Learn more about the creation of this set of classes in my blog: Teaching More Than Sheep: Building an Indigenous Animal Studies Curriculum.
Diné College's Animal Studies Series
ANT116: Introduction to Human-Animal Studies: This course explores relationships between humans and other animals, as well as ideas that humans have about animals. Topics will include introduction and application of fundamental concepts of Human-Animal Studies (HAS) as they apply to human-animal economies, attitudes toward animals, and animals in art, belief systems and literature.
ANT216: Animals as Commodities: Through Human-Animal Studies (HAS) frameworks, the class analyzes three areas in which non-human animals “serve” humans: as food, as pets, and as research tools. Students will explore notions of power and difference, ethics and responsibility, and creativity in re-imagining the status quo of human-nonhuman animal relationships.
NAS316: Indigenous Relationships with Nonhuman Animals: This course deconstructs anthropocentrism (human-centered perspective) to understand how Indigenous relationships between human and nonhuman animals are created, maintained, and destroyed. The class considers critiques of the Social Sciences, STEM, and Humanities’ approaches to human-nonhuman relations offered by Indigenous peoples, scholars, and knowledge holders and culminates with specific praxis to reestablish those relationships between human and more than human.
NAS416: Indigenous Relationships beyond Death of Nonhuman Animals: This class intersects Animal Science, Animal Studies, and Native American and Indigenous Studies to explore how, where, and why non-human animals die. Through case studies grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, the class will analyze how relationships between human and non-human animals continue before, during, and after the death of the non-human animal. Example topics may include Makah whale hunts, Andean guinea pig butchering, and Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk salmon fishing among others. The class will culminate in technical workshops guided by cultural teachings of traditional Diné sheep butchering.
ANT116: Introduction to Human-Animal Studies: This course explores relationships between humans and other animals, as well as ideas that humans have about animals. Topics will include introduction and application of fundamental concepts of Human-Animal Studies (HAS) as they apply to human-animal economies, attitudes toward animals, and animals in art, belief systems and literature.
ANT216: Animals as Commodities: Through Human-Animal Studies (HAS) frameworks, the class analyzes three areas in which non-human animals “serve” humans: as food, as pets, and as research tools. Students will explore notions of power and difference, ethics and responsibility, and creativity in re-imagining the status quo of human-nonhuman animal relationships.
NAS316: Indigenous Relationships with Nonhuman Animals: This course deconstructs anthropocentrism (human-centered perspective) to understand how Indigenous relationships between human and nonhuman animals are created, maintained, and destroyed. The class considers critiques of the Social Sciences, STEM, and Humanities’ approaches to human-nonhuman relations offered by Indigenous peoples, scholars, and knowledge holders and culminates with specific praxis to reestablish those relationships between human and more than human.
NAS416: Indigenous Relationships beyond Death of Nonhuman Animals: This class intersects Animal Science, Animal Studies, and Native American and Indigenous Studies to explore how, where, and why non-human animals die. Through case studies grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, the class will analyze how relationships between human and non-human animals continue before, during, and after the death of the non-human animal. Example topics may include Makah whale hunts, Andean guinea pig butchering, and Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk salmon fishing among others. The class will culminate in technical workshops guided by cultural teachings of traditional Diné sheep butchering.