ENGL 504-01 ST: Animal StudiesTuesdays and Thursdays 11:00 to 12:15 pmALB 009

Instructor: Anna BanksOffice: Brink Hall, Room 123Phone: 885-6156 (department office)E-mail: annab@uidaho.eduOffice hours: Tues 1:30 – 2:30 pm; Thurs 1:00 – 2:00 pm, and by appointment

Course description:At its root, Animal Studies is a field of study that attempts to take animals seriously. Over the past two decades there has been an explosion of interest in this field, with increased attention given to non-human animals and to the relationship between humans and animals. Particular attention has been paid to animal representations, symbols, and stories, as well as to the actual presence of animals in human societies and cultures, raising questions of animal agency. This course focuses on literary and cinematic depictions of animals. It explores the role of imagery and representation in constituting contemporary and historical conceptions of animality, and considers “the question of the animal.” To do so, we will explore the following questions: What role does the animal gaze play in film and literature? How do stories work to deconstruct the anthropocentric narrator? How do we narrate across species lines? What does it mean to “become animal”? How is animal subjectivity achieved and maintained in post-humanist literatures? In addition to a selection of theoretical and critical writings, primary texts will include: War Horse, the novel by Michael Morpurgo and the film directed by Steven Spielberg; Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley; Martin Marten by Brian Doyle; H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald; and Nenette directed by Nicolas Philibert.

Learning objectives:

Frame a thesis about a text(s) and argue it in writing, using relevant supporting evidence.

Become familiar with common academic practices, such as reviewing secondary material, writing book and/or film reviews, writing abstracts, developing abstracts into conference papers, and developing conference papers into formal essays.

Participate effectively in oral discussions of writings and screenings and other cultural materials, making well-supported claims about ideas, issues and problems.

Comprehend challenging theoretical texts, engaging them with your own thoughtful critique, and applying what you learn to primary literary and cinematic texts.

Read and write about texts (written and cinematic) critically: entertaining a range of arguments about a text, developing your own reading of a text, and being able to support that reading using the text itself as well as the work of other scholars in the field—that is, situating yourselves in academic conversations.

Making connections to contemporary events as well as to literary, cinematic and political trends.

Explore the role of imagery in constituting contemporary and historical conceptions of animality, and develop an understanding of the importance of imagery in human-animal relations.

Participate in a lively, comfortable classroom community, and actively shape both the class and your own learning experiences.

Required texts:Read in the following order…

Morpurgo, Michael. War Horse. New York & London: Scholastic, 1982.

Doyle, Brian. Martin Marten. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015.

Smiley, Jane. Horse Heaven. New York: Ballantine Books, 2000.

Macdonald, Helen. H is for Hawk. New York: Grove Press, 2014.

Assignments and Grading Scheme:

These assignments are intended to build on one another helping you to work toward your seminar paper.

Attendance and Participation, 20% In courses like this one, which use collaboration and creative exchange as one of the principal methods of inquiry, students are expected to not only attend classes, but to actively and vigorously participate in discussions of assigned readings, research, etc. You should be prepared to give feedback to your peers and contribute to the conversations and critical tangents generated from the work.

Discussion Facilitation 5%In addition to your regular participation in the seminar, each of you will be assigned to lead the class in discussing a particular set of readings. Your discussion should include: some background information on the topic and author in question – by way of introduction; questions that you would like to pose to the class; reference to specific quotations from the text and/or relevant filmic images… While you may spend up to 20 minutes setting up this scholarly conversation, you should not talk to us at length or give a formal presentation. Rather, you’ll mainly be evaluated on how effectively you lead us into a productive discussion, using effective, even creative, teaching strategies. Does your discussion take us into new and exciting intellectual territories? Are the members of the class engaged? Are you able to achieve a nice balance between abstract theory and the specifics of the primary text(s), keeping the discussion grounded in key excerpts, scenes, etc.? Do you direct the conversation back to our course themes, theoretical concepts, and previous discussions, when appropriate? Many of you are familiar with this kind of role but, by way of guidance or reminders, some useful pointers on developing classroom discussion from a peer point of view can be found at the link below http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/history/resources/study/leaddiscussion/ I encourage you to consult with me well ahead of time as you develop your discussion strategies and materials.

Weekly Response Papers 25%Response papers are due each week and should respond to the reading(s) assigned that week. These weekly exercises are a means of digesting and remembering the reading; they also lay the groundwork for fruitful class discussions and the conference presentation and final paper. In preparing your responses, here are some prompts you may consider:

Explore your personal, spontaneous response to the text via free writing. Use this exercise to loosen up and generate ideas in an uninhabited manner. What questions are offered up by this free writing? How would you go about answering those questions?

