Ecosemiotics is a "border discipline" that concerns itself with the semiotic relations between culture and nature, with interpreting the natural and cultural environments and with the mechanisms that create and balance environmental conflicts. It treats populations, ecosystems, societies, and cultural phenomena as semiotic and communicative webs, emphasizing their structure, dynamics, and interrelations.
Through readings, an introductory lecture and a guided field excursion with discussions, the course analyzes environmental issues through an ecosemiotic lens. The course also explores semiotic perspectives on ecological problems, culture-nature relations, and possibilities for transitioning to sustainable ecocultures.
Upon completion of the course students will be familiar with the basics of ecosemiotics as a research paradigm, have an overview of essential ecosemiotics concepts and authors, and be able to apply ecosemiotic research methods independently.
The course is taught by Timo Maran, Professor of Ecosemiotics and Environmental Humanities at the University of Tartu, with Hugo Reinert (IKOS, UiO) and Anna-Katharina Laboissiere (TIK, UiO) acting as convenors.
The course is a collaboration between the Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (IKOS), the Oslo Center of Environmental Humanities (OCEH) and the research group Challenges of Sustainability in Educational Research (COSER).
Practical information
Credit: 1 ECTS
Language: English
Registration:
Participation is capped at 25 students. Until August 1 we will prioritize applications from PhD and early career researchers based at UiO. After August 1, the remaining places will be opened up also to applicants based at other universities, in Norway and overseas, on a first come first served basis.
Registration is now closed. Please contact the organizers if you would like to participate.
Course convenors:
- Associate Professor Hugo Reinert (IKOS, UiO)
- Researcher Anna-Katharina Laboissiere (TIK, UiO)
Prerequisites:
The course is open to PhD and early career researchers in any discipline: by the latter we mean researchers who hold a PhD but have not yet held a permanent position. The registration form asks for a short description (one paragraph) of why you're interested in ecosemiotics and how it connects to your own research.
Assessment:
Students will submit a field report based on the excursion and a short reflection paper (1000-1500 words each). The reflection paper should engage with the question "What is ecosemiotics", drawing on at least two texts from the readings, from the perspective of their own discipline and current research project. Both texts should be submitted within two weeks of the course completion.
Program (details tbc):
- September 2: Public lecture by Timo Maran (14.15-16.00, Store Møterom, Georg Sverdrups Hus)
- September 3: Field excursion along the Aker River (10.00-16.00, with breaks).
Readings:
Readings will be made available to participants on August 1. Participants are expected to read all five texts.
- Augustyn, Prisca 2013. "Man, nature, and semiotic modelling or How to create forests and backyards with language." Sign Systems Studies 41(4), 488–503.
- Kull, Kalevi 2010. "Ecosystems are made of semiosic bonds: Consortia, Umwelten, biophony and ecological codes." Biosemiotics (2010) 3:347–357.
- Maran, Timo 2020. "Ecological repertoire analysis: A method of interaction-based semiotic study for multispecies environments." Biosemiotics, 13 (1).10.1007/s12304-020-09378-9.
- Maran, Timo 2022. "On ecosemiotic methodology: The ecosemiosphere and other conceptual models." Versus, 135 (2), 195−212. DOI: 10.14649/105519.
- Whitehouse, Andrew 2015. "Listening to birds in the anthropocene: The anxious semiotics of sound in a human-dominated world." Environmental Humanities, vol. 6, 53-71.