ERC writing day

Today I have had another writing day focusing on my ERC Consolidator Grant application "Assessing human and animal welfare in the Anthropocene". Some 5 hours... And more to be done tomorrow, and three days next week, before the deadline is upon me.

Anthropocene lecture by Sverker Sörlin attended

Yesterday I attended an open lecture by environmental historian Sverker Sörlin at Museum of Archaeology, on the Anthropocene, organized by GreenHouse, the environmental humanities initiatives at University of Stavanger. Some 50-60 people showed up and were enlightened.

4 hours of teaching

Today I have taught for altogehter 4 hours - first I moderated two student presentations in the MA course "Philosophy of science and research methods" (topics: deep ecology; the Anthropocene), then a seminar in Ex.Phil., the fourth and last this week.

Guest lecture in environmental history master course

I will give a guest lecture in the University of Stavanger master course «Miljø- og vannhistorie - Et historiografisk perspektiv» [Environmental history and history of water - a historiographic perspective] (course code MHI335_1) Spring 2017, on March 20th at 9.15-11.00. I will cover the Anthropocene and related discussions.

Art Science & Cocktails program

Here´s the program for the Art Science & Cocktails event in Stavanger I took part in on September 23rd - with my contribution presented here.

Art Science & Cocktails held

On Friday november 23rd I was on stage during the event Art Science & Cocktails at Café Sting in Stavanger, presenting "Om det menneskeskapte økologiske hierarki i Antropocen" [On the human-made ecological hierarchy in the Anthropocene]. Some 40 people were present. Two other scholars and two artists also presented.

Discount book flyer for "Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene"

I have uploaded a discount book flyer for the book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene to my Academia.edu profile. Using the discount code gives 30% discount on the book.

Draft of introductory chapter finished

Yesterday I finished the draft of the introductory chapter to the book work-titled Animals in the Anthropocene, "Introduction: Once upon a time in the Anthropocene", which I am co-authoring with Kristin Armstrong Oma.

To talk at researcher standup, Stavanger, September 22nd

Today I have agreed to take part in a "Forsker Standup" (researcher standup) at Café Sting in Stavanger on September 22nd, as part of Forskningsdagene [literally: the research days], an annual Norwegian academic festival. Work title for my 15 minute presentation: “Om det menneskeskapte økologiske hierarki i Antropocen” [On the human-made ecological hierarchy in the Anthropocene].

First call for papers for "Animals in the Anthropocene" conference now being distributed

The first call for papers for the conference "Animals in the Anthropocene: Human-animal relations in a changing semiosphere" (University of Stavanger September 17-19, 2015) was yesterday distributed to all scientific staff members of University of Stavanger. It will shortly be made available online via the research project "Animals in changing environments".

Summary page: Media coverage of Norwegian Human-Animal Studies anthology

Minding Animals Norway has posted an overview of reviews, debate etc. in the wake of the publication of the Norwegian Human-Animal Studies anthology Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder [Who is wildest in this country here? Brutality towards animals and nature in the Anthropocene, the age of Man] - see here. The overview includes mention of (and for the most part links to) no less than twelve media texts/appearances.

See also: 

Spartacus:Facsimiles of media coverage of HAS anthology

Reference to my contributions to Norwegian HAS anthology

The anthology Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder [Who is wildest in this country here? Brutality towards animals and nature in the Anthropocene, the age of Man] was published by Spartacus forlag/Scandinavian Academic Press on May 15th. Here I present a list of full references to the contributions I am involved in as an author.

Sollund, Ragnhild, Guri Larsen og Morten Tønnessen 2013. Forord [Preface]. In Sollund, Ragnhild, Morten Tønnessen og Guri Larsen (eds) 2013, Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder, Oslo: Spartacus Forlag/Scandinavian Academic Press, 7.  

Sollund, Ragnhild, Morten Tønnessen og Guri Larsen 2013. Introduksjon: Fra bruksdyr til dyreverd [Introduction: From animals of utility to animal dignity]. In Sollund, Ragnhild, Morten Tønnessen og Guri Larsen (eds) 2013, Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder, Oslo: Spartacus Forlag/Scandinavian Academic Press, 9-36.  

