The Institutional Practice: On nursing homes and hospitalizations

 IN THE TIME OF COVID THIS SEEMS TIMELY

Author:

 Gudmund Ågotnes

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https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalog/book/12

Synopsis

The nursing home resident of today is old and frail. Despite such a frailty, many residents are hospitalized, often with the intention of life-extension. Furthermore, rates of hospitalization varies considerably between countries, regions and institutions, even within smaller geographical areas. Even though relating to the same structural framework and conditions, distance to hospitals for instance, some nursing homes hospitalize considerably more than others.

In this book, variation of hospitalization from nursing homes is analyzed and discussed, based on fieldwork from six institutions. Decisions concerning whether to hospitalize or not, are seen as relating to general regimes of practices at nursing homes; called The institutional practice.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Gudmund Ågotnes

Gudmund Ågotnes holds a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Bergen, Norway, and currently holds the position of postdoc at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. Through an empirical focus on the health- and care sector, and nursing homes in particular, Ågotnes´research have covered themes such as the logic of practice within the health sector, organizational features of care work, multiculturalism and variation in services and practice. Ågotnes has particularly addressed the issue of cross-national comparison within the health- and care sector and has carried out research in Norway, the United States, Canada and the UK.

Men in Manual Occupations: Changing Lives in Times of Change

Author:

 Kristoffer Chelsom Vogt

FULL BOOK PDF

https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalog/book/10

Synopsis

A shortage of skilled workers is currently emerging in many countries. Yet public discourse and much research literature convey the impression that manual labor is somehow outmoded, requiring competencies that are no longer necessary in today’s «post-industrial, information-based society». The question of how to achieve the right balance between different types of work in a society is one that transcends national borders.

This book challenges received thinking in the areas of work and education. It does so by presenting novel evidence on the lives and thoughts of men skilled in male-dominated, manual occupations in Norway. The heart of the book is comprised of extracts from life-story interviews in which workers, in their own vivid and vigorous language, talk about their experiences with work and education over the course of their lives. Detailed exploration of opportunities and constraints in individuals’ lives form the basis for a critical discussion of often unnoticed, exclusionary consequences of ongoing social change.

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About the book

«Through cohort comparison and life story interviews Vogt offers a richly nuanced account of the changing social experiences of men in manual occupations over the past 50 years. His book provides a fascinating analysis of the links between lived experiences and social structural change. It also raises important questions about how we see the relationship between education, work and knowledge in 21st century societies».

Sarah Irwin, Professor of Sociology, University of Leeds (UK).

«The subject of Vogt's book is the important and timely one of ideas of the post-industrial, knowledge, and information society, as characterizing present-day industrial societies. He subjects these ideas to a forceful and thoroughgoing critique, based on detailed empirical work among a variety of Norwegian workers».

Krishan Kumar, Professor, University of Virginia (USA).

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Kristoffer Chelsom Vogt

Kristoffer Chelsom Vogt (b. 1982) holds a PhD from the Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Norway. He was a postdoc on the project Intergenerational Transmission in the Transition to Adulthood (funded by the Norwegian Research Council). Vogt’s research interests lie in the intersection between life course research and research concerning education, work, class, youth transitions, family and gender. He has published on topics ranging from vocational education, early school leaving, youth transitions, post-industrial theory, class analysis, gender segregation and intergenerational relations. Vogt is Associate Professor at the Depatment of Sociology, University of Bergen. 

Prison, Architecture and Humans

Volume editor: Elisabeth Fransson, Francesca Giofrè, Berit Johnsen
Chapter authors: Gudrun Brottveit, Stefano Catucci, Rosalba D’Onofrio, Pier Matteo Fagnoni, Inger Marie Fridhov, Loredana Giani, Linda Grøning, Yngve Hammerlin, Franz James, John K., Livia Porro, Tore Rokkan, Ferdinando Terranova, Elio Trusiani

Synopsis


What is prison architecture and how can it be studied? How are concepts such as humanism, dignity and solidarity translated into prison architecture? What kind of ideologies and ideas are expressed in various prison buildings from different eras and locations? What is the outside and the inside of a prison, and what is the significance of movement within the prison space? What does a lunch table have to do with prison architecture? How do prisoners experience materiality in serving a prison sentence? These questions are central to the texts presented in this anthology.

Prison, Architecture and Humans is the result of a collaboration between researchers and architects from Italy, Norway and Sweden. It presents new approaches to prison architecture and penological research by focusing on prison design, prison artefacts, everyday prison life and imprisoned bodies. The book will be of interest to students, researchers, architects and politicians.

FULL BOOK PDF https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalog/book/31

CHAPTERS (PDF TO DOWNLOAD)

Chapter 1: Prison Architecture as a Field of Study: A Multidisciplinary Contribution
Elisabeth Fransson, Francesca Giofrè, Berit Johnsen

Chapter 2: Humanity Rather than Materialism – A Short Essay About the Prison Environment
John K.

Chapter 3: Prisons Between Territory and Space: A Comparative Analysis Between Prison Architecture in Italy and Norway
Francesca Giofrè, Livia Porro, Elisabeth Fransson

Chapter 4: Movement in the Prison Landscape: Leisure Activities – Inside, Outside and In-between
Berit Johnsen

Chapter 5: Prisons, Cities, and Urban Planning. The Rebibbia Prison in Rome
Elio Trusiani, Rosalba D’Onofrio

Chapter 6: Prisons and Architecture. The Italian Framework
Francesca Giofrè

Chapter 7: The City Confined
Pier Matteo Fagnoni

Chapter 8: “It’s important to not lose myself” Beds, Carceral Design and Women’s Everyday Life within Prison Cells
Franz James

Chapter 9: The Lunch Table. Prison Architecture, Action-forces and the Young Imprisoned Body
Elisabeth Fransson

Chapter 10: The Becoming of Punishment as an Unpredictable and Moveable Torment
Gudrun Brottveit

Chapter 11: In Prison at Home: How Does the Home Situation Influence the Effect of a Sentence with Electronic Monitoring (EM)?
Tore Rokkan

Chapter 12: Materiality, Topography, Prison and ‘Human Turn’– A Theoretical Short Visit
Yngve Hammerlin

Chapter 13: Penal Ideology and Prison Architecture
Inger Marie Fridhov, Linda Grøning

Chapter 14: Inputs in the Design of Prisons
Ferdinando Terranova

Chapter 15: The Evolution of Italian Penitentiary Legislation. Rehabilitation as an Aim of Sentencing and Prisons. A Possible Combination?
Loredana Giani

Chapter 16: The Prison Beyond Its Theory Between Michel Foucault’s Militancy and Thought
Stefano Catucci

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Elisabeth Fransson


Elisabeth Fransson is a sociologist and Associate Professor at the University College of Norwegian Correctional Service in Norway. Her particular research interests are various forms of response towards children and youth, such as state-funded child welfare institutions, and in later years prisons. She focuses on socio-material contexts, everyday prison life, professional ideologies and practices, and affects and effects on the imprisoned body. Fransson’s research includes multidisciplinary collaboration as well as co-writing with prisoners. Methodologically she experiments with various forms of qualitative research. Her current research includes children and youths in Norwegian prisons as well as local prison practices regarding progression and reentry into society. Together with Francesca Geofré she is responsible for the PriArchH network. Fransson has published articles in The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography and Psyke & Logos.
Francesca Giofrè


