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).

---

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).

---

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?

Final program for "Shared worlds" workshop

This is the final version of the program for the Shared worlds workshop (Oslo, October 14-15 2011) arranged by what was during that workshop founded as Minding Animals Norway. I prepared a program booklet, distributed during the workshop, on October 13th.

---

Program

Friday October 14

09.30-10.00 Registration

Chair of morning session: Morten Tønnessen

10.00-11.00 Rod Bennison: “Considering the exploitation of animals in sport, and understanding the ‘Sport of Queens’”

10.00-10.45 Plenary speech

10.45-11.00 Q & A

11.00-12.00 Panel on the shared worlds of horses and humans

Facilitator: Kristin Oma Armstrong

Panelists: Kristin Oma Armstrong, Lynda Birke, Rhys Evans [the latter by video link]

11.00-11.15 Video introduction by Rhys Evans

11.15-12.00 Panel discussion

12.00-12.15 Coffee break

12.15-13.15 Liv Emma Thorsen: “Shared worlds? Animals in natural history museums”

12.15-13.00 Plenary speech

13.00-13.15 Q & A

13.15-14.45 Lunch break

Chair of afternoon session: Rune Ellefsen

14.45-15.45 Nelly Mäekivi: “(Mis)perceptions in shared environments: The case of zoos”

14.45-15.30 Plenary speech

15.30-15.45 Q & A

15.45-16.45 Tora Holmberg: “Sharing the lives of many: Urban controversies over animal hoarding and animal rescue”

15.45-16.30 Plenary speech

16.30-16.45 Q & A

16.45-17.00 Coffee break

17.00-18.00 Roundtable on the shared worlds of wolves and humans

Facilitator: Morten Tønnessen

Confirmed roundtable participants: Runar Næss, Antonio Poleo, Ketil Skogen, Morten Tønnessen

17.00-17.10 Introduction by Morten Tønnessen

17.10-18.00 Roundtable discussion

Saturday October 15

Chair of morning session: Rod Bennison

11.00-11.15 Rod Bennison informs about Minding Animals International and the 2012 Minding Animals conference in Utrecht

11.15-12.15 Position note workshop on the relation between academia and activism, part I

11.15-11.30 Video introduction by Rhys Evans

11.30-11.45 Philosophical practice: Questioning of Rod Bennison (by Morten Tønnessen) on his honest, deeply held beliefs and intuitions on human-animal relations

11.45-12.15 Group work

12.15-13.15 Panel on the relation between academia and activism in the context of HAS

Facilitator: Rune Ellefsen

Panelists: Kristin Oma Armstrong (UiO), Kristian Bjørkdahl (SUM – UiO), Rune Ellefsen (UiO), Hilde Valbjørn Hagelin (Dyrevernalliansen))

13.15-13.30 Coffee break

13.30-15.30 Position note workshop part II

15.30-17.00 Lunch break

17.00-18.00 General meeting of Minding Animals Norway

October foray to Rogaland: University, university college visited; teaching job agreed on

In early October 2011 I visited Stavanger and Klepp (Oct. 3-5). In Stavanger I met with Kari Vevatne, Head of department at Department of Health studies, to discuss possibly being temporarily hired to teach philosophy. That meeting went well, as did a meeting with subject teacher Kjellaug Kaldestad Johannessen, who is responsible for the UiS' online Bachelor in nursing, where Examen Philosophicum is included as a compulsory subject. Kari and I agreed there and then that I would work at the department as a teacher both spring (25%) and (100%) autumn 2012, responsible for Ex.Phil. for nursing students and further for a Master course in the philosophy of science and moral philosophy in health studies. Part of the background is that Professor aka philosopher Sebastian Rehnmann will get research leave the autumn of 2012.

