USSY 281 - Defining the Animal

Institution:

Case Western Reserve University

Subject:

Description:

Since the Darwinian revolution of the mid-nineteenth century, the relationship between humans and animals has become an increasingly significant area of inquiry in fields as diverse as literature, the fine arts, anthropology, evolutionary theory, the biological sciences and philosophy. In this course, we will explore the way humans have sought to understand and explain the animal, beginning with several contemporary ethical debates surrounding animal treatment. Such works will lead us to a range of related social and institutional places and practices, such as the zoo, the insane asylum, biometrics, the treatment of women, and the concentration camp. At the same time, we will examine the way artists, writers and filmmakers explore the human/animal divide through painting (Franz Marc, Marc Chagall and Max Ernst), literature (Franz Kafka, D. H. Lawrence and Rainer Marie Rilke), and cinema, through representations of a donkey (Bresson, Au hasard Balthazar), a fly (Cronenberg, The Fly), a Great White shark (Spielberg, Jaws) and a grizzly bear (Herzog, The Grizzly Man). We will end with J.M.Coetzee's The Lives of Animals, which moves seamlessly between moral philosophy and literature, tying together a wide variety of concerns and themes raised throughout the semester. Prereq: Passing letter grade in a 100 level first year seminar in USFS, FSSY, FSCC, FSNA, FSSO or FSCS. Prereq or Coreq: FSTS 100

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.case.edu

Phone Number:

(216) 368-2000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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