Courses / Module

From the food we eat to the pets we keep our lives are inextricably entwined in complex relationships with other animals. This module will explore the multiple and varied interactions humans have with nonhuman animals. We will consider the place of nonhuman animals in social anthropology. In Western tradition, the human animal has been prioritized, thus reinforcing the fundamental and irreconcilable differences between human ‘culture’ and animal ‘nature’. However, we will put these interactions in socio-historical context and consider cross-cultural comparisons and theoretical analysis. We will examine practices and ways of being through a number of detailed ethnographic case studies of human-animal interactions.

Key issues relate to how we might understand often conflicting attitudes such as what it means to be human and our responsibilities to nonhuman entities. These discussions may culminate in a re-consideration of the place of nonhuman animals in social anthropology.