Humans and Animals: Companions, Monsters, Food and More

Our histories, religions, rituals, ideas of nature, and the very concept of what it means to be human are punctuated at every step by multi-species relationships. Through the lens of cultural anthropology we will explore the intimate relationship between humans and other animals that characterize our everyday lives. This course will range over a broad scope of these past, present, and future shared interactions with animals including domestication, art, companionship, hunting, sacrifice, myth, ethics, wealth, and more. We will draw on ethnographic literature, archeology, folklore, representative art, and other contemporary and past case studies of human and animal interactions from around the globe to build a rich discussion of the current and future approaches to living with animals.