Identify the argument of the text(s), as well as explore the relationship between the writer and the text. Also consider the intended audience.

Think about the text from the perspective of some of the main ideas of this course: anthropomorphism, animal narrativity, agency, post-humanism, animality…

Perform close readings by focusing on one key passage to analyse literary elements such as style, tone, point of view, figurative language, etc. Discuss the significance, connotations and even etymology of particular word choices and think about the connections between form and the argument of the text. In your close reading explain why this passage is important to your interpretation of the work as a whole.

In addition to these prompts, each response paper must include at least two questions that are raised by your reading that you would like to address in class.

Conference Proposal/Abstract and Presentation 15%

During the last few weeks of the semester, you will submit a conference proposal and present a conference-style talk to the class.

Class meeting for April 12 and 14 will be devoted to “workshopping” your proposals. The proposal should be 250 to 300 words and concisely explain what your paper argues, what other scholarship it engages, and why your argument is important to contemporary studies, (5% of your grade). During this same class period, we will collectively organize panels with two, three or four speakers (depending on how conference paper topics relate to one another).

I’ll provide examples of abstracts/proposals to guide you as you format your ideas and arguments.

Conference presentations are typically 15 or 20 minutes, which translates to about 6 to 10 pages of double-spaced text (10% of your grade). These presentations should dovetail with your seminar paper. Keep in mind, though, that your seminar paper needs to be about 20 pages (see below). Be careful not to choose a topic that will only generate 10 pages of writing. Each student will give a 15-minute conference paper and have the chance to field questions from the audience. Please be sure to manage your time wisely; you will be cut off if your presentation is too long. The last two weeks of the semester will be devoted to conference style presentations where you will present your work to your classmates and an invited audience.

Seminar Paper/Critical Essay 35%

Finally, you will produce one long seminar paper: approximately 5000-6500 words. Your critical essay should look to expand and improve upon your conference paper to develop it into a solid essay on a topic pertaining to Animal Studies. You should think of this paper as a draft of a scholarly article, or, potentially, as foundation for your MA thesis (or non-thesis essay), or as research that will support part of your MFA thesis. I have set aside two class periods for individual conferences, but I am here throughout the semester to help you with your ideas and to answer questions as they emerge, so please visit with me regularly as you develop your paper. I also encourage you to collaborate with each other and to brainstorm ideas outside the classroom setting.

Grading Criteria: An “A” seminar paper contributes something new and unique to scholarly

conversations about an author, filmmaker, text, or area of study. An “A” paper articulates a clear argument and supports that argument with insightful observations from the text. It is well researched and clearly in dialogue with other scholarship. This paper is persuasive and engaging; it has a distinctive voice that speaks with clarity and authority about its subjects. It has no grammatical, usage, punctuation or spelling errors.

A “B” paper usually falls short for either stylistic or substantive reasons. That is, it may have formal errors, disjointed paragraphs, illogical areas, and/or awkward moments; or, it may be weak in some of its arguments. A “B” paper is still, however, above average and consistently strong.

A “C” paper represents acceptable work, but may be weak in voice, lacking in depth, weak in its arguments, generic in its use of language, or problematic in formal components.

o CommunicationI like to communicate with my classes regularly by E-mail, to make announcements, changes in the calendar, etc. Please make sure that you check your UI E-mail account regularly. (Announcements will also be placed on the class Bb Learn site and an E-mail message will accompany each announcement). Additionally, please feel free to E-mail me if you’d like to schedule a time outside of class (other than regular office hours) to discuss any problems or concerns you are having. I encourage you to speak with me in person about any of the texts we read, about the films we view, about issues we discuss in class, about your progress in the course, or about film studies in general. I will do all I can to help you succeed in this course – please, don’t hesitate to contact me.

o AccommodationReasonable accommodations are available for students who have documented temporary or permanent disabilities. All accommodations must be approved through Disability Support Services located in the Idaho Commons Building, Room 306 in order to notify your instructor(s) as soon as possible regarding accommodation(s) needed for the course.(208) 885‐6307email at dss@uidaho.eduwebsite at www.uidaho.edu/dss

o Academic IntegrityAs graduate students, you are part of an academic community of readers, writers and critical thinkers. As such, you are responsible for contributing your own thoughts and words, but also for crediting others for their thoughts and words. According to University and departmental policy, plagiarism is claiming someone else’s work (either ideas or words) as your own. Plagiarism is a serious offense; it incurs a range of consequences that include failure of the assignment in question, possible failure of the course, or suspension from the University. The writing you do in this course must be yours and yours alone. This means you must not hand in writing by someone else as if it is your own. The writing you do must also be work written exclusively for this particular course.