Introduction to Animal Studies

Catalog description

Animal Studies is an interdisciplinary field drawing on the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences to ask questions about the lives of nonhuman animals and our relationships with them. This course introduces students to the key thinkers, theories, and methods that have shaped the field. Through historical, scientific, and cultural perspectives, we will explore how humans have imagined, represented, and lived alongside other species, and what these relationships reveal about power, empathy, and our place in nature. Students will gain foundational tools for thinking critically about animals as subjects of knowledge, agents of culture, and partners in shared ecological worlds.