3 hours of MEM teaching

Today I taught for 3 hours for the MFAMILY MUNDUS class - introduction to field work at Stavanger City Hall next week. Two hours of introduction into the Norwegian political system, followed by an hour of student presentations based on preliminary research on Norwegian parties and social policies.

3 hours of teaching

Today I taught for 3 hours - 2 hours lecture and 1 hour teacher-assisted group work - in Welfare state and welfare policy (MEM110). This was the introduction to our field visit at Stavanger municipality this week, including an introduction to the Norwegian political system.

Minding Animals Norway mentioned in Norwegian parliament debate on fur farming

On December 8th, Minding Animals Norway was mentioned in a debate in the Norwegian parliament, by our previous board member Une Aina Bastholm (Green Party of Norway). The debate concerned animal welfare/the living conditions of fur animals. Bastholm pointed out that Minding Animals Norway, "an academic network", is among the organizations and institutions opposing fur farming. Bastholm´s parliament speech is available here (in Norwegian).

Chapter on mentions of animals in Norwegian political programs evaluated; to be revised

Yesterday I received feedback on my chapter "A critical reading of mentions of animals in Norwegian political party programs". A revision is due November 1st.

Analysis of mentions of animals in political party programs: Reference incl. DOI; available online x 4

My report "Analyse av partiprogrammer for 2013-2017 utført for Dyreetikkonferansen 2013" [Analysis of political party programs for 2013–2017 – conducted for the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2013] is now, in addition to via the webpage of Dyreetikkonferansen, available online (for viewing and download) via Academia.edu, ResearchGate and Scribd. At ResearchGate the NGO report has been given a DOI, see below.

Reference:

Tønnessen, Morten 2013. Analyse av partiprogrammer for 2013–2017 – utført for Dyreetikkonferansen 2013 [Analysis of political party programs for 2013–2017 – conducted for the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2013]. NGO report. Oslo 2013: Dyreetikkonferansen. Available online (incl. via ResearchGate, DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3693.1203). 21pp.

Ordvalg abstract and link to analysis of political party programs in Minding Animals blog

Yesterday I blogged in the blog of Minding Animals Norway, with a post entitled "Ordvalg – en kritisk lesning av omtalen av dyr i norske partiprogrammer" [Word choice/election - a critical reading of the mention of animals in Norwegian political programs].

See also:

Abstract submitted to Minding Animals Norway's 3rd research seminar; analysis of Norwegian political programs conducted

EASLCE abstract (Tartu): "Animals qua sentient beings vs. animals qua resources"

This abstract has, some three days back, been submitted to the conference Framing Nature: Signs, Stories, and Ecologies of Meaning (The European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture, and the Environment (EASLCE) biennial conference), to be held in Tartu, Estonia, April 29th - May 3rd 2014:

Animals qua sentient beings vs. animals qua resources

A critical reading of the mentions of animals in Norwegian political party programs

Abstract

Morten Tønnessen

Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stavanger

Chair of Minding Animals Norway

Inspired by Stibbe 2012, this paper presents the main findings of a simple linguistic study of the programs for the parliamentary term 2013-2017 of Norway’s nine biggest political parties. The corpus consists of 12 programs, since three of the parties operate with two programs, one focused on principles and the other on more practical questions. The study is divided into two parts, a word/morpheme frequency study, involving 23 entries with altogether 28 search terms (including “dyr” [animal], “dyreetikk” [animal ethics], “dyrevelferd” [animal welfare], “fisk” [fish], “fugl” [bird]), “rovdyr” [predator(s)] and a number of common animals) and a morpheme occurrence study. The latter results in complete overviews over the vocabulary applied in these political programs containing the morphemes “dyr” [animal], “rein” [reindeer] and “fisk” [fish].

The findings of the second part of the analysis show that the three mentioned morphemes are often included in wordings that imply a systematic omission of basic aspects of animal life and behaviour. In particular, the morphemes “fisk” [fish] and “rein” [reindeer] are predominantly, in fact almost exclusively, to be found in conceptual structures that constitute an objectification of animals, usually by reducing them to economic resources. This observation is consistent with one of the findings of the first part of the study, namely that “fisk” [fish], which is economically important in Norway, is mentioned some 300 times altogether in the corpus, whereas “fugl” [bird] is mentioned only 3 times. Even when applied as a word, “fisk” [fish] rarely refers to fish as living, sentient beings, but most often rather to fish products and governmental management of fisheries.

There are a few instances of statements connecting animal welfare and the like to the fishy vocabulary, but there is otherwise little correlation between the positive statements about animal ethics etc. on the one hand and the use of language whenever animals are mentioned elsewhere in the party programs on the other. The analysis thus shows that the choices of words that have been made in formulating the parties' policies for this parliamentary term in sum reveal a deep-seated anthropocentrism which stands in direct contrast to the good intentions, officially shared by several of the analyzed parties, of getting animal ethics higher up on the political agenda.

Reference

Stibbe, Arran. 2012. Animals Erased: Discourse, Ecology, and Reconnection with the Natural World. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.

* This presentation is supported by the research project "Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis" (EEA Norway Grants EMP 151, 2013-2016).

Abstract submitted to Minding Animals Norway's 3rd research seminar; analysis of Norwegian political programs conducted

Yesterday I wrote and submitted the abstract "Ordvalg - en kritisk lesning av omtalen av dyr i norske partiprogrammer" [Word choice/election - a critical reading of the mention of animals in Norwegian political programs] for Minding Animals Norway's 3rd research seminar. My paper will be based of a linguistic analysis of the political programs of nine Norwegian political parties (21 pp).

The Norwegian language abstract of the talk has been posted in my Norwegian blog, Utopisk Realisme.

See also:

Minding Animals Norway's 3rd research seminar to be held August 23rd in Oslo