Funding for the position is being provided by the Education and Youth Board (Haridus- ja Noorsoo Amet), an agency of the Estonian government. While Estonia has been financially supporting similar lectureships at universities across Europe and Asia, the lectureship at U of T will be the first one in North America. Dr Tüür’s contract is for one year, renewable for up to five years. Tartu College is making a significant contribution to this arrangement by providing a free apartment for Dr Tüür during her stay in Toronto.
Prof. Andres Kasekamp, the Elmar Tampõld Chair of Estonian Studies in the Department of History and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at U of T, and Peeter Einola, President of the Chair of Estonian Studies Foundation, were instrumental in facilitating the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between U of T and the Estonian Government earlier this year. Dr Tüür was selected from among 4 highly qualified candidates in an open competition. She is taking over from Marju Toomsalu who has done an outstanding job of teaching Estonian language at U of T for more than a decade (funded by Tartu College), which was a labour of love on top of her full-time job at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson).
Kadri Tüür, a native of Muhu island, gained her PhD from the University of Tartu with a thesis on the semiotics of nature representation in Estonian literature. Currently, she is a researcher at Tallinn University engaged in a project on Estonian environmentalism and an instructor at the Viljandi Culture Academy. Previously, she has worked as a project manager at the Estonian Literary Museum in Tartu and as director of the Muhu Museum. Her most recent academic publication is entitled Trawling for Atlantic herring in Estonian literature.
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Dr Tüür will teach three courses in the fall and three in the winter semester. In addition to offering elementary and intermediate Estonian language (EST100 Mondays and Wednesdays 5-7 pm and EST200 Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-7 pm), she will teach undergraduate introductory courses on Estonian literature (EST203 Fridays 10-12 in the fall) and Estonian cinema (EST205 Fridays 3-5 in the winter). The literature class (taught in English) will cover works by classic authors such as Anton Hansen Tammsaare and Jaan Kross, as well as books by contemporary writers like Sofi Oksanen and Leelo Tungal. The film class (in English) discusses a wide variety of genres, from the animation of Priit Pärn to last year’s international hit documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood.Next year, Dr Tüür intends to develop new courses on Estonian culture and natural environment. This is a huge and wonderful expansion of the opportunities to learn about all things Estonian at a North American university. This is happening in the context of curriculum reform in the recently renamed Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures, where the Estonian and Finnish study programs are being fully integrated into the newly consolidated Slavic and East European languages and cultures undergraduate program.
For more information, visit slavic.utoronto.ca. Please write to the Slavic department's business officer Anthoula Vlahakis a.kampouris@utoronto.ca) if you would like to audit one of Dr Tüür’s courses. Please spread the word to all who may be interested. We are very excited to welcome her to Toronto and there will surely be opportunities to get to know her at community events later this year.
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