At nearby Klepp I then met, for the first time, with the honorable HAS researcher and "bygdeforsker" (rural studies scholar) Rhys Evans, with whom I had already cooperated for a year or so in preparing the Minding Animals workshop "Shared worlds". I thus got to see the Norwegian University College for Agriculture and Rural Development, where he works, in addition to being hosted by Rhys in his home. At the university college I shot a couple of videos for the Shared worlds workshop featuring Rhys, who could not attend after all due to conflicting obligations.

Travel plans: Stavanger and Klepp, October 3-5

As detailed in the previous post I have been assigned to teach introductory philosophy at the University of Stavanger next spring, in a 25 % position. That is one of two reasons why I will October 3rd-5th be visiting Stavanger and nearby Klepp. The other reason relates to Rhys Evans of Klepp's The Norwegian University College for Agriculture and Rural Development (Høgskulen for landbruk og bygdenæringar), with whom Rune Ellefsen and I are organizing the October 14-15 Shared World seminar in Oslo (see also the website of Minding Animals International).

I will arrive in Stavanger Monday October 3rd in the morning, and meet with the scholar academically responsible for University of Stavanger's web-based bacholor degree in nursing plus the staff philosopher that day. The next day, Tuesday October 4th, I will meet with the head of department at Department of health studies, and then move on to Klepp and the Norwegian University College for Agriculture and Rural Development, where I will work and discuss with Rhys that afternoon and the next morning, partly in preparation of the Shared Worlds seminar.

Minding Animals Norway formally registered as NGO

Minding Animals Norge has now been registered as an NGO in Norway's Brønnøysundregistrene (Enhetsregisteret). Organisasjonsnummer: 997 336 216.

I am a founding member and a member of the board along with Rune Ellefsen and Rhys Evans. The first general meeting of MAN will take place in Oslo October 15h, at the closure of our Shared Worlds seminar (see our Facebook page here).

See also the webpage of Minding Animals International.

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"

Update on the Oslo Minding Animals seminar "Shared Worlds"

Update on the Oslo Minding Animals seminar "Shared Worlds":

1) Confirmed participants in the roundtable on wolf/human relations: Runar Næss, Antonio Poleo, Ketil Skogen. Lynda Birke is among the confirmed participants in the roundtable on horse/human relations.

2) This weekend we sent our application to register Minding Animals Norway as an NGO, with me, Rune Ellefsen and Rhys Evans as (founding members and) board members. In the process we have agreed on a founding document with initial regulations (regulations are up for revision on the concluding open meeting at the end of the Shared Worlds seminar).

3) We have agreed to have books/flyers on display from Brill Academic Publishers, which publishes the journal Society and Animals and the book series ‘Human - Animals Studies’, and from Elli Radinger, editor of the German Wolf Magazin and author of several books on wolves.

4) The number of registered participants is increasing - to register, simply send your details to shared.worlds.oslo@gmail.com.

See also the latest notifications in Utopian Realism:
Poster series for the Shared Worlds seminar
Minding Animals Norway to be established
Fourth Oslo minding Animalsspeaker confirmed: Liv Emma Thorsen
"Shared Worlds" funded; third plenary speaker confirmed; NGO to be registered

Poster series for the Shared Worlds seminar

This is the poster series of our upcoming Shared Worlds seminar, to be held in Oslo in mid-October. High resolution posters in PDF and JPEG format (in two versions) are available for download at our event webpage. Feel free to distribute liberally. To register for the event, send an email (including name, nationality, affiliation/position) to shared.worlds.oslo@gmail.com.

Minding Animals International: Bulletin no. 6

Minding Animals International has just issued its sixth bulletin.

In the accompanying email, convenor and CEO of MAI Rod Bennison writes that "we now have groups established in Norway, Italy, Germany, India and Australia, with discussions having commenced for Belgium, France and Laos." Further: "We would especially like to hear from anyone interested in setting up Minding Animals 'national' groups."