Francesca Giofrè, Architect, PhD, Associate Professor of the Technology of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Department of Planning, Design, Technology of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome. Visiting professor at many international universities, her research areas are: innovation in the design and building process, design for all and, recently, healthy cities. The research projects within this framework are on health and social architecture and their environment. She is a Member of the Interuniversity Research Centre TESIS, Systems and Technologies for Health Care Buildings. Together with Elisabeth Fransson she is responsible for the PriArcH network. She made many feasibility design studies in the field of architecture for health, and she has published various papers, articles and books with national and international publishers.
Berit Johnsen


Berit Johnsen holds a PhD in sports and is Associate Professor and Head of the Research Department at KRUS. Besides being interested in leisure activities, bodies and movement in prison, she is currently involved in studies of the quality of prison life, preventive detention and prison staff professionalism. It is in the interdisciplinary approach and cooperation characterizing these projects that she finds the potential and inspiration for her research. Johnsen has alone and along with others published several papers and articles within the field of penology. She is a member of the PriArcH network, and she is, at the policy level, involved in the building of a new prison in Norway – Agder prison.
Gudrun Brottveit


Gudrun Brottveit is a criminologist and Associate Professor in Psychosocial Work and Welfare Studies at the University College of Østfold. Her research interests are related to critical criminology, the materiality of punishment, professional practices focusing on interpersonal meetings, subject ontology and body phenomenology. Brottveit has been responsible for various qualitative research projects and has participated in several national and international multidisciplinary research collaborations. Her current research includes user involved collaboration with vulnerable young people and their meeting with child welfare, as well as and with prisoners on their struggle to be seen as ordinary people. Brottveit has published articles in Max Planck-Institut für Auslândisches und Internationales Strafrecht, Psyke & Logos and Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion.
Stefano Catucci


Stefano Catucci is Associate Professor at Sapienza University of Rome. He teaches aesthetics at the University of Rome “Sapienza”. He has published writings on early twentieth century German and French philosophy and is the author of an Introduction to Foucault reprinted several times (ed. Laterza). He has also published the books La filosofia critica di Husserl (Husserl’s Philosophy: A Critical Theory, 1995), Per una filosofia povera (Towards a Philosophy of Poverty, 2003) and Imparare dalla Luna (Learning from the Moon, 2013). Among his recent published works are: Preliminari a un’estetica della plastica (2014), L’opera d’arte e la sua ombra (2015), and La linea del crimine (The Line of Crime, 2016), a study of Foucault’s short essay La vie des hommes infâmes (The Lives of Infamous Men, 1977). He has created and organized meetings on “Philosophy and Music” at the Biennale Musica in Venice (2006 and 2007) and the “States-General of Arts” in Florence (2011).
Rosalba D’Onofrio


Rosalba D’Onofrio is an Assistant Professor in Urban Planning at the University of Camerino, where she teaches Urban Planning. She has conducted extensive research in the field of environmental and landscape urban design, including: LIFE+ Natura “SUN LIFE”; FAR Research Quality of the Landscape and Quality of Life in the Sustainable Adriatic City”, among other projects. Her current research focuses on the relationship between urban planning, well-being and the health of cities with some national and international publications such as: R. D’Onofrio, E. Trusiani (2017), Città, salute e benessere, F. Angeli, Roma; R. D’ Onofrio, E. Trusiani (2017), Urban Planning for Healthy European Cities, Springer.
Pier Matteo Fagnoni


Pier Matteo Fagnoni graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in Florence in 1995 and received a PhD in the Technology of Architecture in 2000 from Sapienza University of Rome. He serves as a Contract Professor in Technology in Florence and Rome. The favored field of interest for Pier Matteo Fagnoni is connected to organization and management. In recent years he has often worked as Project Manager managing investments from foreign companies. In 2002 he founded the “Fagnoni & Associati” architecture firm, with Raffaella Fagnoni and Daniele Desii. F&A is a team that has over twenty years of experience together. They work in every sector pertaining to architecture and design mainly relating to public structures providing social, community and welfare services.
Inger Marie Fridhov


Inger Marie Fridhov is a theologian and criminologist. She has been working with crime, crime prevention, prison and prisoners for the last 35 years - both as a scientist and as an administrator of cultural and rehabilitation projects. She has written several reports and been a co-writer of many books in this field.
Loredana Giani


Loredana Giani is Full Professor of Administrative Law at the European University of Rome. Author of several books and more than 70 articles, her main research interests are related to the organisational profile of public administrations and the legal aspects regarding the guarantee of fundamental rights mainly in relation to public services. Giani’s research includes interdisciplinary subjects in educational law and subjects related to the implementation of the precautionary and prevention principles within the programming of the activities of public administrations, especially in relation to extreme events (such as earthquakes) for the construction of resilience processes.
Linda Grøning


Linda Grøning is Professor at the Law Faculty, University of Bergen. She received her Juris Dr. title in 2008 at the Law Faculty in Lund, Sweden, and has since published extensively in the research areas of criminal law and criminal justice. Gröning is Project Leader for the research project The Functionality of the Criminal Justice System, and Leader for the research group in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at the Faculty of Law in Bergen.
Yngve Hammerlin


Yngve Hammerlin is Dr. Philos, Associate Professor, researcher and author. He specializes in four subjects: 1. suicide; 2. violence/power; 3. prison research; and 4. human values, epistemology, methodology, ontology and ethics. He has been working on everyday sociology and everyday philosophy since the late 1970s. More recently, he has worked on topographic turn, newsociomaterialism and the human turn within sociology and philosophy. In particular, the spatial turn and sociomateriality are key ontological, methodical and theoretical concepts. He represents the tradition of critical sociology and social-philosophy. His studies are based on different philosophical and professional traditions. From the early 1980s, he has studied everyday life in Norwegian prisons, their sociological and sociomaterial conditions, and the ideological basis of the prison system. He has written several books and articles about suicide, violence, prison-systems and human values and perspectives, as well as epistemological, ontological and ethical problems. Activity theory, critical sociology and critical psychology, existential philosophy, phenomenology, critical situational philosophy and practical research (developed within critical psychology) have been fundamental to his studies. Thereby, it should be possible to create a comprehensive view of the offender, and humans in general, which can be understood in a dialectic and internalrelationship with the sociomateriality of everyday living conditions. Hammerlin also holds a degree from Statens kunst- og håndverksskole (now The Oslo National Academy of the Arts).
Franz James


Franz James is a multi-tasking Ph.D. student and practicing product/furniture designer. As partner in a design company he works with interior objects for closed environments, such as prisons and psychiatric hospitals. James is currently on leave from his position as Associate Professor in Furniture Design at HDK - Academy of Design and Craft, University of Gothenburg, to do a Ph.D. in design with the project Carceral design: Understanding the meaning and impact of objects, furniture and interior design in institutional spaces of incarceration and care. The dichotomy between design for wellbeing and/or security is critically examined in his work, as well as terms like ‘home’, ‘noninstitutional’, and ‘normality’. James is also engaged in an interdisciplinary research project concerning the meaning of the physical environment in the Swedish state’s special residential homes for young people with psychosocial problems, substance abuse and criminal behaviour.
John K.


John K. is a pseudonym. As of this writing (January 2018) John K. is serving a sentence in an open prison. He began keeping a diary when first incarcerated and subsequently joined a collaborative writing project together with researchers. He continues to write and is still contributing to prison research. His research has been presented at conferences, and now, in this book.
Livia Porro


Livia Porro is an architect who has been dealing with inclusive design since her Master thesis (Center for Education and Rehabilitation at La Boca, Buenos Aires, 2013). She is currently completing her PhD in Engineering-based Architecture and Urban Planning at the Faculty of Engineering, at Sapienza University of Rome. Her research focuses on defining design criteria for residential facilities for adults with autism spectrum disorders, by taking into account how specific perceptual and cognitive features result in a peculiar system of architectural and technological requirements. She contributes to research and teaching activities led by Professor Francesca Giofrè (course in the Technology of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome).
Tore Rokkan


Tore Rokkan is an Associate Professor working as a Researcher in the Research Department at the University College of Norwegian Correctional Service. His research interest is in the field of change and development. His focus is on professionals’ and organizations’ cooperation and competence in developing and implementing new policy and practice. He is also interested in new methods and designs in order to create new knowledge in the field of corrections. Previous experience includes research in healthcare organizations and drug rehabilitation, studying cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organizations. He has also been involved in the development and evaluation of several projects and programmes in the prison and probation service over the last 15 years: cooperation between health and social services, implementation of Electronic Monitoring (EM), evaluation of different cognitive programmes and education of staff. Recent research involves studies on foreign inmates serving their sentence in Norway and inmates serving their Norwegian sentence in other countries. This transnational prisoner is a new challenge for correctional services in all European countries.
Ferdinando Terranova


Ferdinando Terranova has been Full Professor of the Technology of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome. He was Director of the Department of Innovation Technology in Architecture and the Culture of Environment – ITACA, Sapienza University of Rome (2004-2007). He was Director (2004-2009) of the Level II Master in Architecture for Health for Developing Countries, financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is an expert in the field of programming and the planning of complex building, with a special focus on healthcare and social care architecture, and in the field of Italian building production policy. Since 1989 he has made many feasibility studies, projects, guideline and research studies on healthcare and social care building. He has published more than 100 books, papers and articles. He has been the editor of many book chains and journals.
Elio Trusiani


Elio Trusiani is an architect, PhD, Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Camerino and Professor at the Specialisation School of “Beni Architettonici e Paesaggio” Sapienza University of Rome. Visiting professor at many international universities, his fields of applied research are: town planning, urban regeneration and cultural landscape planning with a focus on emerging regions and developing countries. His most recent field of research is the relationship between urban planning and health. He has published books, essays and articles on these topics with national and international publishers.

Coconut oil threatens more species than palm oil

New research finds that coconut production threatens a lot more endangered species than initially thought.

 (Photo: Perfect Lazybones / Shutterstock / NTB scanpix)

Coconut oil is often hailed as an environmentally friendly alternative to, for example, palm oil, but new research shows that it actually threatens more species than the controversial palm oil. How to choose environmentally friendly vegetable oils in a world full of disinformation?

Cathrine Glosli COMMUNICATION ADVISOR
NMBU, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Monday 06. july 2020 - 

Coconut oil is used in a wide variety of products, both in food and cosmetics. The oil is hailed by many as both healthy and environmentally friendly, and it is often mentioned as an alternative to palm oil.

However, new research shows that coconut oil is nowhere near as environmentally friendly as widely assumed, and that it actually threatens more animal and plant species than other vegetable oils.

"Our research shows that coconut production threatens a lot more endangered species than initially thought, and consequently there is a lot of confusion about the production of vegetable oils and which ones that actually can be considered environmentally friendly," says Professor Douglas Sheil from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).

He is one of several researchers behind a new international study that deals with the production of vegetable oils and the effects these crops have on nature and the environment.

Affects many species

According to the study, coconut oil production affects 20 endangered species per million litre produced oil. This is higher than other vegetable oils, such as palm oil (3.8 species per million litres), olives (4.1) and soybean (1.3).

Why is the coconut so bad for biodiversity? The main reason is that it is mostly cultivated on tropical islands with a rich diversity of species and many native species found nowhere else.

The effect on endangered species is usually measured by the number of species affected per area of land used - and according to this calculation, palm oil is worse than coconut.

Global map showing the dominant oil crop per grid-cell. Oil levels in the bottles represents the number of species threatened by each oil crop per million tons of oil produced.

Threatening endangered species

The researchers have gone through all the species in the IUCN Red List, the official red list of the world's endangered species. From the long inventory of 100,000 endangered species, they have filtered out all who are considered endangered by the cultivation of palm oil, maize, coconut, peanuts, olives, rapeseed, soy and/or cotton.

They have then linked this information with crop-specific data on how many hectares are harvested by the different crop types per land area globally.

Based on this, they could put a value on the number of endangered species per million tonnes of oil produced.

Here the coconut production came out worse than expected, and considerably worse than what is widely believed.

Food production: the backside of the story

Few, if any, human activities have changed the world more than agriculture. An ever-increasing human population growth and need for food, feed and biofuels has meant that arable land and grazing land now cover over 40% of the globe's total land area. Which consequently has large effects on the climate and biological diversity.

Coconut cultivation is thought to have contributed to the extinction of a number of island species, including the Marianne white-eye in the Seychelles and the Solomon Islands’ Ontong Java flying fox.

The Sangihe Tarsier is one of the species that is threatened by deforestation and clearing of ground vegetation for coconut production. 

(Photo: Stenly Pontolawokang)

Species not yet extinct but threatened by coconut production include the Balabac mouse-deer, which lives on three Philippine islands, and the Sangihe tarsier, a primate living on the Indonesian island of Sangihe.

"The most important take away from the study is not that coconut oil is so much worse than other vegetable oils", says Professor Douglas Sheil. Rather, consumers need to realize that all agricultural commodities have negative environmental impacts. (Photo: Private)

Define “eco-friendly”

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend that environmentally conscious consumers are actively looking for and favouring "environmentally friendly" products.

“The challenge is that the information about what constitutes eco-friendly is picked from unreliable sources,” says Sheil.

Producers, merchants, dealers, governments and interest groups - all are vying to tell the consumers what they should spend their money on.

“The result of this is that the information is often both contradictory and confusing,” he comments.

All crops have consequences

"The most important thing about this study is not that coconut oil is so much worse than other types of vegetable oils,” Sheil explains.

The researchers note that olives and other crops also raise concerns.

“However, it is that we as a society need to improve the information stream to the consumer," he continues.

“Consumers must realize that all our agricultural commodities, and not just those from tropical areas, have negative environmental impacts.”

“There is a need for increased transparency and better information. We must make it easier to act in an environmentally friendly manner, but the information must also be credible.”

Reference:

Meijaard et al. 2020. Coconut oil, conservation and the conscientious consumer. Current Biology.

