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).

Minding Animals Bulletin no. 7

The seventh Bulletin of Minding Animals International was distributed the last few days. At 20 pages, it details a number of upcoming pre-conference lecture events, and more (such as a call for people to convene lunchtime roundtables at the Utrecht conference in 2012). It also envelops a wolf poster presented here in Utopian Realism advertising for the Oslo "Shared Worlds" event October 14-15, and a flyer for the Uppsala event October 17-18.

See also: Flyer for the Uppsala event "Zoo-ethnographies"

Flyer for the Uppsala event "Zoo-ethnographies"

Web site: 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".