In the bulletin, I am mentioned as one of the organizers of the October 14-15 Oslo "Shared Worlds" event - now presented in the bulletin under the title "Shared Worlds (Horse-human relations; Wolf-human relations)" - plus as a speaker at the October 17-18 Uppsala event "Zoo-Ethnographies".

Fourth Oslo Minding Animals speaker confirmed: Liv Emma Thorsen

All four plenary speakers for the October 14-15 Oslo Minding Animals event "Shared worlds" are now in place. The fourth speaker to be confirmed is professor Liv Emma Thorsen of University of Oslo (Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages). Her talk will be entitled "Shared worlds? Animals in natural history museums".

Already confirmed:
* Rod Bennison: "Considering the exploitation of animals in sport, and understanding the 'Sport of Queens'"
* Tora Holmberg: "Sharing the lives of many: Urban controversies over animal hoarding and animal rescue"
* Nelly Mäekivi: "Misunderstandings in shared environments: The case of zoos"

See our event page, and Facebook page, for further info (registration is free for anyone interested).

"Shared worlds" funded; third plenary speaker confirmed; NGO to be registered

The October 14-15 Oslo workshop/seminar "Shared worlds" (see also our Facebook page), arranged under the umbrella of Minding Animals, will receive funding (1.000 Euro) from the research grant "Dynamical zoosemiotics and animal representations", where I am involved as a researcher.

A third plenary speaker, Nelly Mäekivi from Estonia, who is also involved in that research grant, has been confirmed. Her talk is entitled "Misunderstandings in shared environments: The case of zoos".
We the organizers held a meeting Monday 18th. A little later we decided that we will register MAO as a NGO - though it remains to be seen whether we will arrange further activities under that name.

No funding for MAO - "Shared worlds"

We the organizers of the Oslo Minding Animals event "Shared Worlds" (see also our Facebook page) have applied for funding from two different Norwegian sources (Lisa Kristoffersens Minde and Lovsamlingsfondet - in June, I was involved in writing/editing applications), and have now received negative replies from both.

In all likelihood this means that we'll have to scale back the plans for the event, at least as far as additional international speakers is concerned. We'll settle this in a meeting of the organizing team this coming Friday.

MAO meeting

Today we had another phone/internet meeting in the organizing committee of the Oslo Minding Animals event. No big news - except that today we launched our Facebook page.

For an overview of all planned Utrecht pre-conference events, see MA international.

PS: I think I have not yet mentioned in Utopian Realism that when I was in Sydney a couple of weeks ago I met Rod Bennison, the convenor of Minding Animals International.

Shared Worlds, Oslo MA event: Webpage; roundtable description

The Oslo Minding Animals Pre-Conference event, "Shared Worlds", now has a webpage.
Program
Speakers
About
Organizers
Abstracts
Contact

Today I've written a description of the roundtable on the shared worlds of wolves and people.

Humans and wolves have co-evolved. We have several species-characteristic behavioral patterns in common, among them being social hunters. To varying degrees, a wolf is human-like, and a human wolf-like. The Big Bad Wolf has given rise to a vivid cultural imagery – it is a symbol, a cultural icon, and an animal that is highly sensitive to our own evolving human ecology. In Scandinavia, wolf management is controversial and currently under political review. How are we to co-exist? How do our behaviors and management regimes shape the world of the wolf, and how do they shape us?

Zoosemiotics and MAO planning

1. Yesterday the organizing team of the forthcoming Oslo Minding Animals Pre-Conference Lecture event (October 14-15) had its second Skype meeting. In focus was our event webpage, which is about to be launched. We also established an email account, shared.worlds.oslo [] gmail.com. Meanwhile, Martin Lee Mueller has withdrawn from the organizing team.

2. Today I have worked with plans for the Futures of Zoosemiotics roundtable, which will be arranged in Tartu, April 6th, as part of the conference Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations (program here). I have taken part in discussing the time schedule/format, made a preliminary list of roundtable participants to invite (after February 15th), and written a 10-line presentation of key questions of the roundtable.

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.