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Conferences and seminars Conferences and seminars in association with Department of Semiotics International conference
ZOOSEMIOTICS AND ANIMAL REPRESENTATIONS
Zoosemiotics is an interdisciplinary research program introduced by an American semiotician Thomas A. Sebeok in the 1960s with the aim to merge semiotics and ethology and to launch semiotic studies of animal communication. The foundational idea in zoosemiotics is that relations between animals and their environment as well as between different individuals are not purely physical, but are to a large extent sign-mediated. This gives a significant role to the animal subjects, and recognizes more as well as higher forms of complexity in animals than previously assumed. A lot has happened since the concept of zoosemiotics was proposed: the rise of biosemiotics and cognitive ethology are two among the many important developments in the field of animal communication studies. Now, almost 50 years after Sebeok’s initiative, the Department of Semiotics at the University of Tartu organizes an international gathering aiming to look back at the history of zoosemiotics, but also to look ahead towards the future of semiotic studies of animals. At this event, the scope of zoosemiotics is defined broadly, so as to include specific studies in the history of science, philosophical accounts of animals, case studies on animal communication as well as animal representations in literature and other media. At the same time, the focus of the conference is explicitly twofold: “semiotic processes” and “animals” are the key concepts that are to guide the conference as well as the individual presentations. Researchers from various backgrounds who have been inspired by zoosemiotics or who are interested in different aspects of semiotic studies of animals are invited to participate in the conference. KEY TOPICS OF THE CONFERENCE » Theory and methodology of zoosemiotics» History of zoosemiotics, the legacy of Thomas A. Sebeok » Practical applications of zoosemiotics (e.g. zoosemiotics and conservation) » Zoosemiotics’ relation to relevant fields such as cognitive ethology, biosemiotics, ecocriticism etc. » Animal experience (semiotics and phenomenology) » Semiotic perspectives on animals in literature, art, films etc. (e.g. seeing man in animals, and the animal in men). » Semiotics of human–animal relationships: historical, social and communicative perspectives (e.g. the semiotics of zoos, of wildlife management, and of domesticated animals). CALL FOR PAPERS To submit a proposal, interested scholars (and graduate students) should e-mail an abstract (300-600 words) and a bio-note (less than 100 words) to the address: zoosemiotics@semiootika.ee. Abstract should be sent as a separate one-page file (.doc or .rtf). The deadline for the abstracts is 15 September 2010. Earlier submissions are highly encouraged. The conference “Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations” has an international advisory board. All presentation abstracts will be peer-reviewed. The conference welcomes also proposals for poster presentations. Selected papers will be published in the conference proceedings.ORGANIZERS The conference is organized by the Department of Semiotics at the University of Tartu and by Estonian Semiotics Association under the auspices of the International Society of Biosemiotic Studies and the Centre of Excellence in Cultural Theory (CECT, EU/Estonia), and is supported by the Estonian Science Foundation (ETF/ESF). Organizing team includes Dr. Timo Maran, Dr. Jelena Grigorjeva, Morten Tønnessen, Kadri Tüür, Silver Rattasepp, Nelly Mäekivi.FUTHER INFORMATION Web-pagePostal address: The conference "Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations", Department of Semiotics, University of Tartu, Tiigi 78, Tartu 50410, Estonia. E-mail: zoosemiotics@semiootika.ee Seminar SEMIOTICS OF ORGANIC FORM Seminar SEMIOTICS OF ORGANIC FORM next Thursday, 18. february, 16:30, Tiigi 78-119 Kalevi Kull - Structuralism and semiotic of organic form (PDF) Jesper Hoffmeyer is world's leading biosemiotician (University of Copenhagen), Scott Gilbert American leading developmental biologist. Homepages: www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/sgilber1www.jhoffmeyer.dk International conference
Frontiers in Comparative Metrics The Frontiers in Comparative Metrics conference (in memoriam Mikhail Gasparov) will be held on November 21–22, 2008 in Tallinn and on November 23 in Tartu, Estonia. The organizers of the conference are the Department of the Cultural Theory at the Tallinn University and the Departments of Semiotics and Classical Philology at the University of Tartu. The language of the conference will be English. Main topics of the conference: · Theory of versification and comparative studies in metrics and rhythmics· Frontiers in Indo-European metrics · Fenno-Ugric metrics · Classical heritage and contemporary poetic culture · Semantics of verse Expected plenary speakers will be: David Chisholm, University of Arizona Participation fee: 75 EUR. The participation fee should be transferred to the account of the Estonian Semiotics Association (account number: 334409040007 at the Sampo bank, the reference info: FCM 2008, conference fee) by October 1, 2008. Organizing committee: Mihhail Lotman Resemblances in Nature and Culture:
Theoretical and Semiotic Perspectives Resemblances and similarities are often overlooked in research as they are considered to be semiotic primitives. They stand behind various important phenomena in nature and culture, such as species recognition, mimicry and camouflage, convergent evolution, figurative art, imitative magic and theatre performances. All these examples are at the same time instances of communication, and that raises the general question about the place of resemblance in communication and representation. In semiotics, communicative resemblance is expressed in Charles S. Peirce’s concepts of iconic signs and iconicity. In cultural theory, mimesis is used in explanation of the various occasions of resemblances. In biology, homology and analogy, and their relations describe similar phenomena. It seems that communication by resemblance has important role in the peripheries of semiotic systems, where symbol-based semiotic processes are not so dominant. As examples of this, mimetic strategies in post-colonial cultures (H. K. Bhabha), language plays of children (W. Benjamin) and onomatopoeias in nature writing and folklore can be brought out. In representation, mimetism can also be combined in different ways with symbolic meanings. Communication by resemblance seems to be more effective in crossing semiotic borders between different cultures, discourses and species, as it is apparent for instance in interspecific mimicry and many forms of communication in symbiotic relations. As theoretical concepts, resemblance and its relatives seem to be profitable to the development of zoo- and biosemiotics. Likeness in the form of empathy can also have crucial ethical implications accentuating the relevance of the concept to ecosemiotics and nature philosophy. Program and additional information .. CFP International postgraduate workshop
