BA Film Studies and History

Humans are animals yet animals are something other than human. How can this be? In this unit we examine the role animals have played in human history. Our aim is to understand how human relations with animals have developed over time, their consequence and how they shape the world we live in today. Examples of themes students can explore include:

• animals and social justice (how animals help us to think about class, gender and race).
• animals and ethics (how animals help us to think about welfare, morals, rights).
• animals and identity (how animals help us to think about what it is to be human).

Each week we examine how animals have been separated from humans for different purposes, in different places, at different times. By studying how animals are socially as well as biologically ‘constructed’, the unit underscores the relevance of humanities and social science skillsets to the life sciences as well as areas of increasing public concern such as conservation and animal welfare.

Animals are often thought to be products of their biology, and consequently to study them we look to science and their ‘natural history’. In contrast, this unit emphasises the importance of understanding animals as equally shaped by their interactions with human social worlds. By studying animals as part of our shared cultural history, we will challenge the human-centric assumptions that shape traditional approaches to historical understanding in the humanities. Equally, by emphasising the ways in which human society and culture shape animals, we challenge scientific approaches that inadequately consider these factors. We will study the varied ways animals have been encountered and used by humans and identify how varied points of intersection have given different species different meanings and located them differentially within human society and culture over time. How does a cow become livestock? How does a mouse become a laboratory animal? A chicken a potential meal? A dog a loved member of the family? How stable are these categories and associations? And what are their consequences? The answers to these questions are found as much in cultural values as the animals’ biological capacities. By rethinking the place of animals in human history we will learn the value of history and the need for constant vigilance in regard to who and what is included in our historical accounts.

The unit is equally suitable for students of the humanities or sciences and assumes no background knowledge. It is structured around problem-based study of the past and framed as an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of animal studies. It will be relevant to students who are interested in learning more about human-animal relationships and why they matter, and/or are considering careers in sectors concerned with animals and their welfare.

How should we include nonhuman animals in accounts of human history and why would we want to do so? This course unit answers these questions by introducing students to the animal as a historical subject, which is to say the animal thought of as an agent in human history, as opposed to possessive of merely a natural history. The unit will enable students to study the place of animals in human history by:

• encouraging students to understand, appreciate, and critically engage with concepts and issues relevant to animal-human relations. 
• allowing students to work with a variety of texts, images, film and other evidence, both primary and secondary, drawn from a variety of genres and historical contexts relevant to human-animal relations;
• enhancing students' research skills, including their ability to work individually and collectively, researching and discussing various intellectual, practical and ethical topics and questions related to animal-human relations;
• developing students’ written expression through producing balanced evidence-based arguments on topics that polarize opinion and can prove controversial (e.g. should we eat animals? should we experiment on animals?).

Our goal is to identify how and why human relations to animals have changed over time and consider how this history shapes the world we live in today.
 

On completion of this unit, students will have acquired a knowledge of the outlines of human relations to animals and how they have changed over time. They will have gained experience linking knowledge, values, social and material factors to ethical issues around human obligations to animals. They will have enhanced their digital research skills through practical activities involving identifying and working with varied sources of evidence on topics of their choice. Students will have developed and exercised abilities in analysing arguments; experience of debating, presenting, and defending oral arguments in group discussions; and gained confidence in critical thinking, speaking, researching and writing about human relations to animals in varied contexts.

The course unit examines the historical development of human relations to animals across a variety of contexts. Week 1 introduces the unit, outlines the subject of human animal relations in history, and establishes our collective aims. Week 12 provides opportunity to reflect on what we have learned and conclude by considering why human animals relations matter.

Weeks 2 to 11 are structures around different themes and problems. Weekly topics will vary from year to year in response to student interest and contemporary events connected to human-animal relations.

An indicative syllabus across a semester would be:

• Week 1: Introducing human-animal history.
• Animals and nature.
• Animals and society.
• Animals and culture.
• Animals and emotion.
• Animals and science.
• Animals and technology.
• Animals and farming.
• Animals and sport.
• Animals and war.
• Animals and zoos.
• Week 12: How animals make us human.

Example alternative themes that may be substituted in weeks 2 – 11 include:

• Animals and agency.
• Animals and cities.
• Animals and commodities.
• Animals and death.
• Animals and disability.
• Animals and entertainment.
• Animals and environment.
• Animals and home.
• Animals and law.
• Animals and literature.
• Animals and nationalism.
• Animals and thought.
• Animals and work.

This list is not exhaustive. Where possible, students will be encouraged and supported to examine themes and problems in human-animal relations that are of particular interest to them.

