Society and Animals Sample Assignment

Deconstructing the assignment

Overview of texts

Intent of assignment

Sample student response

Synopsis of Assignment Each person will submit a PowerPoint presentation, or other electronic presentation, that

features gathered social media (webpages, images, tweets, videos, etc) that extends the discussion of the social imaginary and animals and/or animals and the environment to a case of your choice. The presentation should include the following:

I. A brief description of how the selected subject matter relates to one or more of Waldau’s Four questions;

II. At least one reference to Herzog;

III. At least one reference to Nibert and/or Mooallem;

IV. A brief discussion of how understanding this topic contributes to a greater understanding of the broad field of Society and Animals.

Each presentation should include a brief (2-3) page summary of the presentation and its findings.

Animal Studies: An Introduction

Author: Paul Waldau Core: “Animal studies” is a growing,

interdisciplinary field

Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals

Author: Hal Herzog

Core: How we think about animals is rooted in human perceptions and Interactions, not in the “nature” of animals

Animal Oppression and Human Violence: Domesecration, Capitalism, and Global Conflict

Author: David A. Nibert

Core: Human history and societies cannot be adequately understood without understanding the roles played by “domescration”

Summary of Animal Rights/Human Rights

Primary variables

Factor One: Economic exploitation;

Factor Two: Unequal power “largely vested in control of the state”;

Factor Three: Ideological control

Theory of Oppression

Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in

America Author: Jon Mooallem

Core: How do we come to identify with certain animals, many of which we have never met?

New York Times 100 Notable books of 2013

Two cases: Polar bears and whooping cranes

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of Endangered

Species Taxonomy [top] Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family ANIMALIA ARTHROPODA

ARACHNIDA ARANEAE LYCOSIDAE Scientific Name: Pardosa diuturna Species Authority: Fox, 1937 Common Name/s: English – Glacier Bay Wolf Spider Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable D2 ver 2.3 Year Published: 1996 Date Assessed: 1996-08-01 Annotations: Needs updating

Assessor/s: World Conservation Monitoring Centre History: 1994 – Rare (Groombridge 1994) 1990 – Rare (IUCN 1990) 1988 – Rare (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988) 1986 – Rare (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/16219/0

Intents of assignments Syncretic assignment

Requiring students to synthesize different, interdisciplinary texts

Critical thinking through engaging texts

Deploying ideas from texts in new directions

Intents of assignments Application of theoretical/ conceptual material

Taking theoretical perspectives/concepts and directly applying them in their own research

Student engagement through data-driven research

Could students generate their own data sets and apply ideas from the above texts in their own research?