DOI & URL: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.05.059

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30746-6

THIS ARTICLE IS PRODUCED AND FINANCED BY THE NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF LIFE SCIENCES (NMBU) - READ MORE

Where the wild things are: Scientists map and forecast apex predator populations at unprecedented scale

Findings will help wildlife managers track and predict the dynamics of large carnivore populations.

Brown bear. (Photo: Staffan Widstrand Photography)

Cathrine Glosli COMMUNICATION ADVISOR
NMBU, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Monday 16. november 2020 - 21:00

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), together with national and international collaborators, have developed statistical methods that allow mapping and forecasting of wildlife populations across borders.

With this information, researchers can now track the detailed dynamics of entire populations across unprecedented spatial scales, without being limited to small and localized parts of populations.
Population size and distribution

A vital part of wildlife management is knowledge about the population dynamics and distribution of wild species. Large carnivores are one of the most controversial topics in wildlife management. A landscape-level approach to wildlife monitoring, that tracks and forecasts wildlife populations across political jurisdictions, can help humans better manage and coexist with apex predators.

Richard Bischof (NMBU) and colleagues asked if wildlife population dynamics could be monitored and forecast through space and time like the weather, at unprecedented spatial scales that are relevant to conservation and management.
Non-invasive and large-scale monitoring

“The way we tend to study populations is a bit like looking at an elephant through a microscope,” says Bischof.

“We can understand fine details but find it difficult to make out the entire shape.”

Modern survey methods like genetic sampling allow ecologists to monitor wildlife effectively, without having to capture and handle animals. Sources of genetic material left behind by animals, such as feces, urine, and hair, allow identification of species and individuals. Armed with this information, researchers can now track the detailed dynamics of entire populations across large spatial expanses, instead of being limited to a small and localized parts of populations.

Annual maps of population densities of brown bears, grey wolves, and wolverines in Scandinavia from 2012 to 2018. (Photo credit: Staffan Widstrand Photography (bear); Kjetil Kolbjørnsrud/Shutterstock (wolf); Karel Bartik/Shutterstock (wolverine).)

From scats to maps

During the past two decades, Swedish and Norwegian authorities, with substantial help from volunteer citizen scientists, have amassed tens of thousands of DNA samples of brown bears, grey wolves, and wolverines across Scandinavia.

Using these data and advanced analytical models, the team lead by Bischof was able, for the first time, to produce detailed maps of the population density of the three species across their range in Scandinavia. These maps give a new perspective on wildlife populations as surfaces that change over time. The results also take into account imperfect detection.

“Wildlife surveys rarely detect every individual.” according to Bischof.

“So, to estimate population size, we cannot simply count the number of animals for which DNA is found. Our models correct for this.”
International team of experts

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences collaborated with scientists at other institutions in Norway, Sweden, France, and the United States.

Bischof emphasizes “International collaboration was essential for the success of the project, given that bears, wolves, and wolverines live in transboundary populations in Scandinavia that extend across the Swedish-Norwegian border.”

“The analysis involving thousands of DNA samples across such a huge spatial extent required substantial development in computing. Advances made during the project will now help others facing the challenges of large-scale ecological analysis” concludes Perry de Valpine at the University of California Berkeley, a collaborator and co-author of the study.

Reference:

Bischof et al. 2020. “Estimating and forecasting spatial population dynamics of apex predators using transnational genetic monitoring”. PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

An ice-free oasis in the Arctic sheltered life during the last ice age
Researchers from Norway and the UK have found evidence for ice-free corridors in the Arctic where life flourished during the Ice Age.

This is probably what the Arctic looked like during the Last Glacial Maximum, when large parts of Scandinavia were covered with ice. (Photo: By Ittiz - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Nancy Bazilchuk
based on an article by Elise Kjørstad
Monday 22. october 2018 - 06:25


The Arctic during the last ice age was essentially a desert. Land and ocean were both hidden under a thick sheet of ice. But scientists have long wondered if there were ice-free openings between land ice and sea ice, called polynyas, in which life could flourish.

Now, researchers from the Geological Survey of Norway, and the UK, report evidence of these ice-free gaps from 20,000 years ago, during what is called the Last Glacial Maximum.

The Last Glacial Maximum was a time when much of Europe was covered with thick ice, more than three kilometres thick in Norway. Ice stretched from the North Pole and across the entire Barents Sea and over large parts of the Norwegian Sea. This environment was not particularly hospitable to plants or animals.

But life appears to have persisted in long, narrow, ice-free gaps at the meeting between land and sea ice.
Several hundred kilometres long

ILLUSTRATION: Arctic oasis in front of the NW Eurasian ice sheet during the last Ice Age, 20.000 years ago (from Knies et al. 2018, Nature Communications/Irene Lundquist)

The researchers relied on sediment samples taken from a long stretch of ocean extending from the southwestern Barents Sea, north to Svalbard and beyond, and then eastwards. The researchers used dating techniques to determine the age of the sediments and then examined the contents of the samples. They looked for signs of life, such as small sea creatures and algae.


The researchers found many biological remains as evidence of life, showing that there must have been ice-free openings or polynyas where the sea ice met the land. This ice-free corridor must have stretched for hundreds of kilometres and existed for more than 5,000 years.

"By finding chemical fossils of algae that live in the open ocean and in sea ice, we have shown that polynyas must have existed during the last ice age," said Simon Belt, professor of chemistry at Plymouth University, UK, in a press release from Norway's geological survey.

The findings have now been published in Nature Communications.

The Sun’s rays as the source of life

Jochen Knies from the Geological Survey of Norway and the Center for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate at The Arctic University of Norway, led the Norwegian side of the study. He said these open passages were of great importance in allowing life to survive in the Arctic during the last ice age.

"When the ocean is covered with ice, sunlight can’t penetrate through the ice cover, which creates very difficult conditions for organisms to survive. And the land was covered with kilometres of ice in all directions— it was like a desert,” Knies says.

The ice-free areas were able to foster life on a microscopic scale, which in turn would form the basis for an ecosystem and other types of life, he says.

It was likely that seals, walrus and polar bears hunted for food in these ice-free passages, which made it possible for them to survive the Last Glacial Maximum.

The researchers don’t know if there were also polynyas along Norway’s rugged coast, since they did not examine sediment cores from the area. But it is certainly possible, they say.
Wind and warmer water

Polynyas form with the help of strong winds that blow from the land to the sea, combined with ocean circulation that brings warm water to the ocean’s surface.

"Winds that form over big inland ice masses can blow sea ice away. At the same time, we know there was a warm water current that flowed north during the ice age,” says Knies.

Today, polynyas are quite common around the North Pole and Greenland.

"We see these oases forming regularly, and with them, an explosion of life,” he says.

But global warming has made for an opposite situation in the Arctic, something the researchers also addressed in their article.

When the ice sheets began melting catastrophically at the end of the ice age, the sudden influx of fresh water halted the formation of polynyas, marine productivity dropped drastically, and the sea ice covered the entire Nordic Seas. This dramatic drop in productivity didn’t recover for roughly 2,000 years, they write in the study.

In the press release, the research is described as demonstrating the vulnerability of marine ecosystems in the northern oceans to periods of rapid climate change, but also their adaptability to various extreme climate states.

