Anthropology of human-animal relationships - 1st part : theory

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Véronique Servais

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This year, the theme of the seminar is the anthropology of animals, understood as the anthropology of human-non human relationships. The course is divided in three parts :
1- An introductory course where some basic knowledge is presented, drawing from the work of Descola, Ingold and Latour
2- A theoretical part devoted to the examination of specific questions concerning anthropozoology and the relationship with the natural world
3- Practical exercices aiming at experiencing what it is to be affected by animal bodies and/or other natural beings. These exercices will be later the target of an autoethnographic reflexive work. 

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

At the end of this teaching unit, students will be able to: 

• develop fruitful collaborations with natural sciences scientists, because they will be acquainted to their epistemology and way of thinking
• understand the socio-anthropological roots of the animal issue, and more broadly the "non human" issue
• take seriously non western ontologies and tackle questions about relativism in ontologies
• question their own relation with other living beings

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

None

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course is built on academic and experiential work, the latter being the object of an analytic autoethnographic report. 

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

The course is organized as a 2h per week seminar. It will take place at the first term. Students' active participation is expected. Relevant scientific papers will be introduced as they are needed. Each group is expected to expose its advances in research every two to three weeks. 
The practical part is a visit to a nearby zoo as well as the regular visits that the students need to pay to a chosen tree. These visits must be documented in a personnal diary.

Recommended or required readings

Texts (papers and books) are provided at the beginning of the course, according to the specific subjects chosen by the students. These are later enriched by other sources, books and/or papers. 

Assessment methods and criteria

Marks are given according to 
the daily work in the classroom and at home; the quality of the academic report and the auto-ethnographic report. This report will comprise an analytic text and a non-academic part aiming at accounting for the transformation of the relationship with the living that has taken place along the regular visits that the student pays to "his" or "her" tree in the forest. 

Work placement(s)

There is no work placement for this teaching unit.

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Teacher Véronique SERVAIS, Professeur  Faculty of Social Sciences Place des orateurs, 3, Bât B31 Sart Tilman 4000 Liège + 32 4 366 32 08 E-mail v.servais@ulg.ac.be Secrétariat Alexia Mainjot Tél. 04 3662756