 1991, Basil
Blackwell, Oxford.
Recommended:
Evola, Vito (2010): Multimodal Semiotics of Spiritual Experiences:
Repreenting Beliefs, Metaphors and Actions. In Parill, F & Turner,
M. (eds): Form, Meaning and Body, Standford, 41-60.
Ricoeur, Paul (1977): The Rule of Metaphor. The creation of meaning
in language. Routledge, London and New York.
Lemke, J. L. (2003): Analysing Verbal Data: Principles, methods and
problems. In International Handbook of Science, Kluwer.
Semetsky, Inna (ed) (2010): Semiotics, Education, Experience. Sense
Publishers.
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SEMKNOW Course Syllabus: Images and communication

1 Name of the subject in English Images and communication

2 Volume (ECTS) 5 ects
3 Language of instruction English
4 Target groups (audience, level of studies) Doctoral students
5 Prerequisites for passing the subject Introductory module or equivalent
(compulsory and recommended
prerequisite subjects, prior qualification
etc.)
6 General objectives of the subject The course aims are at familiarizing student with visual culture and
visual communication and understanding the phenomenon of these

7 Learning objectives of the subject After the course students are able to address the visual phenomena
(speciality related skills and knowledge to into practical visual analyses
be acquired; generic skill)
8 Ways and criteria of assessment. Credits 5-1/failed
Requirements established to be allowed
to take an exam or pass-fail evaluation/to
resit an exam/to make up for missed or
failed assignments
9 Content of the subject (themes to be The concept of visual image
covered), brief description
10 Volumes and working formats Lectures, discussions and presentations 30 hours, readings and
(independent work, class attendance: writing essays, preparing the presentations (independent work 110 h)
lecture, seminar, colloquia, practical
work, e- learning, working practice etc.)
12 Independent work (list of works and Readings, writing essays, presentation
guidelines)
13 Compulsory and recommended study Kress&VanLeeuwen: Reading images
materials Kress&vanLeeuwen: Multimodal discourse (when applicable)
Sonesson: Pictorial concepts (when applicable)
Floch: Visual identities (when applicable)
14 Additional information, course www

EUROPEAN MIND: Doctoral Studies in Semiotics for a Knowledge and Value Based Society (SEMKNOW)
Grant Agreement Number: 2009 - 3528 / 001-001

SEMKNOW Course Syllabus: Semiotics of the Body
1 Name of the subject in English
2 Volume (ECTS)
3 Language of instruction
4 Target groups (audience, level of studies)
5 Prerequisites for passing the subject
(compulsory and recommended
prerequisite subjects, prior qualification
etc.)
6 General objectives of the subject
7 Learning objectives of the subject
(speciality related skills and knowledge to
be acquired; generic skill)
8 Ways and criteria of assessment.
Requirements established to be allowed
to take an exam or pass-fail evaluation/to
resit an exam/to make up for missed or
failed assignments
9 Content of the subject (themes to be
covered), brief description
10 Volumes and working formats
(independent work, class attendance:
lecture, seminar, colloquia, practical
work, e- learning, working practice etc.)
12 Independent work (list of works and
guidelines)
13 Compulsory and recommended study
materials
14 Additional information, course www
EUROPEAN MIND: Doctoral Studies in Semiotics for a Knowledge and Value Based Society (SEMKNOW)
Grant Agreement Number: 2009 - 3528 / 001-001
Page 6 of 7
Semiotics of the Body
5 ects
English
Doctoral students
Introductory module or equivalent
Advanced course on the ways in which the human body connects the
self to the physical and material environment as well as to the social
and cultural circuits of value and meaning.
After the course the student will have a theoretical and
methodological understanding on the semiotics of the body,
corporeality and the materiality of human life and the corporeal roots
and structures of signification, and thereby an ability to analyse
textual, sensual and ethnographic data dealing with the body.
Listening to the lectures, active discussion, independent and reading
group work on the chosen books, writing an individual assignment on
a topic related to semiotics of the body and presenting the results in
class (two compulsory books (or combinations of a book and an
article).
The Body as a site of subjectivity, being, meaning system, lived
experience, action, perception and intention, representation of
meanings and values, and the foundation of knowledge of the world,
the other and the self.
Lectures (12 h), independent reading and reading group sessions,
seminar with presentations.
Welton, Donn ed. (1999) The Body. Blackwell. (obligatory reading)
and one of the following books:
Bennett, Jane (2010) Vibrant Matter. A political ecology of things.
Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Butler, Judith (2009) Frames of War. London and NY: Verso) AND
Harrison, P. (2008) Corporeal remains: vulnerability, proximity, and
living on after the end of the world. Environment and Planning A
40, 424-45.
Kreydlin, Grigory (2010) Nonverbal communication in dance, theatre
and art. In Eero Tarasti ed. Communication: Understanding/
Misunderstanding, Vol 2. 781-790. AND
Massumi, B. (2002) Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect,
Sensation. Durham DC: Duke University Press.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice (1945/1962) Phenomenology of Perception.
Routledge and Keagan Paul.
Nancy, J.-L. (1997) The Sense of the World. Minnesota Press.
Thrift, N. (2008) Non-representational Theory: Space, Politics, Affect.
London: Routledge.
Tuan, Y.-F. (1977) Space and Place. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press.
Waskull, Dennis & Vannini, Phillip eds (2006) Body/ Embodiment.
Symbolic Interaction and sociology of the body. Ashgate.

