Friday, May 6, 2011

Readings in Zoosemiotics

From the International Society for Environmental Ethics Newsletter, Volume 22, No. 1 Spring 2011:

—Maran, Timo, Dario Martinelli, and Aleksei Turovski. Readings in Zoosemiotics. Boston, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, Inc., 2011.
This book is the first annotated reader to focus specifically on the discipline of zoosemiotics. Zoosemiotics can be defined today as the study of signification, communication and representation within and across animal species. The volume includes a wide selection of original texts accompanied by editorial introductions. An extensive opening introduction discusses the place of zoosemiotics among other sciences as well as its inner dimensions; the understanding of the concept of communication in zoosemiotics, the heritage of biologist Jakob v. Uexküll; contemporary developments in zoosemiotics and other issues. Chapter introductions discuss the background of the authors and selected texts, as well as other relevant texts. The selected texts cover a wide range of topics, such as semiotic constitution of nature, cognitive capabilities of animals, typology of animal expression and many other issues. The roots of zoosemiotics can be traced back to the works of David Hume and John Locke. Great emphasis is placed on the heritage of Thomas A. Sebeok, and a total of four of his essays are included. The Reader also includes influential studies in animal communication (honey bee dance language, vervet monkey alarm calls) as well as theory elaborations by Gregory Bateson and others. The reader concludes with a section dedicated to contemporary research. Readings in Zoosemiotics is intended as a primary source of information about zoosemiotics, and also provides additional readings for students of cognitive ethology and animal communication studies.

New book on Ecological hermeneutics

From the International Society for Environmental Ethics Newsletter, Volume 22, No. 1 Spring 2011:

Horrell, David G., Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Cherryl Hunt, and Christopher Southgate. Ecological Hermeneutics: Biblical, Historical and Theological Perspectives. London: T & T Clark, 2010.
Leading scholars reflect critically on the kinds of appeal to the Bible that have been made in environmental ethics and ecotheology. ―Ecological Hermeneutics‖ reflects critically on the kinds of appeal to the Bible that have been made in environmental ethics and ecotheoloogy; engages with biblical texts with a view towards exploring their contribution to an ecological ethics; and, explores the kind of hermeneutic necessary for such engagement to be fruitful for contemporary theology and ethics. Crucial to such broad reflection is the bringing together of a range of perspectives: biblical studies, historical theology, hermeneutics, and theological ethics. The thematic coherence of the book is provided by the running focus on the ways in which biblical texts have been, or might be, read. This is not a volume on ecotheology; but rather on ecological hermeneutics. Indeed, some essays may show where biblical texts, or particular approaches in the history of interpretation, represent anthropocentric or even anti-ecological moves. One of the overall aims of the book will be to suggest how, and why, an ecological hermeneutic might be developed, and the kinds of intepretive choices that are required in such a development.

Contents
Pt. I. Biblical perspectives
1. ―The creation stories: their ecological potential and problems‖ by John W. Rogerson
2. ―Sacrifice in Leviticus: eco-friendly ritual or unholy waste?‖ by Jonathan Morgan
3. ―Reading the prophets from an environmental perspective‖ by John Barton
4. ―The significance of the Wisdom tradition in the ecological debate‖ by Katharine J. Dell
5. ―Reading the synoptic gospels ecologically‖ by Richard Bauckham
6. ―An ecological reading of Rom. 8.19-22: possibilities and hesitations‖ by Brendan Byrne
7. ―Hellenistic cosmology and the letter to the Colossians: towards an ecological hermeneutic ― by Vicky S. Balabanski
8. ―Retrieving the earth from the conflagration: 2 Peter 3.5-13 and the environment‖ by Edward Adams
Pt. II. Insights from the history of interpretation.
9. ―In the beginning: Irenaeus, creation and the environment‖ by Francis Watson
10. ―Power and dominion: patristic interpretations of Genesis I‖ by Morwenna Ludlow
11. ―Thomas Aquinas: reading the idea of dominion in the light of the doctrine of creation‖ by
Mark Wynn
12. ―Martin Luther, the word of God and nature: Reformation hermeneutics in context‖ by H. Paul Santmire
13. ―'Remaining loyal to the earth': humanity, God‘s other creatures and the Bible‖ by Karl Barth and Geoff Thompson
14. ―Hans Urs von Balthasar: beginning with beauty‖ by David Moss
15. ―Between creation and transfiguration: the environment in the Eastern Orthodox tradition‖ by Andrew Louth
16. ―Jürgen Moltmann‘s ecological hermeneutics‖ by Jeremy Law
Pt. III. Contemporary hermeneutical possibilities.
17. ―Green millennialism: American evangelicals, environmentalism, and the book of Revelation‖ by Harry O. Maier
18. ―New Testament eschatology and the ecological crisis in theological and ecclesial perspective‖ by Stephen C. Barton
19. ―Keeping the commandments: the meaning of sustainable countryside‖ by Tim Gorringe
20. ―What on earth is an ecological hermeneutics?: some broad parameters‖ by Ernst M. Conradie.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Environmental Philosophy journal