----------------
Read more in the Norwegian version of this article at forskning.no


Scientific links
Jochen Knies m.fl: Nordic Seas polynyas and their role in preconditioning marine productivity during the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature Communications, 27. september 2018. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06252-8.


External links
Jochen Knies


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Joëlle Zask

JUNE 2020




From the Amazon to California, from Siberia to the Congo Basin, from Portugal and Greece to Australia, fires on an unprecedented scale – megafires – are spreading dangerously across the globe. Devastating everything in their path these megafires, Dantean symbols of a natural world that is more imperilled than ever, are still strangely absent from political thinking at this time of climate crisis. Some scientists have now started using the term “Pyrocene” rather than Anthropocene to describe our geological epoch.

Benjamin Joyeux: How did you become interested in fires and megafires?

Joëlle Zask: I once saw a forest that had just burnt down, and its disappearance made me think about what the landscape means to people. The loss of a landscape produces a sort of helplessness: the landscape is not just a backdrop we gaze at but is an integral part of ourselves. Fire destroys slices of history that never come back. This irreversibility is what causes the distress felt by fire victims. I was also astonished that a phenomenon as impactful as forest fires has not been sufficiently debated, both among environmental scientists and environmentalists, and in public opinion.

Are fires a political issue?

They are more indications of the dysfunction in representation, of which the consequences are very political. Fires can only be controlled or prevented by a change in this respect. There are huge social and political questions to consider surrounding forest fires today. Yet, we still talk about them as though they are ordinary news items. Why? I think that in our minds lies a fear, a reticence. There have been catastrophic fires in the past, such as the great fire of Lisbon, which destroyed the city in 1755. Today’s fires are “catastrophic” and “political” in that they reveal the state of planetary imbalance and the huge role of humanity in this, a responsibility that must of course be clear and detailed because not everybody is equally responsible. This responsibility is symbolised by the fact that to start a fire, all it takes is to strike a match. Just as we cannot stop a tsunami or earthquake, neither can we stop a huge forest fire. In Australia in early 2020, just as in California and Siberia in 2019, we see the impotence of stakeholders on the ground in the face of these megafires.


This responsibility is symbolised by the fact that to start a fire, all it takes is to strike a match. Just as we cannot stop a tsunami or earthquake, neither can we stop a huge forest fire.

What’s the difference between fires and megafires, and why can’t we stop them?

There is no standard definition of megafires. They are recent phenomena that take many forms and are characterised by the fact that we cannot stop them. We should distinguish them from seasonal fires and controlled burns, which are relatively easy to manage. Megafires are clearly related to global warming and are becoming increasingly intense and frequent as temperatures rise and periods of drought last longer. For there to be fire, there needs to be fuel, a very dry environment, and wind. These three conditions are today combining in frightening proportions. Fire seasons that used to last two to three months can last for up to six months today. This was the case in California and the northern Mediterranean – Portugal, Spain, Greece, and the south of France – during the summer of 2017.

What is humanity’s role in the growing number and intensity of megafires?

In addition to global warming, the destruction of forests is connected to rural exodus and the disappearance of traditional forestry skills. Forests are being destroyed by new inhabitants who, not understanding them, run amok and do not manage them well.

Forests are not managed and deadwood – which is very flammable – builds up, making them vulnerable to fires. With rising temperatures come new pests that kill trees and further increase the amount of dry material. Then there is forest clearing, and industrial forests that are forests in name only. They are sprayed with phytosanitary products and are particularly fragile. The more forests are uniform and planted with non-native trees, the more they burn. For example, 70 per cent of the forest in Sweden – where fires burned fiercely in the summer of 2018 – is industrial. The trees chosen, the space between them, and the lack of diversity make forests particularly flammable.

Forest fires illustrate how issues today are intertwined, and show how ecosystems are disrupted and destroyed.

We have seen more debate about megafires since the global spate of fires in 2019 and 2020, but it is still discussed little in relation to the climate crisis as a whole. How do you explain this paradox?

The megafire phenomenon has yet to establish itself in people’s minds, even though experts are seeing it spread and boreal forests (in colder areas) are now burning too. NASA has released spine-chilling scenarios which, in the medium term, envisage blazes on every landmass.


What is also striking is its suddenness: environmental scientists know how to spot relatively slow or medium-term climate developments. But how does a sudden phenomenon like this fit into the longer timescale of general climate progression?

This phenomenon has emerged sooner than predicted. The megafire has now become a physical reality: a total and non-compartmental phenomenon. It inverses relationships with nature because it is a natural phenomenon but caused by man. What is also striking is its suddenness: environmental scientists know how to spot relatively slow or medium-term climate developments. But how does a sudden phenomenon like this fit into the longer timescale of general climate progression? Even the Anthropocene is thought of on a relatively long timescale. Yet nothing moves faster than a megafire: it destroys millions of hectares in a matter of days. All these factors explain why we have not yet managed to identify megafires as a phenomenon related to the environmental crisis.

Do you think that the narrative on fires has changed in recent years?

When I first became interested in the topic, there was a green narrative in favour of forest fires, because these fires are seasonal, natural, and therefore part of the forest’s equilibrium. But this narrative has also led to blindness. Fires can destroy forests irreversibly, as in 60 per cent of megafire cases. We are just starting to realise that the enormous fires destroying swathes of Australia, California, Portugal, and Greece are not at all beneficial for forests. That particular green narrative is outdated in this regard.

When we imagine the end of the world, like in Hollywood disaster movies, it often involves earthquakes and tsunamis but not many fires. Forest fires are rarely associated with the end of the world in the collective imagination.

This is also because fire is synonymous with home, the hearth, and wellbeing. There is a whole paradoxical imagination around fire, at once the great destroyer and the essence of life. The biological history of humanity and its evolution are linked to the use of fire, to its domestication. It is therefore difficult to think that fire, a condition for humanisation, might conflict with the chances of humankind’s survival on the planet.

What do these phenomena tell us about ourselves and our relationship with nature?

We need to take care of nature, both in an interested and disinterested way. This position conflicts with extractivism, the idea that nature is made for us and that we must exploit it as much as we can to get all we can from it. But it also conflicts with the idea that nature is naturally good and that to respect it we must step back so as not to harm or disfigure it. The preservationist narratives that argue that nature would get along very well without humans are bad for nature too. When we talk about nature, we should talk about a nature that we value, that we can make use of, whose configuration – be it aesthetic, philosophical or material – resonates with us. I do not know of a nature that is independent of the human species. What interests me are human-nature relationships where action is possible, even as this balance evolves all the time. An anthropocentric vision of nature is inevitable. So the idea of taking care of nature and stewardship is fundamental.


Our interhuman relationships would be much more democratic if we made room for the non-human world, whether you want to call this ecology or nature. Who am I as a person in a society that eats animals?

The link between animal rights and the climate crisis is gaining ground in environmentalism and is forcing us to re-imagine our relationship with non-human creatures. Should we do the same with trees and forests?

It is a good analogy because when human beings have relationships between them that take into account the non-human, animals, trees and so on, their relationships are not the same. Our interhuman relationships would be much more democratic if we made room for the non-human world, whether you want to call this ecology or nature. Who am I as a person in a society that eats animals? On the other hand, I do not personally have any wish to connect with trees or animals or to grant them a status equivalent to humans. I find that absurd.

