HAS Courses in Sociology relating to animals and society.
Debi Reed Hill Animals and Society This course is designed to introduce students to the broad new field of human-animal studies by focusing on three key areas. First, we consider non-human animals as thinking and feeling beings and actors, present in every important aspect of human life and society. In this analysis we employ ideas from symbolic interaction, supplemented by cognitive ethology and neuroscience in order to address questions about animals as persons and selves. Second, we consider various specific human institutions and their practices in relation to non-human animals. Third, we discuss the implications of all this for the rights of animals and for the ethical assessment of their treatment by human beings, reading a variety of perspectives, including sociological, zoological, legal, and philosophical sources. David Sztybel, Lauren Corman Animals and the Law This course will explore questions pertaining to animals and the law in terms of both theory and practice. The law illuminates key interrelationships between humans and other animals. Not only the law but sociology itself interweaves with ethical concerns about how we should relate to others. Indeed, three competing theoretical groundings of present or proposed animal law are: (1) animal welfare; (2) animal rights; and (3) animal liberation (the latter often rejects rights in favor of a utilitarian approach). After reflecting on animal law in Canada as it exists, we will ask, as does Gary Francione, if society's profession of animal welfare is, after all, self-contradictory. After examining the property status of animals and Francione's vision of animal rights among other approaches, theoretical questions about the comparability of oppression will be addressed, including: can we compare speciesism to racism and sexism? Animals and the Law in Practice will occupy the second half of the course and will principally be concerned with animals as entertainers, companions, in laboratories, and as sources of food. Also, we will contemplate the practices of litigating and legislating in relation to animals, their advocates, and users. David Sztybel, Lauren Corman Animals and Human Society This course will explore how animals relate to human social organization. The sociology of animals interweaves with ethical concerns about how we should relate to others. We will examine how animal rights and human rights, although they seem disparate to some, are actually very close conceptual neighbours. Different versions of animal liberation and animal "welfare" will be discussed. Since this is the first in Brock University's series of Critical Animal Studies courses, it is fitting that we take a sustained look at an area in which 95% of animals killed by humans meet their fate: animal agriculture. We will examine not only flesh-eating but indeed vegetarianism. Fox's insight that people "compartmentalize" their thinking about humans and animals will help to guide our reflections on animals used as performers, competitors, clothing, and research tools. Before concluding, we will contemplate how speciesism can be compared not only with racism but sexism, and how themes of liberation also intimately intertwine. John Sorenson Critical Animal Studies In 1980, John Berger asked: Why Look at Animals? We consider some
possible answers to Berger's question by analyzing various ways of
looking at animals, for example, as food, pets and objects of
entertainment. We will examine how they are represented in visual
media, especially photography, and in campaigns by animal advocates.
�Representation' does not simply refer to visual images but
also to the control and circulation of images and how they operate
in society. Thus, in our examination, we will undertake a
sociological investigation of the meaning and power of these images
in our society and how visual representations draw attention to or
are contradicted by the
Central Connecticut State University Jessica Greenebaum Animals & Society Using Symbolic Interaction as the main theoretical perspective, this course explores the social relationship between humans and animals and examines the social meanings which shape the role and status of animals in society. Central New Mexico Community College Margo DeMello Animals & Society This course explores the spaces that animals occupy in human social and cultural worlds and the interactions humans have with them. Central to this course will be an exploration of the ways in which animal lives intersect with human societies. We will also examine how different human groups construct a range of identities for themselves and for others through animals. Environmental Sociology Examines some of the important concepts and theories used by environmental sociologists to address the following substantive issues: how society and the economy have developed their relationship to the environment, efforts to expand our moral circle to include non-human life, a variety of environmental movements such as the environmental justice movement and the animal rights movement, how we measure and interpret studies of environmental concern, and some of the problems and possible solutions of building sustainable and alternative environmental societies. Leanne Joanisse Animals and Society Much of human society is structured through interactions with animals or through interactions with other humans regarding animals, yet sociology has largely ignored these types of interactions. This course is designed to bring into the realm of sociological study the relationships that exist between humans and animals. It will examine how animals are socially constructed, challenge traditional representations of animals, and study animals as minded social actors. We will apply sociological approaches to the study of human-animal relationships and even animal-animal relationships. A major focus will be on the social construction of animals in North American culture, although we will also examine controversies surrounding human-animal relationships. Finally, we will consider the moral status and rights of animals in human society. Linda Kalof Contemporary Animal-Human Relationships Through the lens of interdisciplinary contemporary scholarship,