The latest issue of Environmental Philosophy (Spring 2011, Vol. 8, no. 1), the official journal of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, was just released. Among the essays, two are written by participants in the electronic seminar referred to in the description of this blog. Forrest Clingermann (who also founded and writes for this blog) wrote "From Artwork to Place: Finding the voices of Moreelse, Bacon, and Beuys at the Hermeneutical Intersection of Culture and Nature." Janet Donohoe is the author of the second essay entitled "The Place of Home."

Clingerman looks at theological investigations concerning culture and nature asking the question of how theological reflection on art informs our "consideration of nature." Clingerman's inquiry into three specific works leads him to conclude a possible "hermeneutical mediation between art, place, and the spiritual."

Donohoe addresses what she calls the "normative power of place, specifically the place of home, on our embodied constitution." Investigating the concepts of "homeworld" and "alienworld" from a Husserlian perspective, Donohoe asks "why place would have a normative power and to what extent that normativity can be drawn into question through encounters with the alienworld." She concludes with a brief examination on the implications of the normative priority of homeworld for those who are displaced and "whether alien place can ever take on the normative and identity power of home place."

While Clingerman's essay is more explicitly hermeneutical in focus and Donohoe's is phenomenological, the latter is certainly implicitly, if not overtly, hermeneutical in its approach and style. Both essays can rightly be considered as contributions to the growing literature of environmental hermeneutics.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

AESS-CFP Deadline Extended

The Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences has extended the deadline for abstracts to March 22 for its annual conference to be held in Burlington, Vermont, June 23 - 26. "Confronting Complexity" is the theme of the conference. For more details see www.aess.info.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

PHILOSOPHY'S OTHER: THEORY ON THE WEB: Cfp: Kögler, Hans-Herbert, and Paul Healy, eds. S...

PHILOSOPHY'S OTHER: THEORY ON THE WEB: Cfp: Kögler, Hans-Herbert, and Paul Healy, eds. S...: "Twentieth century hermeneutics, including the work of Heidegger, Gadamer and Ricoeur, effected a revolution regarding the concepts of unders..."

Friday, February 4, 2011

Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment 9th Biennial Conference

The Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE) will host its ninth biennial conference at Indiana University in Bloomington June 22 – 26 (with pre-conference activities on June 21). I was recently notified, along with 3 colleagues from the University of North Texas (Nathan Bell, Ivana Corsales, and Dr. Robert M. Figueroa), that our panel proposal was accepted. The theme of the panel is “Heritage and Horizons of Environmental Justice.” The purpose of the panel is to explore the roots of the environmental justice movement (EJM) and environmental justice studies (EJS) while looking to the important contributions that philosophical hermeneutics can offer its future. Hermeneutics has much to offer in terms of heritage and history, place and dwelling, identity, discourse, and future planning. We hope to make this case on the panel.

