New Course for Spring 2016: “The Lives of Animals”
Here’s the syllabus for my English research capstone course this semester, titled “The Lives of Animals.” As you can see from the last pages of the syllabus, this course is going to be developed collaboratively with the students, so the post-spring-break units are currently undefined. But here’s the schedule for the first half:
| T | Jan. 19 | FIRST DAY OF CLASS |
| Th | Jan. 21 | The Book of Genesis, chapters 1-9 [online]
Post-Spring-Break Discussion |
| T | Jan. 26 | Aristotle, “The History of Animals” [AR]
Boria Sax, “Animals as Tradition” [AR] Post-Spring-Break Discussion Continues |
| Th | Jan. 28 | Charles Darwin, The Descent or Origin of Man, Chapter 1 [online]
Jared Diamond, The Third Chimpanzee, excerpts [D2L] Post-Spring-Break Discussion, Final Decisions |
| T | Feb. 2 | Franz Kafka, “A Report to an Academy” |
| Th | Feb. 4 | Michael Shermer, The Mind of the Market, Chapter 6 [online]
Will Wiles, “The Behavioral Sink” [online] Personal Statement Due |
| T | Feb. 9 | Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis” |
| Th | Feb. 11 | Franz Kafka, “Jackals and Arabs”
Clinton R. Sanders and Arnold Arluke, “Speaking for Dogs” [AR] |
| T | Feb. 16 | Jeremy Bentham, “Principles of Morals and Legislation” [AR]
Peter Singer, “Animal Liberation or Animal Rights?” [AR] Martha Nussbaum, “The Moral Status of Animals” [AR] |
| Th | Feb. 18 | J.M. Coetzee, The Lives of Animals (part one) |
| T | Feb. 23 | J.M. Coetzee, The Lives of Animals (part two) |
| Th | Feb. 25 | J.M Coetzee, The Lives of Animals (Garber, Singer, Doniger, Smuts) |
| T | Mar. 1 | Coral Lansbury, “The Brown Dog Riots of 1907” [AR]
Lynda Birke, “Into the Laboratory” [AR] |
| Th | Mar. 3 | Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Parts One and Two) |
| T | Mar. 8 | Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Part Three) |
| Th | Mar. 10 | Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Part Four) |
| T | Mar. 15 | Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (whole book)
FINAL PAPER—ELEVATOR PITCH DUE ON D2L |
POST-SPRING-BREAK SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
WEEKS 10-11 (MARCH 29-APRIL 7): STUDENT-DEVELOPED UNIT #1!
WEEKS 12-13 (APRIL 12-APRIL 21): STUDENT-DEVELOPED UNIT #2!
WEEKS 14-15 (APRIL 26-MAY 5): GROUP PRESENTATIONS!
THURSDAY, MAY 12: FINAL PAPER DUE VIA D2L DROPBOX BY 10 AM!
My other course is my always-very-fun “Magic as Literature” course, which has barely changed from last year except for a little bit of extra time allocated to speculating about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child…
Written by gerrycanavan
January 15, 2016 at 12:28 pm
Gerry Canavan 
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