Animal studies perspectives in literature and film 4219-RS292

The course will offer introductory readings in the field of animal studies as well as an opportunity to experiment with reading the animal presence in examples of literary and cinematic texts. Animal studies is a new but quickly growing interdisciplinary project, cultivated in a variety of fields, such as (but not limited to) sociology, psychology, history, political science, media analysis, as well as literature and film studies. In American studies, it impacts the way we think about animals and ideas of “animality,” but also about humanity and ways human lives are defined by race, class, gender, disability, nationality, and the
nation state. Therefore, we will look at animal presence, but also at ways in which animals and “animality” have been used to create and enforce human hierarchies. Obviously, “the
question of the animal” also requires our ethical consideration, in the light of animal exploitation and extinction of entire species, but also in the light of our intimate relationships with our animal companions.