New book: The Semiotics of Animal Representations – Edited by Kadri Tüür and Morten Tønnessen

The Semiotics of Animal Representations

Edited by Kadri Tüür and Morten Tønnessen

Amsterdam/New York, NY 2014. 376 pp. (Nature, Culture and Literature 10)

ISBN: 978-90-420-3827-1                     Paper €80,-/US$112,-

ISBN: 978-94-012-1072-0                     E-Book €72,-/US$101,-

Online info: http://www.rodopi.nl/senj.asp?BookId=NCL+10

The ways in which we represent animals say much about who we are, who we strive to be, and our often conflicting ideas about our relationships with nonhuman species. Whether the animal is seen as someone with whom we can relate and feel kinship or conceived of as the radical other, popular cultural descriptions of animals are often – if not always – indirect descriptions of ourselves.

The contributions to this volume offer a unique panorama of academic and literary approaches, demonstrating that an analysis of cultural representations and constructions of animals is indispensable for a better understanding of the interface of human culture and the so-called animal world.

Kadri Tüür is research fellow at the Institute of Cultural Research and Fine Arts, University of Tartu. Tüür has edited collections and published articles on Estonian nature writing and ecosemiotics.

Morten Tønnessen is associate professor in philosophy at Department of Health Studies, University of Stavanger. His PhD (2011) developed Uexküllian phenomenology and included analysis of Norwegian wolf management. Tønnessen is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Biosemiotics and Chair of Minding Animals Norway.