ANIMALS AND SOCIETY
SOCIOLOGY 2096, Fall 2010
Montoya Campus
I.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Instructor:
Dr. Margo DeMello
Course section: 201
Office:
G201 Cube 19
Term: Fall 2010
Office hours: MW 10:30-11:45
Credit hours: 3
Voicemail: 224-3636x0811
Class time/room: MW 12:00-13:15 K202
E-mail:mdemello@cnm.edu or margo@rabbit.org
II.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Prerequisite: RDG 100 or Accuplacer Reading score of 80 or equivalent.
For thousands of years, animals of all kinds have figured prominently in both the material
foundations and the ideological underpinnings of human societies. This course explores the spaces
that animals occupy in human social and cultural worlds and the interactions humans have with
them. Central to this course will be an exploration of the ways in which animal lives intersect with
human societies.
Much of human society is structured through interactions with non-human animals or through
interactions with other humans about animals. Yet, until very recently sociology has largely
ignored these types of interaction. Their presence however becomes difficult to ignore when we
consider the magnitude of animal representations, symbols, stories and their actual physical
presence in human societies and cultures.
This course is designed to bring into the realm of sociological inquiry the relationships that exist
between humans and other animals. A major focus will be on the social construction of animals in
American culture and the way in which these social meanings are used to perpetuate hierarchical
human/human relationships such as racism, sexism, and class privilege. Animal/human interaction
in several major social institutions will be studied. We will also examine how different human
groups construct a range of identities for themselves and for others through animals. Finally, we
will examine several of the major philosophical positions about human social policy regarding the
future of animal/human relations. What are the ethical, ecological and societal consequences of
continuing our current patterns into the 21st century?
III.
TEXTBOOKS/MATERIALS
Kalof, Linda and Amy Fitzgerald, eds. The Animals Reader: The Essential Classic and
Contemporary Writings. 2007.
Flynn, Cliff, ed. Social Creatures: A Human and Animal Studies Reader. 2008.
Additional handouts may be given out in class, and we will watch a number of films in class as
well, which will be required.
IV.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Sociology 2096, Animals & Society, is intended to promote an understanding of the role that
animals play in human social lives.
The student will be able to:
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V.
Analyse the various ways that animals are used in human societies;
Examine the complex biological and social relationships between animals and humans;
Identify the reasons for, and consequences of, animal domestication;
Understand the ways that human societies have used the representations of animals in
art, religion and literature;
Describe how animals are used as models or stand-ins for humans in a range of
situations;
Explore the roots of human language in animal communication;
Understand the complex role played by pets in modern society;
Understand the range of moral, philosophical and scientific debates in which animals
play a major role today.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS / ATTENDANCE & CLASS POLICIES
Students enrolled for credit, credit/no credit, or audit are expected to attend all class sessions, and I will
regularly take attendance; attendance will count towards 5% of your grade. A student with excessive
absences—15% of total class hours—may be dropped from the class. Students should not assume they will
be dropped from the class automatically; if you want to drop and not get an F in class, you need to drop by
the drop deadline. Absences do not relieve students of the responsibility for missed assignments and exams.
It is CHSS policy that all courses require final examinations.
If you must miss a class, it is up to you to borrow notes from a classmate as each lecture covers materials
that you will be responsible for. You will also need to see any films that you have missed. Exams must be
taken on the exam date, and late assignments will NOT BE ACCEPTED. The only exception to late
assignments or exams will be hospitalization or death (and documentation is required).
Students are required to do all of the readings for the course, and to complete each week's reading
assignment before the first class meeting of the week. Classes will be a combination of lecture and
discussion, so it is imperative that you finish the assignment before class so that you can discuss it with the
class.
The requirements in this class will include three response papers, a term 7-10 page paper (see end
of this syllabus for specific assignment), and a final exam. The final will consist of essay
questions.
Note: The nature of this course means that students will have different opinions, sometimes quite passionate,
about the subject matter. While you are encouraged to speak your mind freely in class discussions, you will
also be expected to express yourself courteously, showing respect for the opinions and sensibilities of others.
In addition, some of what we will discuss, read about, and see in the films, may be challenging or hard to
hear and watch.
Students are expected to follow the guidelines in the CNM Student Code of Conduct sections III and IV (see
www.cnm.edu/depts/mco/pubs/PDFs/CNM_StudentPlanr06-07.pdf); in particular, cheating on exams,
turning in work which is wholly or in part not the student’s own original work, and using ideas, writings, or
other material without clearly and accurately giving credit to the originator are all forms of academic
dishonesty and will not be tolerated.
Finally, also included in the CNM Student Code of Conduct: please turn off your cell phones during class
time, do not check messages, and do not text! Also, please do not eat in the classroom (even during films),
and please do not talk during class time. All of these activities are disruptive to the class as a whole and can
result in a lowered grade.
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VI.
GRADING
Your course assignments will be made up of three response papers, a final, and a term paper.
Grades will be allocated as follows:
The term paper will be worth 35% of your grade
The final will be worth 30% of your grade
The response papers will be worth 30% of your grade
Attendance will count towards 5% of your grade.
Grading will generally conform to the following:
A= 100-90%; B=89-80%; C=79-70%; D=69-60%; & F=59-0%.
Students must complete all course requirements to earn credit for the course. According to
CNM policy, students who fail to complete the requirements will be assigned an F.
A note on late assignments: All assignments, and all exams, are binary; either they're in or not.
If they're not, then you get a '0,' regardless of your reasoning. No late work or exams: no
exceptions.
In the event CNM closes during finals week, CHSS finals scheduled for that day will be
rescheduled to the first non-exam day available, at the same time and the same location as
originally scheduled. If closures occur for more than one day during finals week, finals cancelled
on subsequent days will be rescheduled for the next available day; again at the same time and
location originally scheduled. If rescheduling of a final exam is impossible due to a lengthy closing
during finals week, final grades for students will be calculated on the work assessed up to that
point.
VII.
SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS / READINGS / FILMS
Note: Readings beginning with SC come from Social Creatures; readings beginning with AR come
from The Animals Reader.
8/30 Week 1
Introduction to Human Animal Studies
SC: Social Creatures: An Introduction, Clifton Flynn
SC: Introduction to Human Animal Studies, Kenneth J. Shapiro
SC: The Zoological Connection: Animal-Related Human Behavior, Clifton Bryant
SC: The Animal Question in Anthropology, Barbara Noske
9/6
Week 2
Historical and Comparative Perspectives
Handout: The Present and Future of Animal Domestication, Margo DeMello
AR: The Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory of Human-Animal Interactions, Steven Mithen
AR: Animal Planet, Harriet Ritvo
SC: Speciesism, Anthropocentrism, and Non-Western Cultures, Barbara Noske
SC: The Anthropology of Conscience, Michael Tobias
Film: “Dogs that Changed the World” (108 mins)
9/13 Week 3
Animals as Philosophical and Ethical Subjects
AR: The History of Animals, Aristotle
AR: From the Letters of 1646 and 1649, René Descartes
AR: Principles of Morals and Legislation, Jeremy Bentham
AR: Animal Liberation or Animal Rights? Peter Singer
AR: The Rights of Humans and Other Animals, Tom Regan
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AR: The Moral Status of Animals, Martha Nussbaum
Film: “Holy Cow” (60 mins)
9/20 Week 4
Emotions, Intelligence and Reflexivity
AR: An Apology for Raymond Sebond, Michel de Montaigne
AR: From the Letters of 1646 and 1649, René Descartes
AR: Wild Justice and Fair Play: Cooperation, Forgiveness, and Morality in Animals, Marc Bekoff
AR: Grief, Sadness, and the Bones of Elephants, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy
AR: Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture, Van Schaik, Ancrenaz, Borgen,
Galdikas, Knott, Singleton, Suzuki, Utami, and Merrill
Film: “Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry” (93 mins; excerpts)
Film: “A Conversation with Koko” (60 mins; excerpts)
Film: “Ape Genius”
Films On Demand: Ayumu & Ai (54 mins; excerpts); Chimp Talk (14 mins); Animal Minds (30 mins;
excerpts); The Ape: So Human (41 mins; excerpts)
9/27 Week 5
Animal Assistants and the Human-Animal Bond
AR: Speaking for Dogs, Clinton R. Sanders and Arnold Arluke
SC: Understanding Dogs through Kinesthetic Empathy, Social Construction, and History, Kenneth
J. Shapiro
SC: Future Directions in Human-Animal Bond Research, Alan M. Beck and Aaron H. Katcher
SC: Understanding Dogs: Caretakers-Attributions of Mindedness in Canine-Human Relationships,
Clinton R. Sanders
SC: The Power of Play, Leslie Irvine
SC: The Health Benefits of Human—Animal Interactions, Andrew N. Rowan and Alan M. Beck
SC: Personality Characteristics of Dog and Cat Persons, Rose M. Perrine and Hannah L. Osbourne
SC: Human Grief Resulting from the Death of a Pet, Gerald H. Gosse and Michael J. Barnes
Film: “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill” (83 mins)
Film: “Katrina’s Animal Rescue” (60 mins)
10/4 Week 6
Attitudes toward Other Animals
SC: Gender, Sex-role Orientation and Attitudes toward Animals, Harold Herzog, Nancy S.
Betchart, and Robert B. Pittman
SC: Childhood Pet Keeping and Humane Attitudes in Young Adulthood, Elizabeth S. Paul and
James A. Serpell
SC: Animal Rights and Human Social Issues, David Nibert
Film: “The Natural History of the Chicken” (60 mins)
Film: “Cane Toads” (47 mins)
10/11 Week 7
Animals as Pets
AR: Animal Pets: Cruelty and Affection, Yi-Fu Tuan.
SC: The Emergence of Modern Pet-keeping, Harriet Ritvo
Film: “Dogs that Changed the World” (108 mins-- excerpt)
Film: “Shelter Dogs” (72 mins)
10/18 Week 8
Animals as Food
AR: The Eating of Flesh, Plutarch.
AR: Brave New Farm? Jim Mason and Mary Finelli.
AR: The Promotion of "Meat" and its Consequences, David Nibert.
Film: “Peaceable Kingdom” (CNM 70 mins)
Film: “Animal Appetites” (CNM 19 mins)
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10/25 Week 9
Animals as Entertainment
AR: Combats of Elephants, Pliny the Elder
AR: On Being Human in the Bullfight, Garry Marvin
AR: Dogfighting: Symbolic Expression and Validation of Masculinity, Rhonda Evans, DeAnn K.
Gauthier and Craig J. Forsyth
AR: Zoo Spectatorship, Randy Malamud
AR: Hunting and Humanity in Western Thought, Matt Cartmill
Film: “The Urban Elephant” (60 mins; excerpts)
Film: “Lolita: Slave to Entertainment” (58 mins)
11/1 Week 10
Animals as Scientific Objects
AR: The Brown Dog Riots of 1907, Coral Lansbury.
AR: Into the Laboratory, Lynda Birke.
AR: Hybrid Geographies: Rethinking the "Human" in Human Geography, Sarah Whatmore.
AR: Dolly's Body: Gender, Genetics and the New Genetic Capital, Sarah Franklin.
AR: Cyborgs to Companion Species: Reconfiguring Kinship in Technoscience, Donna Haraway.
Film: “Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History” (56 mins)
Film: “The Laboratory Rat” (27 mins)
Short: “One Rat Short” (9 mins, Youtube)
11/8 Week 11
Animals as Symbols and Representing Animals
AR: Why Look at Animals? John Berger
AR: The Totemic Illusion, Claude Lévi-Strauss
AR: Animals as Tradition, Boria Sax
AR: What is the Postmodern Animal? Steve Baker
AR: The Illumination of the Animal Kingdom: The Role of Light and Electricity in Animal
Representation, Jonathan Burt
SC: There’s Not Enough Room to Swing a Dead Cat and There’s No Use Flogging a Dead Horse,
Tracey Smith-Harris
Film: “Animals as Divinities” (FOD 53 mins)
11/15 Week 12
Violence to Animals and Humans
SC: Children Who Are Cruel to Animals: A Review of Research and Implications for SC:
Developmental Psychology, Frank R. Ascione
SC: Childhood Cruelty to Animals and Subsequent Violence against Humans, Linda Merz-Perez,
Kathleen M. Heide, and Ira J. Silverman
SC: Women’s Best Friend: Pet Abuse and the Role of Companion Animals in the Lives of Battered
Women, Clifton P. Flynn
SC: Hoarding of Animals: An Under-recognized Public Health Problem in a Difficult-to-study
Population, Gary J. Patronek
Film: Vicktory to the Dogs
11/22 Week 13
Shared Oppression
SC: An Historical Understanding, Marjorie Spiegel
AR: In Defense of Slavery, Marjorie Spiegel.
