Pre-conference workshop and horse farm tour attended in Lexington, Kentucky (USA)

I arrived in Lexington, Kentucky, late on Sunday August 9th. On Monday (i.e. yesterday) I attended the pre-conference workshop «A “Walkthrough” of Public US Wellbeing Datasets», with instructors Harry Brisson and Robert Moore, both representing the NGO Gross National Happiness USA (GNHUSA), along with about ten others. Today I have attended a Half-Day Thoroughbred Horse Farm Tour in Kentucky, along with about 15 others.

Over the next three days I will be attending the 24th Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS 2026), with the theme «Beyond the Bluegrass: Harnessing Research to Enhance Quality of life». The conference venue is University of Kentucky´s Gatton Student Center, in Lexington, Kentucky.

See also:

ISQOLS 2026 papers scheduled for presentation in Lexington, Kentucky August 13th and 14th

Registration for 12th Gathering in Biosemiotics

Some days back I registered for the 12th Gathering in Biosemiotics, which is to take place in Tartu July 17-21. I also registered for both of the two pre-conference events: The seminar "Biosemiotics and the Study of Culture" on July 16th and the "Language and life" event on July 17th. 

See also:

* Abstract: "In the gaze of the other: Describing cultural affordances by conducting comparative Umwelt mapping in animal studies" (for July 16th)

* Abstract: "The conceptual Umwelt and its role in the tripartite model of the human Umwelt" (for July 17th, to be revised)

* Abstract: "On the notion of induced semiosis, with emphasis on anthropogenic semiosis" (for July 21st)

Blurb on activism and academia panel

This is Rune Ellefsen's blurb on the panel on the relation between activism and academia at the Shared worlds workshop arranged in Oslo October 14-15 2011 (see also the program of the workshop).

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Panel on the relation between academia and activism in the context of human-animal studies

Participants: Kristin Oma Armstrong (postdoc. in archeology, Oslo University), Kristian Bjørkdahl (PhD fellow & researcher at Centre for Development and the Environment, Oslo University) and Hilde Hammerlin (humanist, Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance).

The aim of this panel is raising awareness and questions about the possibilities and pitfalls of projects where academics and animal advocates interact around common interests in human-animal relations. Scientific human-animal studies are today conducted within a number of scholarly disciplines, focusing on topics and questions of great interest to both scholars and advocates. Issues raised by social movement participants are forming a basis for research and academic inquiry, at the same time scientific knowledge is used by social movements in furthering their cause.

Cooperation and interaction between academics and advocates raises a line of questions: Where does one draw the line between academic activity and activism? What are the advantages and disadvantages of interaction between activists and academics? In what form – if at all – can academia and advocates cooperate? Which experiences exists from other scholarly fields where academics and activists are closely related, as for example within women/feminist studies?

Blurb on horse panel

This is Rhys Evans' blurb on the panel on horses and humans at the Shared worlds workshop arranged in Oslo October 14-15 2011 (see also the program of the workshop).

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Panel on the shared worlds of horses and humans

Humans and horses share a partnership which is unique in many ways. It is a partnership which has a deep historical heritage and new contemporary relevance. Historically, humans and horses have worked together to produce food and other commodities, to produce cities, civilizations, and even empires. Now they work together to produce health and well being, lifestyle balance, appreciation of nature, and self-actualization in an increasingly urbanized world. Where the population of horses suffered a precipitous decline with the advent of mechanized farming and industry, now the number of horses in developed economies is once again growing significantly. Much of this is built around the unique partnership forged between horses and humans. The size, willfulness and behavioral possibilities of horses make them different from other ‘companion animals’ and together the two species build unique worlds out of their different but shared potentials.

Yet much of this world-building has been viewed primarily through an anthropocentric lens. What are these shared worlds which the two create, and how can we know what our horses want, what matters to them, and importantly, how they benefit from the partnership? This Roundtable attempts to address the issue of ways of knowing – what do we know, how can we know, and what can we do with that knowledge in order to make the partnership more equal and more satisfying for both parties?

Flyer for the Uppsala event "Zoo-ethnographies"

Web site: Zoo-ethnographies

MAO update

The preparation for the Oslo Minding Animals pre-conference event, scheduled for October 14-15, is progressing. We have invited Marc Bekoff on condition of funding and he has tentatively said yes. The next immediate task is to apply for funding from two different sources, in May and June.

