Critical Animal Studies undertake to understand how notions of animality underscore a range of concepts that are essential to modern Western thought such as ‘nature’, ‘culture’, ‘society’, ‘civilisation’, ‘the human’, ‘the native’ and ‘the exotic’. They explore the relationship between human and non-human animals, drawing upon a wide range of disciplinary formations such as sociology, philosophy, history, literary studies, cinema studies and the study of popular culture and by doing so provide insight into the development and progression of our changing attitudes towards animals.
In analysing the representation of human-animal interactions in literature, film, the visual arts and other cultural forms, our seminar will discuss contemporary contributions to this new field of scholarly inquiry.
- Kursleiter:in: Prof. Dr. Anja Schwarz