LIBS 138: Wild Thing:Attitudes-Animals

Course Description

This course is an interdisciplinary study of the concepts of what it means to be human and how that compares with other animal species. By examining the various ways in which nonhuman animals are objectified in their relationship to humans through religious teachings, portrayed in the media sometimes anthropomorphically, and the ways in which humans make use of animals, students will engage in their own academic inquiry leading to in-depth class discussions about the concept of what it means to be a human and a nonhuman animal. These investigations and discussions will be based on readings and other sources to guide students’ understanding of their own and other’s attitudes to human and nonhuman animals within societies and cross-culturally.