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.

Environment, embodiment and gender: Content list, links

The newly published book Environment, Embodiment and Gender, edited by Ane Faugstad Aarø and Johannes Servan, is sold by its publisher Hermes Text. The book is featured on the webpages of University of Bergen's Department of Philosophy.

Contents:
Introduction
Part I: Introduction to ecophenomenology
Charles Brown: The unity of eco-phenomenology: A reply to Thomson
David Abram: The invisibles
Ted Toadvine: Ecophenomenology and the resistance of nature
Part II: Embodiment and gender
Monika Langer: Sartre in the company of Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, and Düden
Kirsti Kuosa: The embodied self and identity of three women living with multiple sclerosis
Claus Halberg: The tangible invisible: Irigaray's phenomenological critique of Merleau-Ponty's notion of the flesh
Joanna Handerek: On pain and fear. The concept of the body in Gernot Böhme's philosophy
Part III: Contemporary environmental philosophy
Gunnar Skirbekk: Ethical gradualism, beyond anthropocentrism and biocentrism?
Jørgen Pedersen: Habermas and environmental ethics
Svenn Anders Noer Lie & Fern Wickson: The relational ontology of deep ecology: A dispositional alternative to intrinsic value?
Jon Helén Pedersen: Løgstrup's philosophy as environmental philosophy
Stig Ingebrigtsen & Ove Jakobsen: Circulation economics - an ecological image of Man based upon an organic worldview
Linda McGuffe: Questions concerning technology and food
Jan van Boeckel: A point of no return. Artistic transgression in the more-than-human world
Morten Tønnessen: I, wolf. The ecology of existence

Discussion about possible future university fusion

Today and tomorrow there are info/consultation meetings in Kristiansand and Grimstad in connection with the assessment process as to whether or not the University of Agder should merge, or cooperate more closely, with Telemark University College. While the University of Agder (UiA) is one of the lowest-ranked Norwegian universities in terms of scientific "production", Telemark university college is in terms of students the fourt biggest university college in Norway, and thus not much smaller than UiA. There is substantial resistance to a fusion anytime soon, however, in both camps - and a merged university would cover no less than three counties.

The assessment report was presented in early April.

Editorial presentation of "I, wolf"

The editorial presentation of my article "I, wolf: The ecology of existence" is to be found on page 14 in the introduction of Ane Faugstad Aarø and Johannes Servan, in Environment, Embodiment and Gender, and reads:

Morten Tønnessen describes in his essay "I, Wolf: The Ecology of Existence" the 'Umwelt' of wolves in Scandinavia, the life conditions that have led to the threat of extinction among wolves, as well as the policies and cultural values that oppose the existence of a very small population of wolves in Scandinavia. The myths of the threats that wolves represent in a community that has been based historically on sheep farming are balanced by Tønnessen's account of the semiotic Umwelt of wolves and their ecological alienation in this area today.

My bionote is on page 338.

Turku: Participant in discussion panel on predators

Speaking about the 6th conference of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH), I have been invited to be a participant in the regional discussion panel “Never cry wolf – A panel discussion on human-predator interaction”, which will be chaired by Timo Vuorisalo and is scheduled for Thursday June 30th at 17.30-19.00.

Turku: Session organizer

I have volunteered to take over the responsibility as session organizer of "Animal agency and environmental history: Three different approaches to Nordic wolves" at the upcoming European conference in environmental history (ESEH 6). The session, which now counts three papers, has been scheduled for Wednesday June 19th at 09.00-10.30. The other presenters are Heta Lähdesmäki and Karin Dirke. My presentation is entitled "Wolf history: Agents in hiding". The session was initiated by Håkon Stokland.

NY talk scheduled for June 25th

The organizer of the 11th annual international gathering in biosemiotics, which is to take place in New York June 21-26, has released a program and an abstract book. The abstract of my talk "Integrated Biological Individualism and the Primacy of the Individual Level of Biological Organization", which has been scheduled for Saturday June 25th at 10.00-10.30, is to be found on page 48.