"Farewell, civilization" - opinion peace in Khrono

Yesterday my letter to the editor "Farvel, sivilisasjon" (Farewell, civilization) was published in Khrono. The text draws on Peter Wessel Zapffe´s "Farvel, Norge" (1958) and relates to a debate about academic studies started by politician and member of parliament Peter C. Frølich.

To be keynote speaker at Tartu conference on Umwelt analysis

I will be a keynote speaker at the conference “Contemporary Umwelt Analysis: Applications for Culture and Ecological Relations”, which will be held in Tartu, Estonia, 18th-19th of April, 2023, at the University of Tartu, Estonia, along with Kalevi Kull (University of Tartu) and Carsten Herrmann-Pillath (University of Erfurt, Germany). 

Abstracts are due January 31st 2023. For more info, see the conference webpage.

Doctoral defense of Hildegunn Marie Tønnessen Seip attended

Today I have attended the trial lecture and doctoral defense of my sister Hildegunn Marie Tønnessen Seip. Her thesis is entitled "Playing our way: Participation, recognition and creativity as resources for growing up across cultures". The defence was hybrid and included the candidate´s physical presence, with a limited audience, at Ansgar høyskole (Ansgar university college), and transmission from University of Oslo and the work places of the opponents.

Wolves and sheep article revised

Yesterday I revised my article "A brief history of the cultural semiotic of wolves and sheep", which is to appear before Christmas in Pakistan journal of historical studies.

Reference to "Umwelt ethics" article in Cobley chapter on ethics

I am mentioned in the abstract of Paul Cobley´s chapter "Ethics cannot be voluntary", which is part of his book Cultural Implications of Biosemiotics (Biosemiotics 15; Springer 2016). 

Excerpt:

[A]nalyses of the ontology of ethics in biosemiotics have been somewhat circumvented. Instead, articles on ethics in biosemiotics have tended to immediately jump to discussions of ethical and moral questions that might be approached in a biosemiotic frame, such as the value accorded to different inhabitants of the biosphere (Tønnessen 2003; Beever 2012).

Tønnessen 2003 is referenced as

Tønnessen M. Umwelt ethics. Sign Syst Stud. 2003;31(1):281–99.

History of cultural semiotic of wolves and sheep paper presented in Prague

Here at the 16th gathering in biosemiotics, in Prague, I have just presented my paper "A brief history of the cultural semiotic of wolves and sheep". Some 45 people attended.

"Animals in changing environments" project part of cultural-social research trend

On September 15th, the (e-mail distributed) newsletter of the Research Council of Norway linked to a story they published online September 9th, entitled "Kultur- og samfunnsforskning får flest norsk-estiske EØS-midler" [Culture and Social Research receives most Norwegian-Estonian EEA Grants]. As the story narrates, 6 of the 13 projects that got funding under the EEA Norway Grants scheme were within culture and social research. This includes the research project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis", where I'm involved.

Roundtable chaired at Biosemiotics and culture seminar

On Monday 16th of July I also chaired the concluding roundtable of the seminar "Biosemiotics and the study of culture", for 1 hour and 20 minutes, with Nelly Mäekivi. Besides general discussion, Katya Mandoki and Kalevi Kull gave introductory remarks and Timo Maran summed up.

Presentation held at Biosemiotics and culture seminar

On Monday 16th of July I presented my paper "In the gaze of the other: Describingcultural affordances by conducting comparative Umwelt mapping in animal studies" in the seminar "Biosemiotics and the study of culture", convened by Timo Maran, in Tartu. The seminar was a pre-conference seminar associated with the 12th gathering in biosemiotics. There were around 30 people present. Each talk was devoted some 40 minutes including discussion.