The conference is yet several months away. But stay tuned to this blog for any updates, especially following the conference itself.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Environmental Thought Bibliography

The International Society for Environmental Ethics has recently launched a dynamic bibliography for environmental thought (found at www.isee-obet.org).

While still in its beginning stages, this bibliography promises to be of great benefit to environmental philosophers, including those studying the relationship between environmental philosophy and hermeneutics. Readers of this blog are encouraged to check this new resource out. Already some works related to environmental hermeneutics are easily found through keywords (e.g. "hermeneutics"), and more will undoubtedly follow.

Not every work on environmental hermeneutics is listed on this bibliography, however, and so consider joining the bibliography's contributors to add these works.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

CFP: Religion and Ecology Group, American Academy of Religion

The following comes from the Religion and Ecology group of the American Academy of Religion. The AAR Annual Meeting will be in San Francisco, 18-21 November 2011. To submit a proposal, go to www.aarweb.org.


Call for Proposals

This Group seeks papers on the following topics:

* Religious environmental imaginations, histories, and movements relating to San Francisco and California such as radical environmentalism in the West (e.g., Edward Abbey and Earth First!), bioregionalism, eco-utopias, revisiting John Muir’s religiosity, queer ecologies, and ecology and disaster

* The ecological in-between — exploring our relationships with everyday technology, exploring the ambiguous ethical stance of living toward a different ecological future from within consumer worlds, exploring the concept of “saving nature” while recognizing that nature is always in transformation, and exploring pets, working animals, gardens, and other nonhuman identities “in between” domestic/cultivated and wild

* Ecological hermeneutics, ecosemiotics, and ecocriticism (for a possible cosponsored session with the SBL Ecological Hermeneutics Section) — multireligious, critical reflection on the ecohermeneutics of religious texts (such as the ecobible series); race, gender, and the hermeneutics of “nature”; and the “environmental movement”

Mission

This Group critically and constructively explores how human–Earth relations are shaped by religions, cultures, and understandings of nature and the environment. We are self-consciously inter- and multidisciplinary and include methods such as those found in the work of theologians, philosophers, religionists, ethicists, scientists, and anthropologists, among others.
Anonymity of Review Process

Proposals are anonymous to Chairs and Steering Committee Members during review, but visible to Chairs prior to final acceptance or rejection.
Questions?

Whitney Bauman
Florida International University
whitneyabauman@mac.com
A. Whitney Sanford
University of Florida
wsanford@ufl.edu

CFP: International Association for Environmental Philosophy

Fifteenth Annual Meeting of
The International Association for Environmental Philosophy
Philadelphia, Pa.
October 23-24, 2011

CALL FOR PAPERS

The International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP)invites paper proposals for its annual meeting to be held in Philadelphia at the Sheraton Society Hill on October 23-24, 2011, immediately following the 50th Annual Meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP).

Please send 1-2 page (single-spaced) proposals in Word format to IAEP Secretary Steven Vogel, vogel@denison.edu. Since individual and panel proposals are chosen through a process of blind review, each submission should contain two attachments: (1) A cover letter that provides detailed contact information (including physical and electronic addresses and academic affiliation) of the author(s). In addition, if you anticipate the need for audio/visual equipment should your submission be accepted please indicate exactly what will be required in this letter. (2) The proposal itself, without any identifying information as to the author(s). In the case of panel proposals, a description of the theme of the panel should be included as well as proposals for each of the papers in the panel.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is March 15th, 2011. Notice of decision will arrive by mid-May.

PRIZE FOR BEST GRADUATE STUDENT ESSAY:

An award of $100 will be awarded for the best essay submitted by a graduate student. If you wish to be considered for this award, please indicate this fact in your cover letter. Graduate students whose proposals are accepted for the conference will be asked to submit complete papers (of no more than 3000 words) by September 15th for award consideration. As before, papers must be submitted as attachments without identifying information. The winner will be announced during the
conference.

