Content

This interdisciplinary course is ideal for those studying linguistics, semiotics, media studies, and communication studies. It will also be of interest to students in urban studies and environmental studies.

The course comprises six online sessions and a five-day on-site programme in Bern which includes applied workshops, fieldwork assignments, and thematically-related outings. Students travelling to Bern will use their journey as a chance to complete a “Trash Trajectories” fieldwork exercise serving as the basis for one of the workshops. Students are expected to attend an initial “getting-to-know-you” session or similar exchange.

Online sessions will cover a range of different theoretical, conceptual and methodological perspectives addressing the following types of questions:

• how is waste defined and represented in everyday and/or official talk and texts?
• how is waste mediatized and framed, e.g., in newspapers, advertisements, and commercial texts?
• how are people socialized or schooled into the meanings of waste?
• where does wasting take place in our lives and in the places we call home?
• what role might communication play in changing how people think about and practice wasting in more sustainable ways?

Learning outcomes

The course will be structured around five key academic practices: observing, describing, explaining, evaluating and critiquing. In this regard, students will:

1. have a foundational understanding of the theoretical and conceptual links between waste semiotics and the interdisciplinary field of discard studies;
2. understand how waste semiotics is grounded in the study of linguistic, representational and other communicative practices;
3. have an appreciation for the way waste is approached in other fields such as literary studies, anthropology, geography, fine arts, and so on;
4. develop practical and methodological skills for documenting and analyzing discard representations and practices;
5. recognize the concrete ways in which a semiotic approach to waste creates opportunities for wider community engagement and perhaps solutions for key social-ecological challenges.

Programme

Online sessions will draw on expertise of the five core ENLIGHT instructors (see below) who will each offer a framing sessions addressing the following types of theoretical/conceptual/methodological perspectives:

• sociolinguistics of waste and discard studies
• environmental humanities and waste in literature
• language awareness and the framing of waste
• ecosemiotics and cultures of repair/recycling
• semiotic landscapes and rhetorics of erasure/absence 

The one-week, on-site programme will comprise a series of hand-on, applied workshops drawing on different fieldwork assignments and outings. Fieldtrips and outings will include a guided tour of Bern’s major waste management plant and/or a sewer tour; a visit from the city’s official communications office for Waste & Recycling; an applied assignment at a major second-hand shop; a waste-related outing/assignment in Bern’s touristic Alpine region. The programme will be altered according to available opportunities during the week. There will be at least one hosted dinner and one hosted lunch with the whole cohort.

Assessment

Credits: 3 ECTS (workload approximately 80 hours)

Assessment: Students’ learning will be assessed as pass/fail based on their active participation in ALL online sessions (including the “getting-to-know-you” engagement) and in the FULL on-site programme in Bern. The final assessment will be determined by the University of Bern host instructor and in consultation with the other instructors. There will be no formal written assignments or examinations, although students may be asked to prepare a short learning reflection statement at the end.

Paperwork: All incoming students will be issued with a Certificate of Attendance by the host instructor. The Transcript of Records will be completed via the University of Bern’s official KSL grade system within one week of the on-site programme completion.

Lecturers

• Prof. Crispin Thurlow, Department of English, University of Bern (with local team instructors Charmaine Kong, Alessandro Pellanda, and Laura Wohlgemuth)
• Prof. Marco Caracciolo, Department of Literary Studies, Ghent
• Prof. David Karlander, Department of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala
• Prof. Riin Magnus, Department of Semiotics, Tartu
• Prof. Erika Darics, Department of Communication and Information Studies, Groningen

Course dates

On-site: Monday 19 to Friday 23 October 2026 (arrival Sunday 18)

Online: Tuesdays 16:15-18:00 on 08, 15, 22, 29 September and 06 & 13 October

Entry requirements: Priority will be given to students in the fields of linguistics, semiotics, media studies, and communication studies, followed by those in urban studies and environmental studies. Other students with subject- or topic-relevant interests may be considered too. Priority will be given to master students and then advanced bachelor students (i.e. those in the final or penultimate year of the degree). Three (3) places will initially be made available to students from each ENLIGHT university, although there are waitlist arrangements.

Students from all ENLIGHT partner universities are eligible to participate. Students will be selected at each of these universities separately. Students interested in the course need to apply via their home university. They should contact their faculty or programme to verify whether it can fit in their curriculum and to ensure academic recognition of the credits obtained. The home university will select the permitted number of students (see previous paragraph), inform the students as soon as possible, and then send these names to the host institution. Unsuccessful students will be placed on a waiting list and may get a place if other universities do not use all their allocated places.

Please select your home university below and contact your ENLIGHT coordinator for further information on the application process or consult the linked information.

• University of the Basque Country: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Bern: See KSL for course description; send an email to Professor Thurlow (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) with your expression of interest.
• University of Bordeaux: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Comenius University Bratislava: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Galway: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Ghent University:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (see information about BIP's)
• University of Groningen: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Göttingen:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (for BIP’s) or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (other courses)
• University of Tartu: Application instructions for students at the University of Tartu
• Uppsala University: Application instructions for students at Uppsala University.

Grants: Visiting students will be eligible for a SEMP mobility grant paid by the University of Bern. Find more information here. Please check with your local mobility coordinator whether you are also eligible for an E+ grant, provided by your home university.

Visiting students will be responsible for making their own travel arrangements.

Prof. Dr. Crispin Thurlow, University of Bern: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.