Några ord från professor Sam Ham

NATURVÄGLEDAREN NR 2, OKTOBER 2013

Professor emeritus Sam Ham, forskare i kommunikationspsykologi och naturvårdens sociala dimension, är för närvarande gästforskare hos CNV och Avdelningen för miljökommunikation på SLU. Här delar han med sig av sina tankar efter Sigtunakonferensen.

I made my first professional trip to Europe in 1995 at the request of the Centre for Environmental Interpretation based in Manchester, UK. It was there that I first met two of my closest and most valued colleagues, James Carter and Bill Taylor. James and Bill introduced me to a vision for interpretation’s professional growth and advancement in a part of the world where humans and nature have been influencing each other for much longer than in my own country. I was excited to see the path they were on and knew even then that their work would have a continent-wide impact.

But I was unaware at that time that the concept of interpretation was already being discussed in Sweden some twenty years earlier. Sven Hultman, who I now have the privilege to call my friend, had brought the idea back with him from the United States where he had studied in the early 1970s.

From these beginnings, Interpret Europe today stands a resilient professional organization of interpreters from all across the continent. I have marveled this week at the utter brilliance of our colleagues from forty countries.  And every observation is punctuated whenever I see Sven, James and Bill together in conversation.  For me personally, a circle is being completed this week in Sigtuna, and from it another one grows.

Sam H. Ham, USA
August T. Larsson Visiting Professor
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

June 17, 2013

Sam H Ham och Sven-G Hultman i sitt första möte vid naturum Skrylle utanför Lund i april 2012.