Critical Social Thought 204 - Topic: Gender and Animality

Are animals persons? Subjects? Do they have gender? Important shifts in public opinion have taken place concerning the moral, legal, and affective status of animals, yet liberal Academia still marginalizes the 'animal question.' In this course, we will draw on feminism's engagement against speciesism to chart diverse forms of human/non-human companionship. The analytic categories of gender and species will be examined side by side for their usefulness in understanding a world in which we no longer approach the human as the great exception. We will consider theory, fiction, films, art work, and the internet in approaching post-human concepts of life, personhood, and subjectivity.

Prereq: 4 credits in Gender Studies or CST