Intermediality and Storytelling University of Tartu, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of Semiotics Under and Tuglas Literary Center University of Southern Denmark, Center for Narratological Studies University of Tampere, Department of Literature and the Arts We invite submissions for the postgraduate workshop „Intermediality and Storytelling”. The workshop features three keynote talks from experts in the field and presentations of postgraduate students from Estonia, Denmark and Finland. Keynote speakers: Prof. Brian McHale (Ohio State University), Assoc. Prof. Per Krogh Hansen (University of Southern Denmark), Assistant Prof. Mari Hatavara and Markku Lehtimäki (University of Tampere) The texts of the presentations will be distributed in advance. At the seminar, participants will be invited to give a 10-15-minute introductory talk on their projects and offered an opportunity to get a feedback and comments from both their peers and specialists in the field. The workshop is intended to provide a supportive and friendly environment for postgraduate students. Contributors are asked to send abstracts (300-350 words) by June 15, 2008 (contact: Katre Pärn katre.parn@ut.ee, Marina Grishakova marina.grisakova@ut.ee). In case the proposal will be accepted, the full paper should be sumbitted by September 1, 2008. Relevant topics include: › Multimedia and storytelling (comics, cartoons, online texts, books on CD, blogs, email, wikis, etc.) › Film. Editing, sound and narrative techniques. Film genre and narrative. TV narrative. › Literature and film. Screen-adaptation. Continuties and discontinuties between literary and intermedial stories. Narrativity in painting, graphic art and photography. › Performance, embodiment and storytelling. Museums and intermediality. › Narrative categories and forms (author, narrator, space, time, perspective, etc.) in different media. Fiction and nonfiction in visual media. Visuality in literature. › Philosophy of vision (Lacan, Foucault, Virilio, etc.), narrative literature and film. Cognitive science and intermediality Organizers: Marina Grishakova (head of the organizing committee), Tiit Kuuskmäe, Eneken Laanes, Katre Pärn What's wrong with nature? What's wrong with nature ? is an interdisciplinary seminar investigating human perceptions of nature and environmental change. From the contemporary perspective of global warming and rapid environmental change, it seems obvious that there is something wrong with nature, for which human activity is to blame. Tracing the origin of the ecological crisis, it appears that this very idea is at the root of the problem - since, all through the ages, we have been „improving“ and taming nature as if there was something wrong with it from the very beginning. One way or another, humans have always had a sense of an urgent need to do something about nature. Does this, perhaps, entitle us to ask whether this attitude to nature is inevitable - a part of what it means to be human? Perception matters - as does conceptualization. The aim of the seminar is to discuss how our perception of nature is shaped by our cultural traditions, science and the media and how this very perception, in its turn, by way of our actions is shaping nature itself. What is natural in a world of global, human-induced environmental change? What qualifies as an „environmental problem”, and solution? For whom is it a problem? To what extent is it fruitful to understand the ecological crisis in analogy with a natural catastrophe? As wilderness has been cultivated - has civilization gone wild?Homepage
Naming in Text, Naming in Culture International conference dedivated to the study of nomination. Nomination through proper names connects – as compared with the general name – with individual, unique kind of naming and separation of an object from its background. Proper name is not attached to a conception, instead it identifies and points to an object. Thus, proper name ought to be a less important, if not a-semiotic, matter for semiotics. The study of nomination is heuristically novel and valuable, since it has, lately, been shadowed by the approach that brings to front narrative or predication in a more general sense. Naming connects to the issue of understanding what the world consists of after all, and with the topic of spatial signification on the metalevel. Name and naming are not merely about the matter of how signification links to language and the functioning of language in the semiological gist: the topic of naming binds names with space and, through space and changes in space, also with the category of time. Therefore, naming is the very spot between the physical and the conceptual where semiotisation, or modelling, takes place with a high probability of being executed with communicative purposes. Presenters include among others Göran Sonesson (Sweden, Lund), Vilmos Voigt (Hungary, Budapest).(More information on homepage)
Finnish-Estonian Semiotics Seminar
„Currents in European semiotics“ Three-day seminar for ssemioticians from Finland and Estonia. Presenters: prof. Peeter Torop and prof. Mihhail Lotman (Univeristy of Tartu), Prof. Harri Veivo (University of Helsinki / The Finnish Network University of Semiotics), Prof. Erkki Vainikkala (University of Jyväskylä / The Finnish Network University of Semiotics), and graduate/post-graduate students form Estonia and Finland. |
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