京都大学 京都大学

JK21003 Research 1~3-Seminar (KBR/SEG)(Lecture)

Numbering Code U-LET36 3JK21 LE36 Year/Term 2022 ・ Second semester
Number of Credits 2 Course Type special lecture
Target Year Target Student
Language English Day/Period Thu.3
Instructor name ERICSON, Kjell David (Graduate School of Letters Program-Specific Senior Lecturer)
Outline and Purpose of the Course This seminar introduces students to issues related to the historical study of animals. Animal history and the wider category of animal studies are areas of increased academic and popular interest, yet both encompass a wide range of approaches. In this course, we will examine persistent historical problems: defining (human and non-human) animals, living alongside them, working with them, fighting against them, memorializing them, and eating them. The course will make use of the explosive growth in English-language studies of animals in and around the Japanese archipelago. In so doing, it will allow students to consider how human-animal relationships have changed alongside political, cultural, and economic developments in Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific Ocean world.

Classes will include discussion of books, articles, and films. The final project asks students to research the regional and transnational histories of institutions, spaces, and practices related to animals in the Kyoto area.
Course Goals After this course, students should:
* better understand the methods, problems, and assumptions of animal history
* undertake individual field and archival research
* communicate ideas during in-class discussion and through written reports

Study Focus: Society, Economy and Governance.
Modules: Mobility & Research 1; Mobility & Research 2; Research 3.
Schedule and Contents Course Outline

1. Introduction
2. Three Initial Questions
3. Conceptualizing Animals and/as Humans
4. Animal Actors
5. Animal Traces, Animal Parts
6. Domestication
7. Creatures of Empire
8. Invasive Species
9. Disease
10. Between the Laboratory and "the Field"
11. Knowing Animals
12. Rethinking Pets
13. The Zoo
14. Writing Animal Histories
15. Presentations/Feedback
Evaluation Methods and Policy Attendance, participation, reading responses, and presentations in class (30%), short book analyses (30%), and final research project and project presentation (40%).


To JDTS/MATS students: This is course can be taken as either reduced (4 ECTS) or full seminar (8 ECTS). Please indicate your ECTS requirement to the teacher.
Course Requirements None
Study outside of Class (preparation and review) ・Students are required to read through assigned readings and prepared for the discussions and presentations each week.
・Students are expected to actively participate in preparations for the final project.
Textbooks Textbooks/References At least one copy of the books will be available in the library and through the university's online subscriptions, although in some cases (particularly during the weeks where you are responsible for presenting) it may be advisable to purchase a new or used copy for yourself.

In other cases, articles will be available for download through the university library or distributed before class.
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