SEMKNOW Course Syllabus: Legal semiotics
1 Name of the subject in English
2 Volume (ECTS)
3 Language of instruction
4 Target groups (audience, level of studies)
5 Prerequisites for passing the subject
6 General objectives of the subject
7 Learning objectives of the subject
(speciality related skills and knowledge to
be acquired; generic skill)
8 Ways and criteria of assessment.
Requirements established to be allowed
to take an exam or pass-fail evaluation/to
resit an exam/to make up for missed or
failed assignments
9 Content of the subject (themes to be
covered), brief description
10 Volumes and working formats
(independent work, class attendance:
lecture, seminar, colloquia, practical
work, e- learning, working practice etc.)
12 Independent work (list of works and
guidelines)
13 Compulsory and recommended study
materials
14 Additional information, course www
EUROPEAN MIND: Doctoral Studies in Semiotics for a Knowledge and Value Based Society (SEMKNOW)
Grant Agreement Number: 2009 - 3528 / 001-001
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Legal Semiotics
5 ects
English
doctoral students
Advanced course on the ways in which various expressions and forms
of legislation, legal institutions and legal practises connects the law to
the social and cultural circuits of value and meaning.
After the course the student will have a theoretical and
methodological understanding on the semiotics of the law, the
interaction between the normativity of law and the social structures
of signification, and thereby an ability to analyse textual, cultural and
ethnographic data contained in the law.
Listening to the lectures, active discussion, independent and reading
group work on the chosen books, writing an individual assignment on
a topic related to semiotics of the body and presenting the results in
class (two compulsory books (or combinations of a book and an
article).
The law as a site of normativity, meaning system, collective practises,
individual action, representation of meanings and values, and the
foundation of knowledge of the world, the other and the self.
Lectures (12 h), independent reading and reading group sessions,
seminar with presentations.
Kevelson Roberta (1989) Law and Semiotics. New York : Plenum Press
AND
Prospects of Legal Semiotics
Wagner, Anne; Broekman, Jan (Eds.)
1st Edition., 2011, XXV, 245 p. 5 illus., Hardcover
ISBN: 978-90-481-9342-4 (obligatory reading)
and one of the following books:
Jackson Bernard S (1988) Law, Fact and Narrative Coherence. Deborah
Charles Publications (hardback: ISBN 0-9513793-0-5 and paperback:
ISBN 0-9513793-1-3)
David R. Papke, ed., Narrative and the Legal Discourse (now out of
print)
Dragan Milovanovic, Postmodern Law and Disorder (ISBN 0-9513793-
3-X)
Bernard S. Jackson, Making Sense in Law. Linguistic, Psychological and
Semiotic Perspectives (hardback: ISBN 0-9513793-6-4; paperback:
ISBN 0-9513793-7-2)
Bernard S. Jackson, Making Sense in Jurisprudence (hardback: ISBN 0-
9513793-8-0 and paperback: ISBN 0-9513793-9-9)
K. Tuori, Z. Bankowski and J. Uusitalo, eds., Law and Power. Critical
and Socio-Legal Essays (ISBN 0-9528938-0-0)
Anna Pintore and Mario Jori, eds., Law and Language. The Italian
Analytical School (ISBN 0-9513793-5-6)
Hanneke van Schooten, ed., Semiotics and Legislation.
Jurisprudential, Institutional and Sociological Perspectives (ISBN 0-
9528938-3-5)