Workshop announcement

[Peter Austin]

Plants, animals, words: a multidisciplinary workshop

19-21 September 2013, SOAS, University of London

website: http://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/events/plants-animals-words/19sep2013-plants-animals-words-a-multidisciplinary-workshop.html

With the aim of promoting interdisciplinary research, the Linguistics Department at SOAS, University of London is hosting a three-day workshop designed to encourage collaboration between researchers and young academics interested in the areas of linguistics, ethnobotany and ethnozoology. 

This event is being organized in collaboration with researchers from the University of Kent and the University of Oxford. 

Linguists involved in the documentation of lesser-known languages recognize that much of the data they collect is devoted to the description of the speakers’ knowledge of the natural world. Ethnobiologists, who are concerned with the relationships a community has with its plants and animals, recognize that 
language is key to a deeper understanding of traditional knowledge. 

Key speakers will include Dr. Rajindra K. Puri, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Anthropology at the 
University of Kent; Dr. Andrew G. Gosler, University Research Lecturer in Ornithology and Conservation at the University of Oxford; Dr. Thomas Thornton, Director of MSc Environmental Change & Management, University of Oxford; Bob Gosford, Darwin-based writer, lawyer and ethnobiologist; Dr. 
Serge Sagna, Research Fellow at the University of Surrey; and Dr. Kakia Chatsiou, Digital Content Curator at the Endangered Languages Archive.

This event offers an excellent opportunity for participants to gain hands-on experience in ethical data gathering techniques, share cross-disciplinary perspectives and theories, and set up a basis for future collaborative research. Although this event is open to researchers from all fields, spaces are limited. Participants are therefore asked to register with an expression of interest. Registration will be open between the 19th July and 18th August. 

If you are interested in participating in this event, please visit the website (http://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/events/plants-animals-words/19sep2013-plants-animals-words-a-multidisciplinary-workshop.html) and follow the registration link. For more information email: ethnobiology at soas.ac.uk.