VCC 490 Proposal Edit

This seminar investigates these questions through essays examining representations of animals across a variety of media, species, historical or geographical contexts, and disciplinary approaches, as well as accessible discussions of key theoretical questions. The issues these essays address include: How have images harnessed animals to human projects at different historical moments and in different geographical contexts (for instance by constructing ideas about nature)? Is this kind of ideological work all there is to the image? Can we generalize about human-animal relations in visual culture from the kinds of representations produced in our hegemonic Western modernity? What are animals? How and what we can we know about them, if anything? How central is vision in humans relations with the animal or an animal? What are the ethics and politics of representing animals? What are the differences, if any, between living, literary, and visual animals? What are the specific qualities of different media in representing animals (particularly animation)

Key terms list below are also required to use : speciesism, humanism, biopolitics, taxonomy, excess,anthropomorphism, zoomorphism, totemism, animism, art,agency, anthropocentrism, Indigenous, epistemology, ontology,power, kingship, allegory, naturalism, intercultural exchange, gift