Tønnessen, Morten 2013. Menneskeveldet [The human empire]. In Sollund, Ragnhild, Morten Tønnessen og Guri Larsen (eds) 2013, Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder, Oslo: Spartacus Forlag/Scandinavian Academic Press, 37-56. 

Tønnessen, Morten 2013. Hvem er villest i landet her? Et ulveliv [Who is wildest in this country here? A wolf's life]. In Sollund, Ragnhild, Morten Tønnessen og Guri Larsen (eds) 2013, Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder, Oslo: Spartacus Forlag/Scandinavian Academic Press, 79-98. 

As detailed in the preface, the book is dedicated to the memory of Tinga [a bird], Singa [a dog], and Matias Laurits da Silva-Tønnessen, the latter being my son.

My bionote is on page 378.

Norwegian HAS anthology proof-read; to be released May 15th

The last few weeks and months the other two editors and myself have been working with preparing Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen - menneskets tidsalder [Who is the wildes one in the country here? Brutality against animals and nature in the Anthropocene, the age of Man], for publication. The publication date has now been set to May 15th.

Work done since last post on this volume, in March, includes regular proof-reading (involving all contributors), proof-reading of the print-ready PDF, and - today - revision of the index.

Final version of cover:

Talk at HAS rhetorics workshop slightly rescheduled

My upcoming presentasion "Animals craving for meaning in the Anthropocene - a perspective on the global semiocide", to be presented at next week's animal rhetorics workshop in Oslo, has been slightly rescheduled, to 15.45-16.15 on May 29th.

See also:
Talk at HAS rhetorics workshop scheduled for May 29
Abstract: "Animals craving for meaning in the Anthropocene - a perspective on the global semiocide"

Animal rhetoric paper written

Yesterday I finished my paper to be presented at the forthcoming workshop "The Rhetoric of Human-Animal Relations" (Oslo, May 29-30), "Animals craving for meaning in the Anthropocene - a perspective on the global semiocide". 14 pages, organized into 5 sections:

1. A footnote on biorhetorics 

2. On biosemiosis, the action of signs in living systems 

3. On the Anthropocene, particularly its animal aspect (and thus the global species concept) 

4. A note on induced semiosis, with repercussions for the global species concept 

5. Last wor(l)ds: On the global semiocide

It remains to be seen whether it will be selected for publication. At any rate it will be distributed among the workshop participants, among with the papers of all the others.

Programme for HAS rhetorics workshop; presentation scheduled

Four days ago the programme for the May 29-30 Oslo workshop "The Rhetoric of Human-Animal Relations", organized by Kristian Bjørkdahl, was distributed to presenters. The programme looks really exciting.

My presentation "Animals craving for meaning in the Anthropocene - a perspective on the global semiocide" has been scheduled for Tuesday May 29th at 13.45-14.15, as the fourth and ultimate paper in the session "Mute Brutes that Hoot in the Dark are the Moot Root of Quotation Marks".

Abstract: "Animals craving for meaning in the Anthropocene – a perspective on the global semiocide"

This abstract was submitted to the organizer of the May 29-30 Oslo workshop "The Rhetoric of Human-Animal Relations" on February 1st.

***

Animals craving for meaning in the Anthropocene – a perspective on the global semiocide

Biosemiotics is nominally linked to rhetoric through biorhetorics as developed by zoosemiotician Stephen Pain. More importantly, all biosemioticians concede that all animals are sign users, meaning utilizers. ‘Semiosis’ is the action of signs, and ‘biosemiosis’ the action of signs in living systems, two examples of such semiosis being animal communication and perception. Many, if not all, signs are subject to interpretation by some animal (or person). In the context of biosemiotics, there is no doubt that animals are proper subjects actively engaged in semiosis.

As interpreters, animals wild and tame are destined to interpret, and respond to, the constant stream of semiosis produced by human civilization. In the Anthropocene, the era in which humankind has acted en masse as a force of geological magnitude, the currents of human semiosis are increasingly shaping the landscapes. The human species is the first global species (a species with a global range) to emerge for millions of years, and its worldwide civilization is creating breeding grounds for a number of yet other global species. Enter the modern schism in nature between the favored and the unfavored. Various forms of ‘induced semiosis’ (Sharov) can in terms of human ecology be considered as constituting a further effectory layer in humankind’s control system qua global species.

