Next Coffee Talk with Dr. Rebecca Banham: “Ontological security and forest experiences: ‘Giving language’ to human-forest connections in Tasmania, Australia” | 21 May 2025

Image: Sebastian Drue

21 May 2025


Time (please note: due to the speaker being in Australia, the Coffee Talks takes place at a different time than usually!):

at 8pm in Hobart (AEST)
at 1pm in Helsinki (EEST)
at 12am Central Europe (CEST)
at 4am in Lethbridge, Canada (MDT)

Titel: „Ontological security and forest experiences: ‘Giving language’ to human-forest connections in Tasmania, Australia”

Input by: Dr. Rebecca Banham (University of Tasmania)

About:

Dr Rebecca Banham’s doctoral research explored the forest experiences of 27 people from Tasmania, Australia. She used Anthony Giddens’ concept of ‘ontological security’ – a sense of stability and predictability about our selves and the world – to understand how experiences with/in forests can help people to articulate their ethics, self-identity, sense of time, and connection to ‘something bigger’.

Drawing on several publications written since Rebecca completed her doctorate, this presentation will focus on the connection between ontological security and forests through concepts such as ritual, temporality, activism, and self-narrative. The common thread throughout these themes is that forests do important ‘ontological work’ for humans, which can help researchers to express the importance of the often abstract, ‘invisible’ elements of people’s connections to forests.

To join the event, please use the Zoom Link: https://uni-jena-de.zoom-x.de/j/65854920539

Meeting-ID: 658 5492 0539; Kenncode: 008070

Coffee Talks Human-Forest-Relationships

Let’s sit, have a coffee and talk in the scientific café! The “Coffee Talks HFR” give room for open and relaxed discussions on current research subjects related to human and society relations to forests. It warmly welcomes all interested in forest-related research to join the online sessions.

Each session lasts 1,5 hours. It starts with a 20-30 minute presentation of a guest speaker. After the presentation, with coffee or tea at hand, participants have plenty of room for an open discussion and exchange.

The “Coffee Talks HFR” take place three to four times per term on Wednesdays at 6 am MST / 2pm CET / 3pm EET.

Guest speakers wanted!

If you are interested in contributing to the “Coffee Talks HFR”, please contact either jana.holz(at)uni-jena.de, jodie.asselin(at)uleth.ca or tuulikki.halla(at)uef.fi with info on your subject (title and short abstract) and a preferred date.

The interdisciplinary and international scientific “Coffee Talks HFR” have a long tradition. In 2021, a cooperation between the Finnish research project Human-Forest Relationships in Societal Change and the German research group Mentalities im Flux (flumen) launched and hosted the “Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR”. Since then, they hosted more than twelve sessions with speakers form interdisciplinary social science background and international participants. In 2024, the network broadened and the event got a new name: “Coffee Talks HFR”.

The “Coffee Talks HFR” are hosted by: