Half article day; two article projects likely cancelled

Today I have had half an article writing day, with a little preparation done for my chapter "Neurosemiotics across species". I also realized that two year-old article projects (with data collection dating back some five years), "Proto-language in wolves" and "Synchronicity in human perception of animals", will likely not materialize, for one thing due to a poorly planned research design during data collection.

Paper "Synchronicity in human perception of animals" presented at IVSA 2016

I have just presented my paper "Synchronicity in human perception of animals" at IVSA 2016, the annual conference of the International Visual Sociology Association (Lillehammer June 22-24th). Some 12 people were present.

Work on three wolf-related articles

Today I met with colleague Paul Thibault to commence work on two articles related to field work on human perceptions of wolves and related animals, and one article on proto-language in wolves.

Abstract for IVSA 2016: "Synchronicity in human perception of animals"

I have just submitted the abstract below to the organizers of IVSA (The International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) 2016 (Lillehammer, Norway, June 22-24).

Synchronicity in human perception of animals

By Morten Tønnessen, Associate professor of philosophy, University of Stavanger

This paper presents findings from 13 video-recorded interviews conducted Spring 2015 in Norway focused on the respondents´ perception of wolves and related animals which are often perceived to be in conflict with wolves. The interviews were conducted in the rural municipalities Kautokeino (Finnmark county) and Rendalen (Hedmark), and the urban municipalities Stavanger (Rogaland) and Kristiansand (Vest-Agder). The respondents were shown images, video-clips and audio featuring wolves, elk, dogs, sheep, reindeer and people, and prompted to explain what they saw and/or heard. In the course of these verbal explanations, accompanied by telling body language, it becomes clear how the respondents sought e.g. to determine the species of featured animals, or understand the situation on display.

I will demonstrate different ways in which human perception of animals is synchronized, and show examples involving simultaneous display of multiple screens and video-recordings. A study of synchronicity in human perception of animals can reveal patterns and tendencies in such perception, and inform us about the respondents´ identity, attitudes and self-understanding. By making use of parameters including geography, demography, occupation and hobbies, this study sheds light on the ways in which human self-understanding is always based in part on our ideas about animals.

Acknowledgements: This work has been carried out thanks to the support of the research project Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis (EEA Norway Grants/Norway Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 under project contract no. EMP151). Paul Thibault took part in designing and conducting the interviews; Laura Kiiroja contributed by cataloguing the video-recorded interviews.

Reykjavik paper on Norwegian wolf field work accepted

Today I´ve been informed that our panel “Phenomenological Approaches to the Anthropological Difference”, convened by Cristian Ciocan, has been accepted. This implies that my paper "Synchronicity in human perception of animals" has been accepted for presentation at the 14th annual conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology: “Phenomenology and Beyond” (Reykjavik, Iceland 21‐23 April, 2016).

See also:

Abstract for NoSP 2016: "Synchronicity in human perception of animals"

Abstract for NoSP 2016: "Synchronicity in human perception of animals"

In the end of November, I composed the abstract below, for Phenomenology and beyond: 14th annual conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology, to be held at University of Iceland, Reykjavík,  21–23 April 2015.

***

Synchronicity in human perception of animals

Abstract

By Morten Tønnessen, Associate professor of philosophy, University of Stavanger, Norway

Part of the panel "Phenomenological Approaches to the Anthropological Difference”, convened by Cristian Ciocan

This paper presents findings from 13 video-recorded interviews conducted Spring 2015 in Norway focused on the respondents´ perception of wolves and related animals which are often perceived to be in conflict with wolves. The interviews were conducted in the rural municipalities Kautokeino (Finnmark county) and Rendalen (Hedmark county), and the urban municipalities Stavanger (Rogaland county) and Kristiansand (Vest-Agder county). In the interviews, the respondents were shown images, video-clips and audio featuring wolves, elk, dogs, sheep, reindeer and people, and prompted to explain what they saw and/or heard. In the course of these verbal explanations, accompanied by telling body language, it becomes clear how the respondents sought to interpret the media material and e.g. determine the species of featured animals, or understand the situation on display.

I will demonstrate different ways in which human perception of animals is synchronized, and show examples involving simultaneous display of multiple screens and video-recordings. A study of synchronicity in human perception of animals can reveal patterns and tendencies in such perception, and inform us about the respondents´ identity, attitudes and self-understanding. By making use of parameters including geography, demography (gender, age etc.), occupation and hobbies, this study sheds light on the ways in which human self-understanding is always based in part on our ideas about, and perception of, animals.

Acknowledgements: This work has been carried out thanks to the support of the research project Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis (EEA Norway Grants/Norway Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 under project contract no. EMP151). Paul Thibault took part in designing and conducting the interviews; Laura Kiiroja contributed by cataloguing the video-recorded interviews.

Research dissemination - human perceptions of wolves and other animals

The last couple of weeks I´ve been in dialogue with Benedicte Pentz in University of Stavanger´s Communications department in relation to a research dissemination article which will be published on the Norwegian research webpage Forskning.no, among other places. The article is about the field work I´ve been involved in on human perceptions of wolves and other animals. Today we met to complete the article.

"Human perceptions of animals" chapter revised

Today I´ve revised the chapter "Human perceptions of animals: A multimodal event analysis of interview data" (co-written with Paul Thibault, for the collective monograph Semiotic Methods in the Study of Human-Animal Interactions, due next Spring).

"Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Contemporary Norway" presented by Laura Kiiroja

On Saturday September 19th, my and Paul Thibault´s presentation "Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Contemporary Norway" was given at the international conference "Animals in the Anthropocene: Human–animal relations in a changing semiosphere" (University of Stavanger September 17-19th). Our paper was presented by Laura Kiiroja, our research colleague.

Revision of "Human Perceptions of Animals: A Multimodal Event Analysis of Interview Data" finished

I have just finished, in collaboration with Paul J. Thibault, the chapter "Human Perceptions of Animals: A Multimodal Event Analysis of Interview Data", in its revised version (see some related posts). At ca. 10.000 words and with several images, the chapter is one of the longest I´ve contributed to.

Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Interview Design
3. Theory
4. Analysis of Data
5. Discussion

3rd EMP151 research seminar held; paper on human perceptions of animals presented

The 3rd research seminar of the Norwegian research group of the project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis" was held at University of Stavanger last Friday. 6 people were present. I presented "Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Kristiansand, Kautokeino and Rendalen" along with Paul Thibault.

Talk on human perceptions of wolves and other animals scheduled for June 5th at noon

My presentation, to be given with Paul Thibault, "Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Kristiansand, Kautokeino and Rendalen" (see abstract) has been scheduled for presentation at 12.00-13.30. The presentation will be given at the 3rd research seminar of the Norwegian research group in the project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis".