Animals and Society - Einzelansicht

Much of everyday life is structured through the interaction with and the ”consumption” of non-human animals. These structural elements include animals in urban spaces (rats, pigeons, dogs, wolves), pet animals as family members, insects in everyday life, animals in religious contexts, animals for therapy, and most generally animals as source for food and clothing. This seminar takes up central streams of human-animal studies and critically discusses these from different sociological points of view. This also includes comparative views on the changing role of animals through history as well as their changing role in major social institutions, e.g., new developments in animal rights.

Each student who wants to receive a grade (either via term paper or oral exam) will have to give a presentation (30 minutes) alone or in a group up to four. In case of a group presentation of three or four members, the presentation may last up to 45 minutes. The (informal) presentation should provide a summary of the assigned reading, supplementary literature, a critical analysis, as well as further thoughts and discussion questions.

The group or the single student will lead the discussion. The class will begin with a brief introductory lecture by the professor on the day’s topic. The class will then be turned over to the presenter(s) who will further elaborate on the theme.

Presentations may be illustrated with powerpoint slides, videos, and other media. Students leading class discussion may also want to provide class members with a handout.

For further info, please consult the seminar’s teaching assistant (“Tutorin”) Maria Pfeiffer at: maria.pfeiffer@uni-jena.de.

Term papers can be written in either English or German. Oral exams: ditto.

Although the seminar can only cover a limited number of topics associated with the field of human-animal studies, following this course, students should be familiar with:

• Major research areas of sociological importance and specific examples of recent trends in human-animal-research;
• The role of mediating factors (e.g., technology, children, or religious beliefs) in shaping the relationship between a society and its animals;
• The inclusion of animals into sociological theory and research and its contribution to new understandings of a wide array of social processes.