Invitation to History (Theme: Canines in (Non-Human) Animal/Human Histories) (HIST*1050)

Code and section: HIST*1050*01

Term: Winter 2025

Details

Course Synopsis:

Until recently, non-human animals were among the many “voiceless subalterns” in historical study.  Once omitted for their inability to articulate for human audiences their seminal agency in shaping the trajectories of human existence, now scholars have recognized the oversight, and (non-human) animal history has become a prominent and interdisciplinary subfield of historical inquiry. Canines have been a part of human life for millenia; as a kind of case study, this course will explore the role of wild and “domesticated” canines, canis lupus (the wolf) and canis familiaris (the dog) as major actors within a framework of non-human animal/human histories across certain times and places. Some of the themes to be explored in this course are debates over the evolution of prehistoric canines, how ancient canid-hominid interactions developed, the manifestation of wolf folklore in different human societies and how these mythologies possessed certain religious, sociological, political, and psychological meanings, and what alterations in human lifestyles and beliefs over time affected changes in attitudes towards and relationships with both wolves and dogs. Wolves were revered at one moment and brutally hunted almost to complete extinction in another; dogs endured as fellow hunters, herders, guardians, free labour, companions, and entertainment figures. This course may serve as a potential roadmap for students to pursue their own research into an area of non-human animal history while learning to interrogate a variety of primary and secondary sources, textual and otherwise.  

Tentative Method of Assessment:

Class Participation - 20%        
Defining Animal History Terms - 15%        
Canine Evolution Debate - 10%    
Werewolves/Shapeshifters article/book chapter review - 20%        
Pop Culture Non-Human Animal image analysis/presentation - 15%        
Final Non-Human Animal annotated bibliography - 20%        

Texts and/or Resources Required:

*Please note: This is a preliminary web course description only.  The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description.  The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester. 

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