we will examine: Middle Tennessee State University Angela Mertig Animals and Society Non-human animals have played important, often unrecognized, roles throughout the history of human society. Even so, sociology, as the study of society and its component parts, has typically viewed other animals as part of the environmental back-drop that could be safely ignored. Recently, however, sociological and other disciplinary recognition of animals in society has grown. Not only have sociologists gained greater appreciation for social impacts on animals (and their environments), but they have increasingly come to see that other animals are social agents as well. This course is devoted to exploring many of the ways that non-human animals and humans interact in sociologically meaningful ways. Notre Dame de Namur University Cheryl Joseph Sociology of the Animal-Human Bond This course explores the unique relationship that humans share with other animals, the implications of this relationship and the potential. We examine the attitudes our society holds toward animals other than ourselves as well as how and why our social institutions create these attitudes. We also address the connection between animal and human cruelty along with the similarities between animal oppression and racism, sexism, ageism and social class privilege. Finally, we direct attention to the ways in which animals enrich human lives and humans can benefit other animals. This course uses historical, cultural, institutional, interpersonal and environmental perspectives to examine the human-other animal bond. Notre Dame de Namur University Cheryl Joseph Animals, People and the Environment By combining natural science with social science, this class explores the interactions between people, wildlife and our ecological environment. We focus on the value of animal life and nature in such specific areas as conservation/wildlife management, food production, energy needs assessment, biomes and populations, urban sprawl, biomagnification and chemical pollution, environmental disease, endangerment, extinction, globalization and ecotourism within the context of social inequality and social justice. Particular emphasis is given to the deforestation of Africa and the Amazon; the introduction of kingfish into the Quechua and Imara Indians of Southern Peru; the Arctic wilderness and oil drilling; mountaintop removal in West Virginia; chemical pollution of the Great Lakes; creation of compatible eco-environments in Northern Minnesota; and the impact of tourism on Moorea. This course uses historical, biological, sociological, cultural, institutional and environmental perspectives to examine the connections between animals, people and our environment. Notre Dame de Namur University Cheryl Joseph Animals in Society This course begins by exploring capabilities of animals other than humans along with the implications of these faculties. Using experts in their various fields, we examine the bond between people and animals, focusing on the cruelty and compassion connections, then discuss ways in which humans and our furry, feathered and finned friends can enhance the lives of others. Environmental Sociology This course brings a sociological perspective to environmental issues, both past and present, by asking: Who is civilized? Who is savage? What is nature? By addressing questions of how human societies, animals, and land have shaped each other, students better understand the root causes and consequences of today's environmental crisis. Topics include world hunger, water, and environmental equity for all. Carol Thompson Animals, Culture and Society Non-Human animals are an ever-present part of our lives. This presence, even though salient, is often taken for granted by humans. Even sociologists, for the most part, have neglected the study of animal/human interaction and the importance of animals in human societies. This course will attempt to correct this oversight by addressing the roles, places, meanings, and significance animals have in human society. We will explore the cross-cultural differences and the major social and philosophical arguments regarding the place of animals and the capacity of animals to think, feel, express, interact etc. We will also examine beliefs, social practices and policies regarding animals and their well-being and the social, cultural, and political bases of these practices and policies. This course will apply sociological approaches to the study of human-animal relationships. It will be revealed that humans are not consistent in our perceptions of, or relations with, other animals, indicating that socially constructed realities extend into human/animal relations. We will challenge traditional representations of nonhuman animals and connect these representations to enduring social problems such as racism, sexism and violence against the vulnerable. Central to this course will be an exploration of the ways in which �animal' lives intersect with human social life. The overarching goal is to examine these topics in a way that is both scholarly and practical, thereby providing a rich and meaningful intellectual experience. University of Colorado, Boulder Leslie Irvine Animals and Society This course examines the role of non-human animals in human society; Investigates the social construction of the human/animal boundary; Challenges ideas that animals are neither thinking nor feeling; Examines the many ways humans rely on animals; Considers the link between animal cruelty and other violence; and Explores the moral status of animals. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Luis Sfeir-Younis The Sociology of Animal Rights This course is designed to examine sociologically the relationships that exist between humans and other non-human animals. Since its birth in Europe in the 19th century, sociology has focused almost exclusively on human-to-human interactions largely ignoring the nature and significance of the human-animal relationship. However, in the last decades, this relationship has received much public attention. Scholars from all disciplines are focusing the nature, the significance, and the implications of the human-animal relationship. Animals are being placed back into the core of the sociological agenda. In an effort to fundamentally rethink the relationship between human beings and non-human animals, this course will explore some of the legal, ethical, cultural, political, ecological, and social issues that underlie the concerns for and against animal rights and protections. We will examine the use of animals for experimentation, food, entertainment, work, and their furs, and the consequences of such practices on the well-being of animals as well as its impact on society, its industries and institutions. Different perspective on animal rights and animal welfare will be presented and a comparative analysis of human and animal rights and abuses will be attempted so as to be able to trace whether the abuse and exploitation of animals may be inextricably related to the oppression of human groups. We will examine how the use and abuse of animals in American society may perpetuate unequal and oppressive human-to-human relationships such as racism, sexism, and class privilege. University of South Carolina, Upstate Clif Flynn Animals and Society This course will examine the role of animals in human society. It will examine how animals are socially constructed, it will challenge traditional representations of nonhuman animals, and study animals as minded social actors. It will apply sociological approaches to the study of human-animal relationships, and even animal-animal relationships. Finally, it will explore the oppression of nonhuman animals, and consider the moral status and rights of animals in human society. Robbie Pfeufer Kahn Animals and Society This rich, new area of scholarly investigation is the subject of our course. But we also come together as readers of the printed page. Reading might seem less than exciting to young women and men accustomed to the visual acquisition of knowledge--TV, movies, computers--over the verbal. Yet the gray blocks of words on white paper in our five texts hold as much life in them as a wiggly puppy. Together, we will work on releasing the boundless energy contained in a text. The key is to look deeply at the words that create the author's story. Our weekly written exercises and discussions will help you cultivate the ability to look deeply at the text. During the semester we will see a number of films and have several guest speakers. University of Wisconsin, Marathon County Ann Herda-Rapp Sociology of the Environment Explores the socio-cultural foundations of our relationship with the natural environment. Examines the relationship between environmental degradation and social, political, and economic structures. Explores beliefs and values about the environment and their expression in various forms of environmentalism and environmental movements. Also analyzes the presentation of environmental issues in cultural, political and scientific domains. David Nibert Sociology of Minority Groups Since humanity developed the capacity to produce an economic surplus, countless masses of earthlings have been oppressed, and many have had their labor appropriated, by relatively small groups of privileged humans. This course will examine the historical and contemporary causes for the continued oppression of entire groups, including various ethnic groups, women, the impoverished and other species of animals. Special attention will be given to the roots of oppression with an in depth look at the entanglement of oppression of humans and other animals. This analysis will be woven into an examination of the treatment of devalued humans in the United States. The course will include class discussions, videotape presentations, and assignments outside of class. Students are expected to respond actively to assigned readings by discussing key ideas and by using examples to support or question these ideas. David Nibert Animals & Society Increasingly, social scientists are focusing on the ethical, environmental and social consequences of human treatment of other animals. This course will examine how human societies have viewed and treated other animals and how the interactions and the structure of the relationship between humans and other animals affect both those animals and human social organization. For example, some scholars argue that cultural practices that define and use nonhuman animals as food contribute significantly to various forms of environmental devastation. Human health research indicates that high rates of heart disease and cancer in many cultures can be attributed to the consumption of animals. Others suggest that human perception and treatment of nonhuman animals are related in significant ways to such enduring problems as racism, sexism and violence against vulnerable groups of people. This course will examine the causes of human exploitation of other animals and the issues that frame the animal rights debate.
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