The International Association for Environmental Philosophy offers a forum for the philosophical discussion of our relation to the natural environment. Embracing a broad understanding of environmental philosophy, IAEP encourages papers in the areas of not only environmental ethics, but also environmental aesthetics, ontology,
theology, the philosophy of science, political philosophy, ecofeminism, the philosophy of technology, and the like. IAEP welcomes a diversity of approaches to issues in these areas, including those inspired by Continental philosophy, the history of philosophy, and the tradition of American philosophy.

For more information, please visit our website:
www.environmentalphilosophy.org

Friday, January 14, 2011

CFP: Temporal Environments

Temporal Environments: Rethinking Time and Ecology

Special Issue of the Journal of Environmental Philosophy

Editors: Jacob Metcalf (UC Santa Cruz) and Thom van Dooren (University of Technology, Sydney)

Place and space have received substantial attention in environmental philosophy in recent decades. Theorists from a variety of fields have proposed that reorienting our relationship to the non-human world requires reconsideration of ways of understanding and inhabiting spaces and places. Ecophenomenologists have argued that replacing meaningful places with abstract space was a critical moment in histories of environmental destruction, and environmental ethics will require re-imagining place as meaningful again. Bioregionalism has emphasized the need to rethink our places as ecological relationships, and inspired not only changes in academia, but also in environmental movements such as food localism. In a related vein, Val Plumwood has cautioned against too simplistic a notion of “one’s place”, critiquing the fracturing of place in which cherished homeplaces are able to be preserved only as a result of the destruction of less visible ‘shadow places’. In short, there is a broad assertion that reassessing our obligations to more-than-human worlds requires understanding place as more meaningful than an empty space to be filled by human concerns.

This special issue of the Journal of Environmental Philosophy will present a collection of articles that direct similar attention to the time and temporality of environments, a topic that has been relatively neglected by environmental philosophy and ethics. Although environmental ethicists have long discussed temporal issues, such as intergenerational justice, time has often been treated as an essentially linear and static container for human action. But if we conceive of time as produced, constructed, maintained, lived, multiple, and a more-than-human concern, the possibilities for environmental philosophy look dramatically different. This collection will offer such a framework for thinking through time and environment by exploring the multiple lived times present in global climate change, species extinction, the practices of ecological sciences, and the temporal fidelities of conservation and restoration.

Among the questions we hope this collection might explore are: What philosophical reconsiderations of time might be available and useful for other ecological disciplines? How does the pace of human life—markets, science, desires, consumption—impact our ability to imagine and produce livable futures? How might we remember different, and sometimes lost, ways of valuing human and nonhuman worlds in a way that does not fetishize the past but still holds it open as a resource for constructing better futures? How does an attentiveness to the scope of evolutionary time alter our sense of obligation in a time of massive biodiversity loss? How does the high-speed pace of much human life actually make it harder to change the conditions of those lives? How do humans and other animals learn to justly co-inhabit our sometimes very different temporalities? What ways of life are enabled or disabled by different temporal metaphors? What post-colonial temporalities are necessary for recuperation of cultural ecologies damaged by genocides and ecocides? Will sustainable ecologies require new models of temporality to reformulate growth, degrowth, and regrowth?

We invite submissions from environmental philosophers and other ecological scholars, including reflective pieces from natural and social scientists. Pieces that are grounded in specific cases of temporal environments are especially encouraged. We welcome pieces from international and native communities, and others not often represented in philosophy journals.

The Journal of Environmental Philosophy (http://ephilosophy.uoregon.edu/) is a peer-reviewed professional philosophy journal, and is the official journal of the International Association of Environmental Philosophy (IAEP). The Journal of Environmental Philosophy publishes innovative research relevant to all areas of environmental philosophy, including ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, theology, politics, ecofeminism, environmental justice, philosophy of technology, and ecophenomenology.

Target publication date: Spring 2012
Abstracts of 300-400 words, due by April 1, 2011
Papers due for review by August 1, 2011

There are no word count restrictions, but submissions are encouraged to aim for 6-8,000 words.

For further information or to submit abstracts, please contact Jacob Metcalf (jake.metcalf@gmail.com) or Thom van Dooren (thom.van.dooren@gmail.com).