PhD defense - Erica von Essen, Uppsala

Today I have been in Uppsala, Sweden, as part of the three-person Examination Board (evaluation committee) for Erica von Essen´s doctoral thesis "In the Gap between Legality and Legitimacy - Illegal Hunting in Sweden as a Crime of Dissent". We unanimously approved Erica´s PhD. She has taken her PhD, in the field of environmental communication, at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, at Department of Urban and Rural Development.

William Smith was opponent, and in the Examination Board I was joined by Stellan Vinthagen (chosen as chair) and Mari Pohjs-Mykrä. Hans Peter Hansen, assistant supervisor, served as our host. Some 50 people attended the doctors defence.

To be member of PhD evaluation committee

I have tentatively agreed to be a member of a PhD evaluation committee at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala. More info as the engagement is confirmed.

Uppsala paper presented

My paper "Two global species and their age-old foe: The semiotic eth(n)ology of wolves, sheep and people" (see abstract here) was presented as the very first paper on the second day of the Uppsala Zoo-ethnographies workshop Tuesday October 18th. Attendance at the workshop was good - and I enjoyed the company of the other presenters, which included Lynda Birke, and of the organizers.

Abstract for Uppsala event "Zoo-ethnographies"

This is the abstract I submitted for the Uppsala symposium "Zoo-ethnographies", which was arranged 17-18 October. The reference was omitted from the program booklet.

Two global species and their age-old foe: The semiotic eth(n)ology of wolves, sheep and people

Morten Tønnessen

Among the core notions I introduce in my recently submitted doctoral dissertation Umwelt transition and Uexküllian phenomenology: An ecosemiotic analysis of Norwegian wolf management is that of a global species (see Tønnessen 2010). In short, by establishing a global ‘colonial organism’ our species has installed an ecological empire, organised with Homo sapiens placed highest in the hierarchy and with crop species, pets, and livestock enjoying positions of privilege. The sheep, the third most significant creature in my case study on Norwegian wolf management beyond wolves and people (given a conflict-oriented focus on livestock predation), partakes in our ecological empire in a quite central position, as one of the top five livestock species globally. The wolf, on the other hand, does not fit in with the modern idea we have had until recently of how we want nature to be (unlike the dog, for which the wolf is an ancestor). Sheep: companion; wolf: foe.

The two global species implied in the title of this presentation, then, are our own subspecies of the human kind (Homo sapiens sapiens), and the sheep (Ovis aries). The wolf (Canis lupus), once the most widely distributed large mammal on Earth, is no global species, but it has given rise to the dog, which is. In Sweden, Man’s “best friend” is arguably the prime animal with which the wolf is conceived of as being in conflict with, and in Norway the dog-wolf problem is perceived as second in importance only to the sheep-wolf problem. In the course of this presentation I will portray the symbolic construction of the Big Bad Wolf in contemporary Norway. Wolves and sheep have historically often been juxtaposed, especially in the context of the Bible. In cultural terms, hardly any animals are as loaded with symbolic value as the wolf and the sheep. And the shared importance is no coincidence, since the symbolism of the two animals has frequently developed in explicit opposition to each other.

Reference

Morten Tønnessen 2010. The global species. New formations: a journal of culture/theory/politics culture/theory/politics 69 (Special Issue guest-edited by Ashley Dawson, Imperial Ecologies): 98-110. Featured as additional content in Encyclopaedia Britannica (www.britannica.com).

Academic travel plans

This weekend I have arranged tickets for two academic trips the coming months:

* Tartu: October 23-26 [in Oslo 22-23] (to stand before the doctoral committee, and to participate in zoosemiotic research seminar)

* Hamar: October 30 - November 1 (for conference on predators and grazing animals)

I will further be going to Uppsala in October, and to Tartu once again in December (for defense of doctoral degree).

(We have also booked tickets for a holiday - Kristiansand-Bodø and back by train (1526 km each way, says Google Maps), November 3-6)

Flyer for the Uppsala event "Zoo-ethnographies"

Web site: Zoo-ethnographies

Minding Animals International: Bulletin no. 6

Minding Animals International has just issued its sixth bulletin.

In the accompanying email, convenor and CEO of MAI Rod Bennison writes that "we now have groups established in Norway, Italy, Germany, India and Australia, with discussions having commenced for Belgium, France and Laos." Further: "We would especially like to hear from anyone interested in setting up Minding Animals 'national' groups."

In the bulletin, I am mentioned as one of the organizers of the October 14-15 Oslo "Shared Worlds" event - now presented in the bulletin under the title "Shared Worlds (Horse-human relations; Wolf-human relations)" - plus as a speaker at the October 17-18 Uppsala event "Zoo-Ethnographies".

Trip to Uppsala in October planned

My trip to and stay in Uppsala, where I will speak at the Minding Animals Zoo-ethnographies event, has been booked and arranged. I will travel from Oslo (where the Minding Animals event takes place October 14-15) to Uppsala October 16th and stay for three days, returning to Oslo October 19th (to lecture at an eco-criminology seminar at University of Oslo).

Uppsala MA webpage launched, dates confirmed

The organizers of the Uppsala Minding Animals pre-conference event, "Zooethnographies", has launched their website and confirmed that the event will take place on the dates October 17-18th (after considering to move the event).

My talk 'Two global species and their age-old foe: The semiotic etn(n)ology of wolves, sheep and people' is one of six keynote speeches. Registration for the event opens in early June.

Invitation to give keynote address in Uppsala

I have been invited to give one of the six keynote addresses at the Uppsala Minding Animals Pre-Conference event - and accepted. The academic event, which is titled Zoo-ethnographies, is to be arranged October 17-18.

Worktitle: "Two global species and their age-old foe: The semiotic eth(n)ology of wolves, sheep and people".

Minding Animals Pre-Conference Lectures in Oslo and Sydney

The last few days I have been in contact with Minding Animals International's convenor Rod Bennison (Newcastle, Australia) and others discussing the possibility of a Pre-Conference Lecture event in Oslo at some point towards the end of 2011. The initiative is Rhys Evans'. He has just started working for the Norwegian University College for Agriculture and Rural Development (Høgskolen for landbruk og bygdenæringer - HLB) in South-Western Norway. I am also likely to attend a Pre-Conference Lecture event in Uppsala, Sweden, around the same time. MAI and The Nordic Animal Studies Network will be the broader networks auspicing the events. Further details follow...

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I am further a candidate for giving a lecture at the Pre-Conference Lecture event which will take place in Sydney, February 19th 2011, in connection with the workshop on the history and philosophy of ethology. For all these occasions, cf. the MAI webpage soon.