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 presentations, 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. |
| 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: Animal Ethics II: Animal Welfare
Week 6: Animal Ethics III: Relational Ethics
Week 7: Wild Animals
Week 8: Domesticated and Companion Animals
Week 9: Feral Animals
Week 10: Representing Animals
Week 11: Field trip
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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
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Essay (3000 words) (60%)
Oral Presentation (20%)
Reading portfolio (20%) |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Gain a critical understanding of conceptions of animal capacities and historical and contemporary theories about the nature of animals;
- Evaluate key theories of animal ethics, from animal rights and welfare to more recent relational approaches;
- Gain a critical understanding of the relationship between humans and animals, and the place of animals in human societies in the past and present;
- 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
Animal Studies Group, ed. 2006. Killing animals University of Illinois Press.
Armstrong, S. and Botzler, R., ed. 2004. The Animal Ethics Reader. McGraw Hill.
Baker, S. 2001. Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity and Representation. University of Illinois Press.
Beauchamp, T. and Frey, R. ed. 2012. Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics. Oxford. Online access.
Bekoff, M. ed. 2009. Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Greenwood.
Birke, L. and Hockenhull, J., ed. 2012. Crossing boundaries investigating human-animal relationships. Brill. Online access.
Bovenkirk, B. and Keulartz, J. 2016. Animal Ethics in the Age of Humans. Springer.
Buller, H. 2015. Animal geographies I. Progress in Human Geography, 38:2.
Buller, H. 2015. Animal geographies II: Methods. Progress in Human Geography, Buller, H. 2015. Animal geographies III: Ethics. Progress in Human Geography 39:3.
DeGrazia, D. 1996. Taking Animals Seriously. Cambridge UP.
DeMello, M. 2012. Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies. Columbia UP.
Donaldson, S. and Kymlicka, W. 2011. Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights. Oxford.
Gruen, L. 2011. Ethics and Animals: An Introduction. Cambridge UP
Freeman, et al. 2011. Considering Animals: Contemporary Studies in Human-animal Relations. Ashgate. Online access.
Fudge, E. 2002. Animal. Reaktion.
Fudge, E. 2008. Pets. Reaktion.
Haraway, D. 2008. When Species Meet. University of Minnesota Press.
Hearne, V. 2007. Adams¿s Task. Skyhorse.
Ingold, T, ed. 1988. What is an Animal? Unwin Hyman.
Kalof, L. ed. 2007. The Animals Reader: The Essential Classic and Contemporary Writings. Berg.
Kim, C.J. 2015. Dangerous Crossings: Race, Species, and Nature in a Multicultural Age. Cambridge University Press.
Linzey, A., ed. 2013. The Global Guide to Animal Protection. University of Illinois Press.
Marvin, G. and McHugh, G. ed., 2014. Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Studies. Routledge. Online access.
Midgley, M. 1998. Animals and Why They Matter. Georgia UP.
Norton, B. et al, ed. 1995. Ethics on the Ark: Zoos, Animal Welfare and Wildlife Conservation. Smithsonian.
Palmer, C. 2010. Animal Ethics in Context. Columbia.
Philo, C. and Wilbert, C., ed. 2004. Animal Spaces, Beastly Places. Routledge.
Reaktion series on various animal species.
Singer, P. 1995. Animal Liberation, 2nd ed. Pimlico.
Thomas, K. 1983. Man and the Natural World. Allen Lane.
Wolch, J. and Emel, J. 1998. Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity in the Nature-Culture Borderlands. Verso.
USEFUL journals: Society and Animals; Between the Species; Anthrozoos; Journal for Critical Animal Studies; Animal Studies Journal; Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface 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: |
Course secretary | Mrs Paula Escobar
Tel: (0131 6)50 2543
Email: |
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