Margo DeMello, PhD

Margo DeMello, PhD

• Margo DeMello, PhD

• the spaces that non-human animals occupy in human social and cultural worlds

• the interactions humans have with other animals.

• The symbolic uses of non-human animals

• the ways in which animal lives intersect with human societies.

• The ways in which humans are dependent on other animals

• The ways in which humans construct, in part, their identities through other animals

• Hundreds of college courses in over 200 colleges in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, and Israel

• Almost 3 dozen degree and certificate programs

• Over a dozen journals, both print and online

• A half dozen book series

• Over two dozen organizations

• Eight veterinary programs

• Over two hundred law programs

• An annual summer fellowship program

• Sub-units or sections devoted to HAS in the following disciplinary organizations:

• The American Sociological Association

• the American Psychological Association

• the American Historical Association

• the Society for the Study of Ethics and Animals

• the Association of American Geographers

• the American Academy of Religion

• We interact with animals on a daily basis, in every area of our lives

We eat them

• We eat them

We wear them

• We wear them

We use them for medical research and testing

• We use them for medical research and testing

We use them to provide services to us

• We use them to provide services to us

They are part of our religious beliefs and practices

• They are part of our religious beliefs and practices

We watch them on TV

• We watch them on TV

And in the movies

• And in the movies

And online

• And online

And at the circus, zoo, and marine mammal park

• And at the circus, zoo, and marine mammal park

They are in our art

• They are in our art

In our symbols

• In our symbols

In our books

• In our books

And in our language

• And in our language

We live with them as family members

• We live with them as family members

• Teaching Human-Animal Studies

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• Why have the lives of animals, and human-animal relations been historically omitted from scholarly study?

• Human superiority contributed to ignorance

• They have been objects of study but not subjects of a life

• There are dangers associated with giving animals subjectivity and individuality

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• This brings up two of the problems faculty may encounter:

• Convincing your dean/dept. chair/other faculty that you are not teaching an animal rights course or that you are not teaching a silly course

• Exposing students to information that challenges their own beliefs and understandings about humans, other animals, and society

• HAS can be taught as stand-alone courses in disciplines in the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences

• HAS material can be added as sections into many courses in those same fields

• Students can be assigned full books, chapters from books, or readers created by the instructor

• Armstrong, Susan and Richard Botzler. 2008. The Animal Ethics Reader. London, England: Continuum.

• Donovan, Josephine and Carol Adams, eds. 1996. Beyond Animal Rights: A Feminist Caring Ethic for the Treatment of Animals. New York: Continuum.

• Kalof, Linda and Brigitte Resl, eds. 2007. A Cultural History of Animals. Oxford and New York: Berg.

• Manning, Aubrey and James Serpell, eds. 1994. Animals and Human Society: Changing Perspectives. London: Routledge.

• Podberscek, Anthony L., Elizabeth S. Paul, and James A. Serpell. 2000. Companion Animals and Us. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Regan, Tom and Peter Singer, eds. 1989. Animal Rights and Human Obligations. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

• Rothfels, Nigel, ed. 2002. Representing Animals. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

• Because HAS is both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, courses can easily draw from material from many other fields

• History, Ethics, Geography, Women’s Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Media Studies are all fields that can be borrowed from for other disciplines

There are vast numbers of films, both documentary and feature films, that can be used in the classroom

• There are vast numbers of films, both documentary and feature films, that can be used in the classroom

• There is also fantastic material on Youtube

• Some of the images and material in some of these films are extremely difficult to watch, and instructors must choose them carefully and facility class discussions thoughtfully

• “Dogs that Changed the World”

• “Holy Cow”

• “Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry”

• “A Conversation with Koko”

• “Ape Genius”

• “Ayumu & Ai”

• “Chimp Talk”

• “Animal Minds”

• The Ape: So Human”

• “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”

• “Katrina’s Animal Rescue”

• “The Natural History of the Chicken”

• “Cane Toads”

• Depends on discipline and interests of instructor

• In Margo DeMello’s sociology class, we begin with a section on the social construction of the animal

 

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• In the Chinese encyclopedia The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge it is written that animals are divided into:

• ‘… (a) those that belong to the Emperor, (b) the embalmed ones, (c) those that are trained, (d) suckling pigs, (e) mermaids, (f) fabulous ones, (g) stray dogs, (h) those that are included in this classification, (i) those that tremble as if they were mad, (j) innumerable ones, (k) those drawn with a very fine camel’s hair brush, (l) others, (m) those that have just broken a flower vase, (n) those that resemble flies from a distance.’

• Jose Luis Borges ‘The Analytic Language of John Wilkins’ in Other Inquisitions

In an essay called "Who Swims with the Tuna", David Quammen asks: why do we worry about trapping dolphins in tuna nets, and not worry about the tuna trapped in tuna nets?

• In an essay called "Who Swims with the Tuna", David Quammen asks: why do we worry about trapping dolphins in tuna nets, and not worry about the tuna trapped in tuna nets?

• The killing of dolphins is a national outrage; the killing of tuna is a given.

• Furthermore, on our grocery shelves nowadays we find cans of a product called dolphin-safe tuna. But no tuna-safe dolphin. But why?

• Historical and Comparative Perspectives

• Animals as Philosophical and Ethical Subjects

• Animals as Symbols/ Animals in Language/ Representing Animals

• Animal Emotions, Intelligence and Reflexivity

• Animal Assistants and the Human-Animal Bond

• Working with Animals

• Attitudes toward other Animals

• Animals as Pets

• Animals as Food

• Animals as Entertainment

• Animals as Scientific Objects

• Violence to Animals and Humans

• Shared Oppressions

• The Animal Protection Movement

• Photos, cartoons and other images

• Poetry

• Folktales and myths

• Literary excerpts

• News stories

• Humor

• “Real” animals

The earth trembled and a great rift appeared, separating the first man and woman from the rest of the animal kingdom.  As the chasm grew deeper and wider, all other creatures, afraid for their lives, returned to the forest - except for the dog, who after much consideration, leapt the perilous rift to stay with the humans on the other side. His love for humanity was greater than his bond for other creatures, he explained, and he willingly forfeited his place in paradise to prove it.

• The earth trembled and a great rift appeared, separating the first man and woman from the rest of the animal kingdom.  As the chasm grew deeper and wider, all other creatures, afraid for their lives, returned to the forest - except for the dog, who after much consideration, leapt the perilous rift to stay with the humans on the other side. His love for humanity was greater than his bond for other creatures, he explained, and he willingly forfeited his place in paradise to prove it.

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• Native American folktale

Well—one at least is safe. One shelter’d hare

• Well—one at least is safe. One shelter’d hare

• has never heard the sanguinary yell

• of cruel man, exulting in her woes.

• Innocent partner of my peaceful home,

• Whom ten long years’ experience of my care

• Has made at last familiar; she has lost

• Much of her vigilant instinctive dread,

• Not needful here, beneath a roof like mine.

• Yes--thou may’st eat thy bread, and lick the hand

• That feeds thee; thou may’st frolic on the floor

• At evening, and at night retire secure

• To thy straw couch, and slumber unalarm’d;

• For I have gain’d the confidence, have pledg’d

• All that is human in me to protect

• Thine unsuspecting gratitude and love.

• If I survive thee I will dig thy grave;

• And, when I place thee in it, sighing, say,

• I knew at least one hare that had a friend.

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• From “The Garden” by William Cowper (1785)

• Why is it ethical to eat animals?

• Why can’t we kill other humans if it serves our own interests?

• How intelligent are other animals?

• What if animals could use human language?

• Can animals have pets?

• What are our obligations, if any, to other animals?