So, why Tartu?

Reflections on semiotics, praxis and international student (night)life

Abstract

Tartu holds a special place in the history and education of semiotics and draws students from around the world. Semiotics is a learnt way of thinking and being, and so an induction into the field for international graduate students in Tartu is inseparable from its lived experience. This paper describes an account of living semiotics as a foreigner in Tartu, through its application to a personal field of interest, i.e. local underground nightlife and electronic dance music cultures. Besides offering strands of an analytical conception of nightlife and dance music cultures, this paper also reflects on students’ extracurricular commitments in this field to a cultural and artistic practice of applied semiotics.