(Un)Common Worlds III

Navigating and Inhabiting Biodiverse Anthropocenes

A human-animal studies conference at the University of Oulu (FIN), University of Derby (UK), and online

October 4–6, 2023

The confirmed keynote speakers are professor Jaana Erkkilä-Hill (visual arts, University of the Arts Helsinki), professor Naomi Sykes (archaeology, Exeter University), and professor Ang Bartram (Contemporary Art [Arts research], University of Derby), who will also be curating the exhibitions related to the conference.

The year 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity, and so little has happened that the fourth decade begins with the recent UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) declaration that we are now dealing with an existential crisis. One of the identified root causes of biodiversity loss is said to stem from people’s perceptions of other species – a realm of inquiry addressed widely in human–animal studies and critical animal studies.

The conference theme – Navigating and Inhabiting Biodiverse Anthropocenes – brings together scholars and artists across disciplines and fields to engage in dialogue about the ongoing environmental crises, namely but not limited to the loss of global biodiversity, and in connection with ongoing discussions of framing this era as the Anthropocene.

The confrence is organized by the Finnish Society for Human-Animal Studies, The University of Derby, The University of Oulu (Faculty of Education and the Biodiverse Anthropocenes research programme).

The Finnish Society for Human-Animal studies (YKES) organized the first (Un)Common Worlds – Human-Animal Studies conference on 7–9 August 2018 at the University of Turku. Around 240 researchers, artists and students from around the world participated in the conference. The keynote speakers of the conference were Professor Erica Fudge (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow), Assistant Professor Jamie Lorimer (University of Oxford) and Helena Telkänranta (University of Bristol and University of Helsinki). The second (Un)Common Worlds conference was organized by the university of Derby as an online event due to the global Corona pandemic. The key note speakers were Professor Susan McHugh (University of New England), Professor Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir (Iceland University of the Arts), and Professor Mark Wilson (University of Cumbria).

See call for papers here!