Wolf lecture in Rendalen scheduled for June 6

My lecture in Rendalen (in the Norwegian county of Hedmark, a municipality just outside the wolf zone) has been scheduled for June 6th at 7-9 pm (this replaces a previous note). The topic of my talk is "Hvorfor konflikten rundt ulv og sau har blitt så hissig: Ulv og sau som symbol og realitet" [Why the conflict on wolves and sheep has become so /fierce/heated/: Wolves and sheep as symbol and reality]. Thomas Strømseth of Hedmark University College will give a lecture at the same event, on hunting dogs. The event will take place on Fagertun school, and is arranged by the project ROSAREN, which has been looking into local attitudes to large predators, and opportunities/consequences for local business.

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Som utmarkskommune like utenfor ulvesonen har Rendalen en sentral plassering i debatten om norsk ulveforvaltning. I dette foredraget er temaet hvordan de mange kulturelle bildene av ulv og sau danner grunnlaget for debatten, og hvordan uenigheten i stor grad skyldes forskjellige natursyn. Både landskapet og opplevelsen av det er i endring i vår tid – og særlig vår endrede opplevelse av landskapet henger for en stor del sammen med utviklingen i norsk landbruk, som skaper frustrasjon og håpløshet i mange lokalmiljøer der småskala landbruk ennå er viktig. I løpet av foredraget skal vi blant annet se på natursynet til folk i Rendalen, og foredragsholderen vil også dele noen tanker om fremtiden.

Wolf videos - Langedrag mountain farm and wildlife park

Uploaded to YouTube, MrMortenTonnessen's channel:
The importance of being close to Tuva
Fighting over food

Uploaded previously, from Langedrag:
Socialized wolves at Langedrag meet kindergarten kids
Walking with Mr. Wolf

Cf. also Wolf videos (from Polar Zoo).

Pictures from Langedrag I - wolf pics

The socialized pack, represented by two of them. Animal caretakers approaching...

Enjoying human company.

"Ulvegård" = literally: wolf farm

Waiting for the 'shy' wolves, inside the ulvegård.

Snow in September - 1.000 meters above sea level.

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Cf. also:

Pics and videos from Langedrag

And the wolves they are a-fighting (Polar Zoo)

Scary animals I met in Polar Zoo

Wolf videos (Polar Zoo)

Wolf kisses (Polar Zoo)

Wolf pics I (Polar Zoo)

Wolf pics II (Polar Zoo)

Bear pics (Polar Zoo)

The king of the hill

Feeding the wolves of Polar Zoo

Here we're inside of the enclosure of the shy canid couple, Nanok (he) and Gaida (she). The box contains animal feed (meat). The adult wolves of the park get in average 2,5 kg each day (Note: they are not fed every day).

The shy couple kept a distance as long as we were inside. In the neighbouring enclosure, that of the four socialized wolves, they also kept a distance as we were up in the "wooden tower" (or rather ladder) from which these wolves are fed.

Nanok and Gaida eat. Correction: Nanok, the male (to the right), eats - and shows his teeth to his beloved Gaida, to signal that she cannot yet approach the food.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the road/path, the socialiced wolves keep track of what's going on, with us and to some extent also with their parents Nanok and Gaida...

Work title: "I, wolf"

The work title for my article-in-progress for the forthcoming anthology Environment, Embodiment and History, edited by Johannes Servan and Ane Faugstad Aarø, is:

I, Wolf:
The Ecology of Experience

The wolf as scapegoat

My debate article "Ulven som syndebukk" [The wolf as scapegoat] is in print today in the major Norwegian national daily Dagbladet.

A longer Norwegian version of the text is to be found in my Norwegian blog, Utopisk Realisme.

Proceedings

Last week I submitted my contribution to the 10th world congress in semiotics proceedings, "The changing imagery of the big bad wolf".

On site in A Coruña, Spain

I have just arrived in A Coruña (Galicia), Spain, where the 10th world congress of semiotics takes place. It has been a long journey. I have been travelling (first by ferry, and then) by train - more than 3,000 km. It is my first time in Spain. Se my approximate route here.

Friday I will be presenting my talk "The changing imagery of the big bad wolf" - with examples from the Norwegian national election September 14th.

The abstract book of the 2009 world congress in semiotics

... is to be found here.

My contribution (p. 153) ends abruptly, with a word missing.

THE CHANGING IMAGERY OF THE BIG BAD WOLF

Autores/Autors: Morten Tønnessen (UNIVERSITY OF TARTU)

The current work is part of the author’s ecosemiotic analysis of Norwegian/Scandinavian wolf management in the period 1855-2010. In Norway, as in several other countries, wolf management is controversial. For some on the countryside it has come to symbolize the ignorant hostility (and imperialistic tendencies) of the urban elites. There is a wide gap between perceptions on the conservation side and in the antagonistic camp, and the proper role of folklore – which is considered by wolf ecologists as unscientific – has never been agreed upon. Field observations confirm that the political and cultural strife has little basis in actual wolf ecology – sheep, for instance, which play a marginal role in Scandinavian wolf diet, are currently major players in popular imagery (and, ironically, management policies) only. As symbols have grown and developed, cultural representations of wolves appear, at least in part, to have decoupled from ecological reality. In what ways have our conceptions of wolves changed from the extermination campaigns of the 19th century to the conservation efforts of our generation? To what extent have wolves, in modern times as well as earlier, symbolized human traits, religious ideas etc., and to what extent have they represented actual phenomena of nature? By offering a series of examples of animal representations involving wolves – in fiction and popular culture, in myths and in legends – I will inquire into these questions, aiming at approving our understanding of how human cultures has co-evolved not only with wolves, but further with a rich human imagery of these creatures, the infamous ancestors of man’s best

FRIEND.