Minding Animals 2 CFP

The second Minding Animals conference, to be arranged in Utrecht, the Netherlands, will be arranged July 4-6, 2012 (there's also a Leusden Pre-conference Event at the International School of Philosophy July 1-3). Their Call For Papers is now open. Deadline for abstract submissions is October 2nd, 2011. Same deadline for suggestions for the Protecting the Animals Seminar Series.

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".

MIA bulletin no. 3

The third Minding Animals International pre-conference bulletin was distributed 5 days ago, and included details about the Oslo event.

14[-15] October, 2011: Oslo, Norway
Host: Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo
Event title: Shared Worlds
Venue: Domus Nova, Oslo (St. Olavs plass 5 - room to be advised)
Time and Date: 14-15 October, 2011
Organised by: Minding Animals International in association with Nordic Human Animal Studies
Affiliated institutions: Equine Research Network (EqRN) and Department of Semiotics at the University of Tartu by ESF grant 7790 Dynamical Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations
Organising team: Rune Ellefsen, Rhys Evans, Morten Tønnessen
The program will include plenary speeches, a roundtable on the shared worlds of humans and horses, a roundtable of the shared worlds of humans and wolves, and a position note workshop on the relation between activism and academia
Contact: shared.worlds.oslo@gmail.com
Conference language: English and Norwegian
Website: http://mindinganimals.wordpress.com/

Minding Animals Oslo: New abstract

Tora Holmberg, an invited speaker at the October 14-15 Minding Animals event in Oslo, has submitted her abstract: "Sharing the lives of many: Urban controversies over animal hoarding and animal rescue". See also bio.

Rod Bennision will talk on the topic "Considering the exploitation of animals in sport, and understanding the 'Sport of Queens'".

Philosophical practice/human-animal relations - MAO update

Taken from my page at Academia.edu, where you find an overview of my upcoming talks etc:

Philosophical Practice: Questioning of Rhys Evans on his honest, deeply held beliefs and intuitions on human-animal relations

When:

15th October 2011

This session will partake in the „Position Note‟ workshop of The Oslo Minding Animals Pre-Conference Lecture event (Saturday October 15th). I am the philosophical practioner/facilitator/questioner of the session.

On Rhys Evans: http://www.hlb.no/tilsette/rhys-evans.html

This was scheduled on our second planning meeting for the Oslo event, held January 6th. Other news: We're considering a film/art event October 14th in the evening. Planning meetings will from now on be on regular times, the first Thursday every month. Since the meeting, both Rod Bennison and Tora Holmberg have confirmed their participation as invited speakers.

See also last update on the Minding Animals pre-conference lecture events, from late December.

Oslo MIA event mentioned in newsletter

Minding Animals International has issued its first newsletter before the 2012 Utrecht conference (MAC2 Newsletter 1). The Oslo Pre-lecture event is therein officially listed as one of the events taking place in October 2011, along with related events in New York, Rennes, Uppsala, London (twice), Christchurch, and Utrecht.

Note on the Oslo MIA event

I am mentioning the October 2011 Oslo Minding Animals Pre-lecture Conference event with irregular intervals. As for the roundtable on the shared worlds of people and wolves, I will be its facilitator (and Rhys Evans for the one on people and horses).

Following the coordinating efforts of MIA's convenor Rod Bennison, we have agreed to move the event from the originally planned October 25th, 2011, to Friday October 14th.

Update on the Minding Animals event in Oslo

Plans for the Oslo event in the Utrecht pre-conference lecture series of Minding Animals International is progressing. Today I talked by phone for the first time with Rhys Evans of the Equine Research Network and The Norwegian University College for Agriculture and Rural Development. The two are us are for now the only members of the organizing team. We are currently writing a memo with some initial decision points concerning the one-day event, which will take place Tuesday October 25th 2011 and involve plenary speeches, round table discussions (on human-horse and human-wolf relations) and group work. The overall theme for the event will be "shared worlds".

In the meantime, Minding Animals International has gone public with a list of cities where pre-conference events are being planned or considered.

Minding Animals International is proud to announce that several events are being planned before the next Minding Animals Conference.

Events are at various stages of development, and workshops, lectures, exhibitions or seminars in at least Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Cape Town, Christchurch, Delhi, London (x2), New York, Oslo, Rennes, San Francisco, Sydney (x2), Wollongong, Uppsala and Utrecht, are now being considered.

The First Pre-conference Event is an expert meeting scheduled for Utrecht on 29 and 30 November, 2010, followed by a Second Event in Sydney on 3 December, 2010, a public lecture by Professor Marc Bekoff.