When animal lives are subjugated to human purposes, their biosemiosis is tentatively adapted to our human semiosis. The Estonian palaeontologist Ivar Puura has introduced the word semiotsiid (semiocide) to signify “a situation where someone´s malevolence or negligence brings along destruction of signs and stories, which are meaningful to someone else, whose identity is thus violated”. If the Anthropocene is the Age of Man, then in a biosemiotic perspective it is also the era of an emerging global semiocide.

Dissertation: Semi-detailed table of contents

I am in the process of finishing the second draft of my doctoral dissertation, titled for now "Umwelt Transition: Uexküllian Phenomenology - An Ecosemiotic Analysis of Norwegian Wolf Management". I now distinguish between Contents At A Glance and a Detailed Table of Contents. Here's an excerpt of the latter (the fully detailed table contains a third layer of organization in addition to the two shown here).

Contents at a glance

Detailed table of contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1 Making Sense of Nature

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll

1.3 Uexküllian thought after Uexküll

1.4 Problems in contemporary ethological approaches to nature

1.5 Problems in contemporary semiotic approaches to nature

1.6 Changing views on a changing nature

1.7 The topic of change

1.8 Umwelt typology – systematic outline

1.9 On the current ecological situation

1.10 What is subjective biology today?

Chapter 2 Uexküllian Phenomenology

2.1 Introduction: Uexküll and phenomenology

2.2 Semiotics and phenomenology

2.3 Problems of phenomenology

2.4 Problems of ontology

2.5 Communal being and distinctive being

2.6 On the forms of existence

2.7 Development of a typology of Umwelt transitions

2.8 Modern Umwelten

2.9 Further theoretical developments

Chapter 3 The Semiotics of the Ecological Crisis

3.1 Introduction: The trajectory of a crisis

3.2 Semiosis and crisis

3.3 On matters of diversity and extinction

3.4 The semiotics of domestication and related phenomena

3.5 Developing the perspective of Umwelt alignment

3.6 On matters of ethics and economy

3.7 Anthropocene studies: The global species

3.8 Characteristic developments in the modern era

3.9 Current developments

Chapter 4 Umwelt Mapping

4.1 Introduction: On mapping semiosis at the level of the organism, and higher levels

4.2 First examples of ontological maps

4.3 Mapping human impact

4.4 On matters of quality and quantity

4.5 Methodological challenges

4.6 Developing the notion of ontological maps

Chapter 5 Case study: Norwegian Wolf Management

5.1 Introduction: Prelude to the Norwegian wolf wars

5.2 The cultural semiotics of wolves and sheep

5.3 Contextual encircling of the topic matter of the case study

5.4 The situation for Norwegian sheep farmers and agriculture

5.5 Conflict areas in current wolf management

5.6 Controversial questions in the current debate

5.7 Geographical treatment

5.8 Field trips

5.9 Management strategies

5.10 Management methods

5.11 Historical exposition – the era of extermination campaigns

5.12 Historical exposition – the era of conservation efforts

5.13 Contemporary exposition (2006-2011)

5.14 On matters of legality

5.15 On matters of democracy, empowerment and knowledge regimes

5.16 Mapping of the Umwelt of wolves in Norway

5.17 Mapping of the Umwelt of sheep and other relevant animals in Norway

5.18 Mapping of the Umwelt of selected groups of Norwegians

5.19 Analysis: The wolf and other symbols

5.20 Analysis: Matters of management philosophy

5.21 Further analysis

5.22 Analysis: Umwelt transitions

5.23 Future perspectives

Chapter 6 Umwelt Transition

6.1 Introduction: Theoretical findings

6.2 Evaluation of theoretical assumptions

6.3 Evaluation of the methodology of Umwelt mapping

6.4 Ecological alienation

6.5 Theoretical development: Umwelt transition

6.6 On further theoretical development

Summary in Estonian

References

Index

Curriculum Vitae

New research interests at Academia.edu

I have registered 35 research interests in Academia.edu.

Four of these I had to create:
Anthropocene studies
Ecosemiotics
Semiotic economy
Zoosemiotics

Feel free to join me!