Teaching is structured around a ‘blended learning’ approach where pedagogy combines use of lecture-based learning, engaged active learning (such as discussions, projects, problem solving, and group activities), and guided independent learning (using online resources such as short-recorded lectures and other materials). This approach is sometimes referred to as ‘flipped learning’ and has been shown to improve academic outcomes and student experience.

In practice, this unit adopts a ‘partially flipped’ approach by combining lecture-based with active learning (in a scheduled in person weekly two hour ‘workshop’) supported by the student’s independent learning undertaken weekly at their own convenience. Whilst the majority of independent learning will be scheduled by the student at their convenience, a manageable set of tasks will be expected to be completed prior to most weekly ‘workshops’. The corresponding scheduled one hour in person seminar allows students to critically engage with their learning and reflectively relate progress to their past experience and future development.

Online content will be available to students to access according to their personal schedules throughout the semester.

Students can also book individual drop-in meetings at scheduled times for advice on coursework and any other questions.

Students should/ will be able to:

•  think knowledgeably, rigorously, confidently and independently about how, why and to what consequence human relations to animals change over time.
• acquire coherent knowledge of the ways in which human-animal relations shape society.
• think critically about how, why and to what consequence dichotomies (e.g. nature-culture, human-animal) shape knowledge, values and society.
 

Students should/ will be able to:

• analyse and evaluate evidence, arguments and texts, from diverse and often conflicting standpoints.
• think critically about how the framing of problems shapes responses and their possible solution.
•  reflect upon, identify and critically understand the diverse factors that shape their own and others’ values and moral positions, thereby becoming better equipped to account for differences of view.
 

Students should/ will be able to:

• independently research new topics by identifying, organizing and synthesizing relevant evidence from various sources (including library, electronic and online resources).
• develop their fluency, clarity and persuasiveness in oral and written communication.
•  demonstrate project management skills including time and task management, clear communication, and delivery of work to deadlines.
•  exercise an ability and willingness to critically reflect on individual experiences and challenge their own understanding and values to gain enhanced learning from their activities in the long term.
 

Students should/ will:

• have gained experience discussing contentious issues, resolving conflict and working collaboratively in teams toward collective ends on issues where values and standpoint may conflict. 
• be able to analyse polarized issues and communicate confidently how, why and to what consequence differing positions may be held.
•  be able to identify and manage unconscious bias to enable the evaluation of actions and their ethical implications without unacknowledged interests.
• be able to critically reflect on their own knowledge and values over a longer timeframe, identifying patterns and opportunities to ensure short-term objectives contribute purposeful development toward long-term goals.
 

Source Criticism, 500 words - 10%

Written assignment, 1500 words - 40%

Written assignment, 2000 words - 50%

Oral feedback will be provided to groups during face-to-face teaching activities and individual oral feedback will be provided where students opt to attend pre-booked drop in meetings. 

Written feedback will be provided on assessments. Written feedback will incorporate ‘feed forward’ advice on improving future performance.

• Anita Guerrini Experimenting with Humans and Animals From Aristotle to CRISPR (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022).
• Donna J. Haraway Primate Visions Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 1989).
• Philip Howell At Home and Astray: The Domestic Dog in Victorian Britain (Charlottesville:  University of Virginia Press, 2015).
• Hilda Kean and Philip Howell, editors. The Routledge Companion to Animal-Human History (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2019).
• Susan Nance, editor. The Historical Animal (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2015).
• Harriet Ritvo The Animal Estate: The English and Other Creatures in Victorian England (Cambridge MA.:, Harvard University Press, 1989).
• Mieke Roscher, André Krebber, and Brett Mizelle, editors. Handbook of Historical Animal Studies (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2021).
• Susan Schrepfer and Philip Scranton, editors. Industrializing Organisms Introducing Evolutionary History (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2003).

HSTM units are designed to be accessible to all undergraduate students from all disciplines. They assume no prior experience.  

The Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM) offers a range of ‘free choice’ units (see Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Undergraduate Teaching for further information. Led by experienced researchers, our teaching explores science as a part of human culture, demonstrating that history is a valuable tool for understanding the present state and possible future of science, technology and medicine. 

If you are unsure whether you are able to enrol on HSTM units you should contact your School Curriculum and Programmes Team. You may wish to contact your programme director if your programme does not currently allow you to take a HSTM unit. 

You can also contact the Academic Lead for Undergraduate Teaching at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. 

This unit is offered in both 10-credit and 20-credit versions to meet the requirements of different programme structures across the University. Students will be able choose the version appropriate to their programme. 

10 Credit - HSTM21112 
20 Credit - HSTM21122