Postgraduate Course: Animals and Society (PGGE11194)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | What is an animal? What do we know about animal consciousness and animal intelligence? Is it right to use animals for human ends, e.g. for food or entertainment? What are our responsibilities with respect to wild animals (e.g. conserving species) and animals that share human spaces (e.g., companion animals and feral animals)? How is animal life represented and expressed through the arts and media, and how does this shape human-nonhuman relations? Are we entering a posthuman age where nonhuman animals have attained a new status and significance in society?
This course addresses contemporary issues concerning nonhuman animals (in particular, mammals), from multidisciplinary perspectives in the social sciences and humanities. It aims to provide a grasp of key issues in the new, burgeoning field of animal studies and to extend this knowledge to more specific topics through the use of films, guest lectures, student projects, and a local field trip. The approach is largely conceptual and theoretical, but also intends to bring theory and practice together via topical case studies and other means.
The course begins with foundational questions concerning the nature of animals and animal capacities before moving to ethical questions about the treatment of animals. It then addresses the range of animal-human relations, from interactions with wild animals to those much closer to home, such as farm animals and companion animals. It then looks at our creative interactions with animals through representations and other forms of engagement in the arts and media.
These topics are addressed through both historical and contemporary approaches, with the main aim to enable students to gain critical knowledge about how the relationship between humans and animals has evolved.
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| Course description |
Week 1: What is an Animal?: Historical Perspectives
Week 2: What is an Animal?: Contemporary Perspectives
Week 3: Animal Capacities: Pain, Emotion and Consciousness
Week 4: Animal Ethics I: Animal Rights
Week 5: Innovative Learning Week: Film showing
Week 6: Animal Ethics II: Animal Welfare
Week 7: Animal Ethics III: Relational Ethics
Week 8: Wild Animals
Week 9: Domesticated and Companion Animals
Week 10: Feral Animals
Week 11: Representing Animals
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | Modest costs for a local visit |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will gain a critical understanding of conceptions of animal capacities and historical and contemporary theories about the nature of animals.
- Students will be able to evaluate key theories of animal ethics, from animal rights and welfare to more recent relational approaches.
- Students will gain a critical understanding of the relationship between humans and animals, and the place of animals in human societies in the past and present.
- Students will be able to use this knowledge to assess contemporary approaches to human-animal interactions and to inform their understanding of issues in contemporary environmental and geographical thought (within the humanities and social sciences).
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Reading List
Key texts:
Armstrong, S. and Botzler, R., ed., The Animal Ethics Reader.
Beauchamp, T. and Frey, R. ed., Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics.
Kalof, L. ed., The Animals Reader: The Essential Classic and Contemporary Writings.
Allen, C. et al. ¿Deciphering Animal Pain¿
Allen, C. ¿Animal Consciousness¿, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Baker, S. Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity and Representation.
Coetzee, J., The Lives of Animals.
Derrida, J. ¿The Animal That Therefore I Am¿.
Duncan, I. ¿Animal Welfare Defined in Terms of Feelings¿.
Fudge, E., Animal.
Fudge, E. Pets.
Grandin, T. ¿Thinking Like Animals¿.
Haraway, D. and Begelke, M. The Companion Species Manifesto.
Haraway, D., When Species Meet.
Kymlicka, W. Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights.
McKenna, E. and Light, A., ed. Animal Pragmatism: Rethinking Human-Nonhuman Relationships.
Midgley, M. Animals and Why They Matter.
Nagel, T., ¿What is it Like to be a Bat?¿
Philo, C. and Wilbert, C., ed., Animal Spaces, Beastly Places.
Regan, T., The Case for Animal Rights.
Singer, P., Animal Liberation.
Singer, P. Practical Ethics.
Thomas, K. Man and the Natural World.
Wemelsfelder, F. ¿Lives of Quiet Desperation¿.
Wolch, J. and J. Emel, ed., Animal Geographies.
Journals:
Society and Animals
Between the Species
Websites and forums:
http://www.h-net.org/~animal/
http://www.animalsandsociety.org/pages/human-animal-studies
http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/students-for-cas/journal-for-critical-animal-studies/
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The transferable skills and skills developed through the course are to:
Communicate ideas, principles and theories effectively and fluently using a variety of means;
Develop a sustained and reasoned argument; an ability to identify, acquire, evaluate and synthesise data from a range of sources;
¿ Formulate and evaluate questions and identify and evaluate approaches to problem-solving;
Undertake independent/self-directed study/learning (including time management);
Reflect on the process of learning and evaluate personal strengths and weaknesses;
Develop presentation skills.
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| Keywords | animal studies; animal ethics; human-animal relations; animal geographies |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Emily Brady
Tel: (0131 6)50 9137
Email: Emily.Brady@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynne Mcgillivray
Tel: (0131 6)50 2543
Email: Lynne.McGillivray@ed.ac.uk |
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