Department of social anthropology seminar with Ståle Knudsen

The Department of Social Anthropology has the pleasure to invite you to
this week's seminar. Dr. Ståle Knudsen from the Department of Social
Anthropology, University of Bergen, will present the following paper:

How to account for patterns, trends and shifts? The political ecology of
biodiversity and the management of introduced species (work in progress).

Abstract
Political ecology has been criticized for letting theory explain the
character of natural resource management and resource conflicts. Network
approaches are being advocated as an alternative to political ecology
(and other structuralist/post-structuralist approaches). The relational
ontology (or ANT) of Latour, Law, Mol and others constructs explanation
by following associations between human and non-human actors. I have
followed such an approach in my study of the multiple enactments
(‘constructions’) of the sea snail Rapana in Turkish Black Sea waters:
as ‘alien invasive species’, as a commercial resource, as haram
(forbidden according to Islam), as foul smelling. I explore how these
enactments have been played out against each other in management during
the past decades. Yet, I do not want to limit analysis to a description
of these enactments and the relation between them. Why these enactments?
Are there changes, shifts, over time? How can these changes be
explained? What is the role of the biodiversity discourse? With the
raising of questions like these, doubts about relational ontology are
born. How far can ANT guide us? I invite a discussion of alternatives
that can retain ANTs specificity of analysis but also account for
patterns, trends and shifts.


Bionote
Dr. Knudsen is an Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the
University of Bergen. With a research interest that centers around
natural resource management, environmental anthropology , fisheries, bio
diversity and introduced species, knowledge, science, poverty and
inequality, he is currently leading the EU funded project KnowSeas -
Knowledge-based sustainable Management for Europe’s Seas. His most
recent publications include Fishers and Scientists in Modern Turkey. The
Management of natural Resources, Knowledge and Identity on the Eastern
Black Sea Coast. Oxford: Berghahn Books, p. 304 (2009), ‘Identifying
drivers for fishing pressure. A multidisciplinary study of trawl and sea
snail fisheries in Samsun, Black Sea coast of Turkey’. [with Mustafa
Zengin and Mahmut Hakan Koçak] Ocean and Coastal Management, 53(5-6):
252-269 (2010).

All are welcome!