Animals have always had diverse and profoundly important roles in the lives of humans – they can be worshipped or revered as spiritual beings, treated as beloved companions or kin, reviled as pests, used as sources of food and other materials, incorporated into entertainment or sport, or conceptualized and encountered in a variety of other ways. This course explores these complex (and fascinating!) roles by examining intersections between animals and human societies from an anthropological and cross-cultural perspective. These encounters with ancient and modern societies whose philosophical, religious, ethical, and aesthetic worldviews concerning animals and human-animal relationships differ in various and often significant ways from those of the European or North American traditions encourage students to (1) develop comparisons with their own experiences and backgrounds, and (2) view their own cultural traditions and assumptions in the larger context of the world’s diversity.
- Teacher: Kathryn Hudson