WASHINGTON — The Humane Society of the United States announces the winners of its ninth annual Animals and Society Course Awards. The awards recognize academic excellence in courses focusing on the relationship between people and animals.
"This year's winning courses were original both in their content and delivery," said HSUS senior policy adviser Bernard Unti. "The Humane Society of the United States is proud to be able to honor leaders in the academic field whose work focuses so thoughtfully on the subject of human and animal interaction."
Award categories include the Distinguished Established Course Award, the Distinguished New Course Award and the Award for Innovation in the Study of Animals and Society. Judges use criteria such as depth and rigor within the topic, impact on the study of animals, and society and originality of approach.
The academic departments of the established and new course award winners will each receive $1,500, and the department of the innovative or short course award winner will receive $500.
Distinguished New Course Award
"Animals and Human Civilization"
Boria Sax, Adjunct Assistant Professor Liberal Studies Program,
University of Illinois at Springfield
Using a multidisciplinary approach that embraces folklore, literature, religion, history, artificial intelligence and other fields, this course considers social, religious and philosophical perspectives on animals from pre-Biblical times to the present, and explores the ways in which animals have served as essential metaphors for social divisions on the lines of tribe, gender, class, race and other categories. The course features a challenging reading list, clearly articulated and thought-provoking discussion points for each week, and multiple posting forums that cover the range of expected student-professor and student-to-student interactions.
Distinguished Established Course Award
"Animal Histories"
Georgina Montgomery, Visiting Assistant Professor Department of History and Philosophy,
Montana State University
Built around the theme of place, Professor Montgomery's course explores the relationship between humans and wildlife in the 19th and 20th centuries through studies in visual culture, science, conservation discourse and practice, gender relations, and other fields. The course encourages students to examine how humans relate to animals, how these relationships have been defined and represented throughout time, and how these relationships shape human identity. An upper-division offering in environmental history and the history of science, "Animal Histories" introduces students to such topics as wildlife and empire, the scientific study of animal behavior, the problematics of wildlife management, the relationship between wildlife and gender issues, anthropomorphism, and the representation of wildlife in popular culture.
Distinguished Innovative Course Award
"Peaceable Kingdom: Transforming Our Relationships with Animals"
Matthew Halteman, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Philosophy Department, Calvin College
This intersessional course combines an innovative approach to student collaboration on a final project with a balanced exploration of traditional Christian perspectives on animal issues. Centered on factory farming as a philosophical, religious, environmental and socio-economic question, the course involves students in a final group project focusing on responses and solutions. The course directly inspired the formation of a campus-based animal organization, now in its fourth year, and a number of educational campus and community events, including "Wake Up Weekend," a two day advocacy training workshop, film festival, and fundraiser. With its real world impact, this course teaches students that, by working together, they can make a difference.
This year judges also wish to give an Honorable Mention to two additional courses:
Honorable Mention in the New Course Category"The Human and Its Others: The Question of the Animal"
Pamela Banting, Associate Professor Department of English,
University of Calgary
This course draws upon the now burgeoning literature in postmodernist studies of the human-animal relationship to consider the subject of the animal as "other". Using the specialized vocabulary and esoteric problematics of poststructuralist, feminist and ecocritical perspectives on "otherness" and representation, the course considers questions relating to subjectivity, the gaze and the face, the social construction of the animal "other" in various texts and genres, communication between humans and non-human mammals, animal emotion and anthropomorphism.
Honorable Mention in the Innovative Course Category
"Animals in Society"
Cheryl Joseph, Professor Sociology Department,
Notre Dame de Namur University
Dedicated to teaching in a one unit, one weekend context, this course introduces the topics of animal thought, humane education, pet behavior, animal assisted therapy, factory farming, animal use in research, testing, and education, and the relationship between cruelty and interpersonal violence. The course, an offshoot of the program that established the first undergraduate major in animal issues in the United States, relies on a variety of non-traditional teaching techniques.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization – backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at humanesociety.org.