AR or SC: The Sexual Politics of Meat, Carol J. Adams
SC: Humans and Other Animals: Sociology’s Moral and Intellectual Challenge, David Nibert
Film: “Behind the Mask: The Story of the People who Risk Everything to Save Animals” (72 mins)
11/29 Week 14
Working with Animals
SC: Loving Them to Death: Blame-displacing Strategies of Animal Shelter Workers and
Surrenderers, Stephen Frommer and Arnold Arluke
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SC: Savages, Drunks, and Lab Animals: The Researcher’s Perception of Pain, Mary T. Phillips
Film: “War Dogs” (70 mins; excerpts)
12/6 Week 15
The Animal Rights Movement
SC: All Animals are Equal, Peter Singer
SC: The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan
SC: Animal Rights and Feminist Theory, Josephine Donovan
SC: Caring about Blood, Flesh, and Pain: Women’s Standing in the Animal Protection Movement,
Lyle Munro
SC: Animal Rights as Religious Vision, Andrew Linzey
Film: “The Witness” (43 mins)
12/13 Week 16
Final Monday, 12/13, 11:30am-1:30pm
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ANIMALS AND SOCIETY
SOCIOLOGY 2096, Fall 2010
Margo DeMello, PhD
Course Assignments
Response Papers: Students will write three response papers over the course of the term. Response
papers should not only be mere summaries of the class material, but should focus on your personal
ideas and opinions about this material. Each response paper should be two to three pages (500-750
words) in length, typed, and double spaced. Response papers will cover the following areas: 1)
assigned readings in the texts up till that date, 2) lectures by the instructor, 3) in-class discussions,
4) content of any in-class videos, written handouts, or other class materials, and 5) your own
experiences with the topic.
Paper Assignment.
For the paper assignment, you have five choices for what to write about. Regardless of the assignment that
you choose, papers are due in my hands by class time on Wednesday, December 8. No late papers, no
exceptions.
1. Recognizing that knowledge about social problems is stagnant without efforts to bring social
change, this option is directed toward that end. Therefore, you should decide on an animal issue you
would like to improve. This might be animal extinction, animal euthanasia, animal fighting, meat
eating, or the like. Next you will devise a solution that you will share with others. Then you will
write a 7-10 page paper that addresses the problem and presents your solution in a manner that
attracts and encourages others to join you. Use of the sociological perspective and the sociological
imagination will be crucial to successful execution of this assignment.
2. This assignment is based on doing at least15 hours of volunteer work outside of the class and its
attendant activities, and writing a paper on it. The work you do must, in some way, focus on the
bond that humans share with some other species. The possibilities can include local animal rescue
groups, local shelters, wildlife rehabilitation facilities, animal rights or environmental organizations,
etc. One resource to help you find a volunteer opportunity is the New Mexico Animal Resource
Guide at http://www.apnm.org/publications/nmarg/index.php. Once you decide on a group, you
must clear it with me, and you must also obtain a written confirmation from a supervisor or manager
verifying your participation in the project. At the end of your involvement, you will write a 7-10
page reflection paper about your experience. In your paper, you should indicate: (a) what you did;
(b) what you learned: (c) how you feel about it; and (4) what you plan to do with the knowledge or
skills you gained. Further, your reflection must integrate material from your required texts and from
classroom lectures, discussions, or films. In order to complete this paper, you should take field
notes after each time that you volunteer, which should include your reflections about what you have
done and seen.