But, in response to this megafire problem, shouldn’t we consider trees as subjects in law?

I don’t think so. Megafires are not beings but consequences, like the animals we raise to eat are. First, we must consider the interhuman framing of the issue. I don’t adhere to the Gaia hypothesis, but rather think like Noah, who didn’t give animals rights but did put them in his arc and did what God told him to do. I have my doubts about granting the status of subject to beings who do not consider themselves as such. It risks taking us back to this same idea which fools us: that in order to respect all beings and connect with them, we need to consider them equal and identical. Rather, this plurality should be incorporated into our relationships: which is what I said in La démocratie aux champs (Democracy in the Fields). Giving earthworms rights is absurd. Cultivating the soil means listening to nature, taking care of it, observing it without destroying it, and ensuring the conditions for its survival. We can do all of this without turning to the law.

What is the main message of your book?

I argue that it is by valuing, understanding, and identifying means of taking care of nature that we will save the forests. This as well as prohibiting the activities that contribute to global warming and that destroy forests and make them vulnerable. In short, limiting the activities of multinational corporations. We should also question our romantic and contemplative vision of nature. An important political message is to stop thinking that solutions will come from the top and that an expert class is needed to advise decision makers. The idea of expertise has cut off people on the ground and prevented them from having a voice. For years, small farmers have been considered bumpkins and nobodies. We are realising that, like in Australia today, the people that have been looked down on are best placed to find the right solutions. The belated discovery of ancient forestry knowledge is politically important: it is there that reside local solutions suited to the area. Fire is a global phenomenon but solutions will be local. The book starts from this relocated relationship – on the ground, between human and forest – and turns it into a framework, a paradigm for the right way to inhabit the planet. And the right way to distribute the work around the forest.

This will require a common political vision: could we not also envisage a forestry policy at European Union level?

Europe has a fundamental role to play when it comes to tackling the main drivers of global warming – like rising greenhouse gas emissions – which are almost impossible to address individually or as a group of individuals. In France, the National Forests Office and the agencies that manage forests report to the Ministry of Agriculture. This is a real problem because the Ministry of Agriculture is by no means a pioneer when it comes to the green transition. Forests should be switched to the Ministry of the Environment. What happened in the Amazon is interesting. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro considers the forest as his own. It was the same thing with President Suharto in Indonesia, who sold “his” forest in Sumatra to the South Korean company Daewoo. These more or less neo-fascist heads of state consider themselves the owners of their countries and sell them off to the highest bidders.


States, who are supposed to protect the public interest, should follow the thinking of Elinor Ostrom and begin to see forests as common goods.

A European policy that recognises forests as a common good to be preserved is essential. There should also be a policy for protecting forests against unsuitable plantation. For example a large plantation of Douglas firs is planned in the forest of Fontainebleau near Paris, due to National Forests Office policy. Under the pretext of fighting climate change, they are going to cut down oak and ash trees to replace them with Douglas firs. Yet the Douglas fir is just biomass; it is not forest. States, who are supposed to protect the public interest, should follow the thinking of Elinor Ostrom and begin to see forests as common goods.

Where the Pandemic Leaves the Climate Movement
Anneleen Kenis
Manuel Arias-Maldonado
Paolo Cossarini
Susan Baker


GREEN TRANSITION
21 AUGUST 2020 

As the entire globe is in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic, with great economic, social, and environmental consequences, it is worth recalling mass mobilisations like Extinction Rebellion and Fridays For Future which took the global scene in spring 2019. A year on, it is time to examine their claims and impact on public awareness of the climate emergency as well as current political discourse and policymaking. Paolo Cossarini spoke with three scholars from different European countries who highlight fundamental themes these movements helped bring to the fore. What emerges is a nuanced theoretical and practical debate about citizens’ mobilisation, green transition, and the prospects of climate action.

Paolo Cossarini: A year ago, Extinction Rebellion (XR) shut down London’s streets, as did Fridays for Future (FFF) in cities across the globe, making headlines worldwide. In 2020, streets have been shut down once more to prevent a health crisis. One year on, how have these movements shifted the debate on climate change?

Manuel Arias-Maldonado: In my view, these movements have not been as important as the increase in extreme weather events that have shaken public opinions in the last years, creating a feeling of urgency the movements themselves can profit from. It is the sense that something is palpably changing that propels public awareness. Protest movements are relevant, among young people especially, but they would be helpless in the absence of such material conditions which are, admittedly, as much objective as they are mediated by mass media.

Susan Baker: The climate movement is positive. However, the emphasis on “listen to science” is potentially problematic in that it fails to grasp that science does not reveal the truth but aspects of what is known. Climate science is narrow: it defines the issue in the language and framework of the natural sciences, ignoring the main causes of and solutions to climate change which lie in the social world in general, and in our economic model in particular. Neither of these groups have a critical grasp of the fundamental causes of climate change.


the emphasis on “listen to science” is potentially problematic in that it fails to grasp that science does not reveal the truth but aspects of what is known.

While XR and FFF have promoted public awareness, both are very moderate voices and have, consequently, shrunk the space for radical ones. On climate action, their focus on transition favours technocratic responses as opposed to radical transformation. It is therefore likely that transition management (transition to low carbon futures that allows for business as usual), as opposed to transformation, will take centre stage in climate action.

Where do you think the Covid-19 pandemic leaves the climate movement?

Anneleen Kenis: XR and FFF are remarkably absent in the current crisis though they seem to be slowly becoming more active again. The coronavirus pandemic might give the feeling that there are more important things to focus on now, but nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the Covid-19 crisis is instructive because it has unveiled how societies deal with emergencies, the place of science in the public debate, and human-nature relationships. Furthermore, the pandemic could nudge us in the direction of a radically different, much more sustainable society, but it could also lead us to a society characterised by authoritarian control, moralisation, and securitisation.


the Covid-19 crisis is instructive because it has unveiled how societies deal with emergencies, the place of science in the public debate, and human-nature relationships.

There is no neutral answer to the coronavirus crisis, just as there is no neutral answer to climate change. What’s more, the pandemic continues to raise crucial questions: who will foot the bill? Will large economic sectors like the airline industry be saved with taxpayers’ money? What conditions will these sectors have to meet? Will generating even more profit and growth be an indispensable mission? Will the coronavirus-induced economic crisis be used to demarcate certain sectors as crucial and others as not? Will we invest in healthcare and public schooling instead of (polluting) companies?

Manuel Arias-Maldonado: Nobody knows. There are reasons to think that climate action may be encouraged after the pandemic – or even during the pandemic if it doesn’t end soon – as well as to fear that the return to normality will prioritise economic growth over sustainability concerns or climate mitigation. Mobilising the public all depends on how people will feel after this is over.

In the meantime, it may be possible to seize temporary feelings to rally support for climate-friendly coronavirus response legislation as a way to ensure a cleaner exit from the crisis. The climate movement can play a role in this mobilisation process by framing the pandemic as the first true catastrophe of the Anthropocene. However, this card should not be overplayed since the link is not always clear. Alternatively, the pandemic can be portrayed as an expression of careless modernity, one that does not take into account, for example, food security. This depiction brings globalisation and the call to make it more sustainable centre stage.

