Stéphane Aubinet

Academic interests

• Yoik
• Ecology of practices
• Philosophy
• Social anthropology

My PhD project is about a Sámi chanting tradition called 'yoik.' It consists of conceptual gestures intended to capture various dimensions of the yoik's power, and of a systematic comparison between practices of yoiking and practices of writing. Yoiks are short melodies with or without lyrics related either to a person, an animal, or a place.
 

A particular attention is given to the way yoiks are chanted to summon the presence of people, animals, and places, the semiosis of their creation, the metamorphosis induced in their vocalisation, their capacity to reveal unexpected dimensions of the land in situations of enchantment, their anchorage in animal depths within humans or technological assemblages, their capacity to echo past experiences, their source in a primordial past, and the power induced by their repetition.

Another part of my research concerns the practice of folk dances in Wallonia (Belgium) and its relation to social movements, in particular the transition initiatives.

Background

• BA in History of Art and Archaeology (Université de Liège, Belgium)
• MA in History of Art and Archaeology (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium) - one year Erasmus exchange at Universitetet i Oslo (2014-2015)