3. For this assignment, you will develop a lesson plan in humane education that is animal-centered
though an actual animal need not be involved. You’ll produce a written document explaining your
idea along with your goals, objectives, strategy, techniques, tools, and resources. You must include
a description of the population you address, e.g., first-graders, gang-bangers or new animal
guardians. Include your justification for choosing this population and reasons you believe the lesson
you design will be effective. You need not implement your design but it should be detailed enough
that you can use it as a foundation that can be further developed effectively at a later date. Your
project will be the basis of your 7-10 page paper.
4.
For this assignment, you will research one of the forms of institutionalized animal use: animal
experimentation (biomedical research, medical school labs, product testing), factory farming (e.g.,
slaughterhouse workers), entertainment (e.g., circuses, rodeos, zoos), education (e.g., dissection),
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clothing (e.g., fur farms, leather). How are animals viewed and treated in these settings? Do you
think that humans who work in these areas are affected by how animals are used and treated? Do
these practices have social, ethical, and environmental consequences for society? Based on you
findings, what are the implications for how we currently think about and treat animals and whether
those thoughts and actions should be changed? In other words, what are the implications for the
ethical treatment of other animals? A third suggested topic involves exploring the parallels between
the exploitation of animals and the oppression of certain human groups.
Whatever your topic, your analysis must be sociological. That is, how do social and cultural factors
help to explain the phenomenon under study, and what are the implications of your findings for
society, and for individuals – both human and nonhuman? You must incorporate into your analysis
the basic sociological theories and concepts we have focused on in this course; i.e., animals as social
constructions, symbolic interaction between humans and other animals, and inequality and
oppression. Remember—this is not simply a paper on, say, factory farms. It must be sociological!
5. The purpose of this assignment is two part, and is based on a relationship that you have with
a specific non-human animal. The first part involves seeing an animal closely, becoming
aware of his/her movements, moods, and behaviors and learning that each animal, though
representative of its species, is also an individual. The second part involves you analyzing
your own relationship with that animal. How do you and this animal interact? How does
being with this animal make you feel? Make you behave? Change you as a person? For this
assignment, you will need to write an engaging portrait of any one animal, and an equally
compelling discussion of your relationship with that animal. While the most likely way to
do this paper is by focusing on your companion animal, if you are able to spend quality time
with a wild animal or another type of domesticated animal, that would work as well.
All papers must be typed, must be double-spaced, and must be written at a college level. What does that
entail? Your paper must:
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Establish and maintain a clear message that is fully developed;
Include an introduction with thesis statement, a body, and a conclusion;
Be clearly focused and organized with a logical progression of ideas around a common theme;
Include statements that are supported by varied and appropriate details which are linked to evidence
and the main idea;
Be written with clear and proper grammar, including correct word usage, sentence structure and
mechanics;
Be spell checked.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated! What is plagiarism? Turning in work which is wholly or in part not the
student’s own original work, and using ideas, writings, or other material without clearly and accurately
giving credit to the originator are all forms of plagiarism. This includes copying and pasting from Wikipedia
or any other Internet source. Do not do this.
If you would like to run an outline, paper draft, or even thesis statement by me ahead of time, I welcome it,
and it will most likely improve your final grade!
Finally, papers turned in after the due date will not receive a full grade. Each week that a paper is late,
the paper will lose 10% of its total grade. Also, if you email me your paper, it is up to YOU to ensure that I
have received it, and received it by the deadline.
Each paper is worth 100 points. Here’s how it will be graded:
100 points: outstanding clarity, understanding of material and original insight. This paper extends the
analysis beyond the film, tying together themes from the lectures and readings and drawing out concepts.
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This paper is written cleanly, with a strong organization, perfect sentence structure and grammar, and no
errors.
90 points: good clarity, understanding of the materials and informed insight. This paper is an A paper but
may leave an idea hanging, a confusion about the material, or may not dig deep enough into the concepts.
80 points: Beginning to lack clarity, understanding of the material and deeper insight. Some material might
be handled well, but questions are occurring. May lack some grammar or sentence structure.
70 points: Tells what happened in the film rather than analyzes the message. Analysis is vague or limited to
very simple themes. Organization may be lacking.
60 points: General summary of the film with no analysis at all. No real point. Confusing organization. Little
understanding of the film.
50 points: No analysis, poor writing, poor understanding of film.
40 points. You wrote something at all.
0 points. You plagiarized all or part of your paper.
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