Susan Baker: It is clear that government-imposed restrictions on social gatherings have impacted the activities of climate activist groups. So far, FFF has stopped their street presence and XR have ceased their highly visible forms of public protest. They nevertheless continued their activism online throughout the lockdown. These groups relied heavily on civil protest to raise public awareness, believing that this would force governments and other key stakeholders to act. It is harder to credit posting a selfie with a placard during lockdown with the same impact. Digital activism can be easily dismissed as an individualised activity while the marches that took place in the streets, often noisily, can hardly be written off.

In the public arena, there is a danger that the voices that speak for nature and that seek climate action will once again become marginalised. There continues to be a great deal of attention paid to how to manage the pandemic, as we would expect. At the same time, there is a lack of discussion on the underlying causes – which lie in the destruction of ecosystems for trafficking of species – and how the problem will be addressed at source.

Despite these challenges, the quietening of our streets and the cleaning of our air during lockdowns have allowed people to see and hear nature again. Here lies the hope that people can carry this experience forward to form a new political consciousness about the environmentally destructive nature of our economic activities and the possibility of an alternative future.

Do you think an overhaul of the relationship between our economic systems and the environment is possible in the current moment? How can we make a green transition attractive to the economic and political forces desperately trying to stay afloat and return to business as usual?

Anneleen Kenis: I would start by questioning this question: do we really have to make sustainability attractive to economic forces and industry? Or should we rather put economic forces and industry under pressure to change? The environmental movement has bought too much into the idea that we can get everyone on board if we come up with an “attractive” vision. It reinforces the idea that we can save the world with technofixes, that nothing really has to change, and that air transport does not have to be fundamentally questioned after all. We need to apply pressure now that it is possible. Or refuse to rescue them: we should simply say “no” and take proper measures to ensure that future companies do not have all the tax and other advantages that the aviation sector has.

While a certain level of “greening” the capitalist economy is possible (capitalists can make money selling solar panels just as they make money selling coal or oil), there is a fundamental clash. This clash has several aspects and dimensions, but the huge cleavage is between pursuing economic growth and reducing pressure on the ecosystems we are fundamentally a part of.

Manuel Arias-Maldonado: Before the pandemic, I would have answered that winning the support of economic and political forces is possible by making a green transition both unnegotiable and profitable. The transition could be framed as something unavoidable but a possible source of innovation and value.

Now, the world has stopped for some time and I think that public perception will be impacted for two reasons. Firstly, the dangers associated with the Anthropocene have been highlighted. Secondly, lockdowns have shown that life can be better: cleaner, healthier, slower.


There is no one way to stop climate change but several.

Additionally, the economic situation may provide governments with the opportunity to foster new energy technologies, thus giving some unexpected momentum to the green transition. Emmanuel Macron has hinted that polluted air will not be tolerated anymore. Well, this is the time to start.

There is no one way to stop climate change but several. Some are more capitalist-friendly – by way of technological innovation and productivity and efficiency gains – while others are more community-based and depend on reducing the size of the economy.

Susan Baker: At present, there is a dynamic interplay between pressure for change and the return to old ways. Climate change has shown that it is no longer possible to see our economic activity in isolation from its ecological and social consequences. This realisation calls upon us to question equating human progress with the domination of nature.

Economic actors need to take responsibility for their actions. It is not a question of “making it attractive to them”. Attractive, in the traditional economic sense, means that the activity can be the source of profits. This model that allows some in society to generate excessive wealth at the cost of others, including nature, needs to change. We must change what is produced, how it is produced, evaluate who benefits, and at what cost. It would be a moral hazard to make a green transition attractive when what we need is a green transformation of society.


We must change what is produced, how it is produced, evaluate who benefits, and at what cost.

Do you think that there’s the potential for a paradigm shift away from an economy based on growth? What about the balance between collective and individual action?

Anneleen Kenis: There are many consumer goods with huge ecological costs for which it cannot be sincerely argued that they are essential to lead a healthy and comfortable life. The global fashion industry contributes more to climate change than shipping and aviation together. This is no surprise considering that, in the UK for instance, 300 000 items of clothes are thrown away every year [read more on the impacts of fast fashion]. A first step to promoting degrowth is banning advertisement. People are told on an almost continuous basis that they need all this stuff.

Everyone who has the capacity to make personal changes should consider doing so. However, as Giorgos Kallis argues, it is much easier, much more motivating, and more impactful to do so collectively [read about Kallis’ insights on limits and autonomy]. I decided 10 years ago not to fly anymore, but what difference does it make? If we were to make a similar commitment collectively, the impact could be huge.

Manuel Arias-Maldonado: There is no consensus on degrowth as the way to go in terms of building a particular kind of society. It would be an accepted model if it was the only way to prevent planetary collapse – which it is not. There are alternative ways to promote decarbonisation and sustainability and governments should focus on those. What’s more, economic growth still matters as a way of producing welfare and wellbeing. Degrowth must, therefore, be defended as a morally valuable choice. If it were to persuade a majority, it would be the blueprint for a new way of living.

As I see it, relying on such collective sacrifice is utterly unrealistic. Nevertheless, people should be made aware of the fact that human habitation of the planet depends on the planet’s conditions, which in turn depend on how people behave. This understanding could bring our planetary impact into focus and potentially lead to better policy and technological innovation.

Susan Baker: The growth-oriented model of development pursued by Western industrial societies cannot be carried into the future, either in its present forms or at its present pace, as evidenced by climate change. We cannot have continuous growth in a system characterised by resource limits and planetary boundaries. Climate change has been caused by a growth-orientated model, achieved through ever-increasing levels of consumption. This artificially stimulated consumption brings untold wealth for the few and impoverishment for the many. Many now also reject the idea that consumption is the most important contributor to human welfare. This new value is not compatible with capitalism. Degrowth is no longer a radical alternative, but a necessity.


We cannot have continuous growth in a system characterised by resource limits and planetary boundaries.

A healthy society and the wellbeing of its members rests on acts of services and the sense of community rather than on consumption. Adopting this model requires changing our values so that one’s social standing is not determined by what they consume and put on display, but by how they engage in society to protect the interests of others, including those of other life forms, in ways that promote justice and equity.

While personal change is important, structural factors can make them unsustainable. To move to a new model of economy and society, everyday actions would need to be accompanied by structural changes. As we rethink, for example, the way we travel, our food and energy consumption, the structures underlying these – trade, financial, food systems and our economic system overall – must be transformed as well.

A God of Time and Space: New Perspectives
on Bob Dylan and Religion

Volume editor: Robert W. Kvalvaag, Geir Winje
Chapter authors: Reidar Aasgaard, Erling Aadland, Pål Ketil Botvar, Gisle Selnes, Anders Thyrring Andersen, Petter Fiskum Myhr

Synopsis

This book is a collection of essays on Bob Dylan and religion. The eight scientific essays present new perspectives on the subject, aiming to elucidate the role played by religion in Bob Dylan’s artistic output and in the reception history of some of his songs.

