Undergraduate Course: Humans and Other Species (SCAN10057)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Social Anthropology |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | What happens when we humans draw distinctions between ourselves and other living species? In this course we will examine the place that other forms of life - animals, plants, microbes - occupy in human worlds. Historically anthropologists have been interested in animals, because we can use our understanding of them to work out what is distinctive about humans, or, because as Levi-Strauss famously wrote, they are good to think with. More recently, anthropologists have begun to challenge the separation drawn between human and non-human forms of life, and ask about the bio-political consequences of scientific practices such as taxonomy and botany. Scholars in this field argue that the boundaries drawn up between species create hierarchies and inequalities, and that breaking down species distinctions reveals the extent to which our human and nonhuman lives are deeply imbricated in socioeconomic projects. More radically, some argue that we should abandon our anthropocentric views of the world in favour of an approach that recognizes the agency of other species. Alternatively, anthropologists of the non-western world are able to describe alternative modes of being that do not distinguish between humans and other species in the same way that we do.
In this course we will examine these debates by exploring topics such as domestication and pets; the parallels between breeding and kinship; animals, plants and microbes as scientific objects; zoonoses and pests; animal rights; extinction; the environment; non human ways of being; and the place of mythical creatures and monsters. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Anthropology courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
16/09/2013 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
|
| Additional Notes |
|
| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| By the end of the course the students should have a critical understanding of the place that nonhuman species ¿ animals, plants, microbes ¿ occupy in human worlds, and the role that our efforts to distinguish ourselves from other species plays in shaping our worlds. They should be familiar with debates about the relationships that humans have with nonhuman life. Students should be able to evaluate influential anthropological analyses of nonhuman forms of life ¿ from structuralist and symbolic, political economic approaches, to more recent emphases on interspecies relations, anti-anthropocentrism, ontology and perspectivism. Critical analysis and discussion of case studies and theoretical essays will build anthropological skills in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. |
Assessment Information
| Assessment will be based on essays. The first, approx. 1500 words is worth 30%, the second, approx. 2500 words is worth 70%. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1: Introduction: Taxonomies
2: Pets and Domestic Animals
3: Animal Symbols
4: Pests and Bugs
5: Mythical Creatures and Monsters
6: Life Sciences
7: Being in the World with Animals
8: Animal Rights
9: Interspecies Ethnography
10: Environment, Protection, Extinction
11: Essay Writing Clinic |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Core Readings
Cassidy, R. & M. Mullin (eds) 2007. Where the wild things are now. Oxford: Berg.
Fudge, E. 2002. Animal: Reaktion Books.
Hurn, S. 2012. Humans and Other Animals: Human-Animal Interactions in Cross Cultural Perspective. London: Pluto Press. |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Rebecca Marsland
Tel: (0131 6)51 3864
Email: r.marsland@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Ewen Miller
Tel: (0131 6)50 3925
Email: Ewen.Miller@ed.ac.uk |
|
© Copyright 2013 The University of Edinburgh - 10 October 2013 5:19 am
|
University Homepage