ENVS 360: Literary Animal Studies

Course Description

This course serves as an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of animal studies through the methodologies of the humanities in general and English in particular (i.e., close reading, textual analysis, and close attention to historical, philosophical, and theoretical contexts). Recognizing that we tend to reserve the term “animal” for nonhuman animals, this course sets out to examine how and why we as a species draw this categorical line, and to interrogate what is at stake in maintaining this conceptual boundary between human and nonhuman animals. Topics to be examined include animals as food, the legal status of animals, anthropomorphism, the genetic manipulation of animals, animal emotion and language, animals as pets, and hunting. Because this is a class in specifically literary animals studies, particular emphasis will be placed on representations of nonhuman animals in literature–and how such representations have often served to nuance and challenge received notions of the human/animal divide. Cross-listed: ENGLISH 360/ENV STDS 360. Prerequisites: Any 200-level ENGLISH literature course or ENV STDS 282, or instructor consent.