Few would dispute the fact that religion or religious traditions and the use of religious imagery have always played an important role in Dylan’s artistry. Scholars agree that the term “religion” is ambiguous and not easy to define, and a critical attitude to the whole concept of religion is traceable in Dylan’s lyrics. However, in several interviews Dylan has also revealed a positive attitude towards religion, and explained that the source of his religiosity is in the music and in old, traditional songs.

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 https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalog/book/74

CHAPTERS (PDF TO DOWNLOAD)

Introduction: Bob Dylan and Religion: New Perspectives from the North Country
Robert W. Kvalvaag, Geir Winje

Chapter 1: "Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)": A Window into Bob Dylan's Existential and Religious World
Reidar Aasgaard

Chapter 2: "The Titanic sails at dawn": Bob Dylan, "Tempest", and the Apocalyptic Imagination
Robert W. Kvalvaag

Chapter 3: Against Liberals: Multi-layered and Multi-directed Invocation in Bob Dylan's Christian Songs
Erling Aadland

Chapter 4: When the Wind is the Answer. The Use of Bob Dylan Songs in Worship Services in Protestant Churches
Pål Ketil Botvar

Chapter 5: The Visual Dylan: Religious Art, Social Semiotics and Album Covers
Geir Winje

Chapter 6: Bob Dylan's Conversions: The "Gospel Years" as Symptom and Transition
Gisle Selnes

Chapter 7: Hard Rain: The End of Times and Christian Modernism in the work of Bob Dylan
Anders Thyrring Andersen

Chapter 8: Bob Dylan's Ten Commandments – a Method for Personal Transformation
Petter Fiskum Myhr

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Robert W. Kvalvaag


Robert W. Kvalvaag is professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, where he teaches religious studies at the Faculty of Teacher Education and International Studies. He has published three books (in Norwegian): From Moses to Marley, The divine I, and The Eleventh Commandment: Religion and Rock and Roll. Together with Pål Ketil Botvar and Reidar Aasgaard he also edited and contributed to Bob Dylan: The Man, the Myth and the Music. The writer of numerous articles on religion and popular culture published in anthologies and journals, his output has included works on Dylan’s use of the Bible in the early songs, and a study of the influence of Hal Lindsey on Dylan’s oeuvre in the so-called Gospel period.
Geir Winje


Geir Winje is professor in the science of religion. He works at the University of South-Eastern Norway, mostly with teacher education on different levels. He does research and publishes on three main fields: didactics of religion, art and religion, and modernity and religion. Some central books: Felles, grunnleggende verdier? Menneskerettigheter og religionspluralisme i skolen (Common, basic values? Human Rights and religious pluralism in school, 2017), Guddommelig skjønnhet. Kunst i religionene (Divine Beauty. Art in the Religions, 2nd ed. 2012), Hekser og healere. Religion og spiritualitet i det moderne (Whitches and Healers. Religion and Spirituality in Modernity, 2007).
Reidar Aasgaard


Reidar Aasgaard is Professor of Intellectual History at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas (IFIKK), University of Oslo. He has published books and articles in English and Norwegian on the history of childhood, the New Testament, Late Antiquity, and early Christian apocrypha. He has worked as a Bible translator and translated classical texts from Greek and Latin into Norwegian. Aasgaard has also edited a volume on Bob Dylan in Norwegian (with Botvar and Kvalvaag) and since 2011 has been responsible for a popular lecture series on Dylan at History of Ideas.
Erling Aadland


Erling Aadland has published a number of books on poetry and literary theory, among them books about Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Latest monograph: The world of Literature, an Examination of Literature’s Antinomies, Vidarforlaget: Oslo, 2019. Book about Dylan: "And the Moon Is High", Attempting to Read Bob Dylan, Ariadne: Bergen, 1998. A number of essays on Dylan, including: “Work, Performance and Performancework”, Bøygen 2/2007; “We are not there (1967)”, Agora 1–2/2007; “One Big Prison Yard”, on (in)justice in some Dylan-songs”, Bøygen 3/2008; “Dylan and Love”, in: Bob Dylan, mannen, myten og musikken, Dreyer: Oslo, 2011; “He Got the Skills and He Got the Guts, Bob Dylan’s Alternating Interaction with the Blues”, Agora 1–2/2013.
Pål Ketil Botvar


Pål Ketil Botvar gained his PhD in political science from the University of Oslo, 2009. He is professor in sociology of religion at the faculty of humanities and education, University of Agder, Norway. Botvar has been co-editor on Bob Dylan – mannen, myten og musikken (The man, the myth and the music), together with R. Aasgaard and R. W. Kvalvaag. He has also written two articles about Bob Dylan: «Med Bob Dylan som liturg», 2013 ("Bob Dylan as Officiant"), and "With God on Our Side. Bob Dylan i norsk kirkeliv", 2013 ("With God on Our Side. Bob Dylan in Norwegian church life").
Gisle Selnes


Gisle Selnes is professor in Comparative literature at the University of Bergen, Norway, where he also directs the Research group for Radical Philosophy and literature (RFL). Selnes has written numerous articles on literary, philosophical, cultural and historical issues, ranging from colonial Latin American writings to Lacanian psychoanalysis. His books include Det fjerde kontinentet. Essays om America og andre fremmede fenomener (The Fourth Continent. Essays on America and Others Strange Phenomena, 2010), on the topic of discovery, critical theory and the origins of the essay as a genre; an annotated translation of César Vallejo’s Trilce; and the voluminous Den store sangen. Kapitler av en bok om Bob Dylan (The Everlasting Song. Chapters from a Book on Bob Dylan, 2016). In addition, Selnes has published a number of popular essays on Dylan in the press and lectured widely on Dylan’s poetics of song lyrics to an academic as well as to a more general audience.
Anders Thyrring Andersen


Anders Thyrring Andersen is Master of Arts, Comparative Literature, parish priest at Vor Frue Kirke in Aarhus, Denmark. Publications on Bob Dylan: Hvor dejlige havfruer svømmer. Om Bob Dylans digtning, Syddansk Universitetsforlag 2013; “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”, Geni og apostel. Litteratur og teologi, Anis 2006; “En fortjent Nobelpris”, Studenterkredsen no. 1, January 2019; a number of newspaper articles and appearances on National Public Radio. Has written a lot about the relationship between literature and Christianity, among other titles Polspænding. Forførelse og dialog hos Martin A. Hansen, Gyldendal 2011, and At forføre til tavshed. Søren Kierkegaard præsenteret, Dansklærerforeningen 2002. Recipient of Blicherprisen 2009 and Martin A. Hansen Prisen 2011.
Petter Fiskum Myhr


Petter Fiskum Myhr gained his cand. philol. in literature from the University of Bergen. He has worked as a journalist and editor for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. He was the first director of Rockheim, the national museum for popular music in Norway. Since 2013 he has been the director for Trondheim International Olavsfest. Petter Fiskum Myhr has written and contributed to several books about Bob Dylan, among them: Bob Dylan – jeg er en annen, Oslo: Historie og Kultur 2011, Bob Dylan. Mannen, myten og musikken. Oslo: Dreyer Forlag, 2011 and Bob Dylan Leksikon. Oslo: Historie & Kultur, 2012.