Oslo II - belated report

November 11th I gave my talk 'Ulovlig jakt på ulv' (Illegal wolf hunting) in Kriminalpolitisk seminar in Oslo (University of Oslo), cf. preliminary posts. About an hour - followed by remarks by professor emeritus Nils Christie, and general discussion. There were perhaps 30 people in the audience, and the discussion was engaged and lively, not least since Christie positioned himself - at least initially - as somewhat 'anti-wolf'. He interpreted the 'wolf wars' as a social (i.e. human-human) conflict, and sided with the weak part, which he took to be rural wolf antagonists. Interestingly, Christie accepted my portrayal of the wolf as a symbol for other rural and agricultural hardships - but we disagree on whether or not it makes any sense to 'give the wolf antagonists this victory' (getting rid of the wolf). In my analysis, it wouldn't change the underlying frustration with current developments, and so would be a shallow solution in the sense of Arne Næss' deep ecology; in Christies, "they deserve it". We agreed, however, on the topic of illegal wolf hunting, that it would be a good sign, and further the public debate on wolf management, if those who partake in poaching of wolves could step forward and admit to, and defend, what they do.

In addition to giving the abovementioned presentation, I
* met with eco-criminologists Ragnhild Sollund and Guri Larsen concerning our human-animal relations anthology in-progress
* spent some time at Gentle Actions, meeting with David Rothenberg, David Abram and Per Ingvar Haukeland
* met my colleague in edutainment François Sibbald (our conference concept ARC (Authority - role - communication) - is in progress and scheduled for release early next summer).

I was, that time around, in Oslo Nov. 10-12.