HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIES
Animals & Us combines two major trends that have become increasingly widespread and accepted in secondary and tertiary teaching throughout the world.
- Human-animal studies and humane education programmes
- Environmental studies and ecocriticism
Schools and universities around the world are introducing programmes in these fields.
Human-animal studies and humane education involve a focus on cultural and social interactions between humans and animals. Examples of these interactions are plentiful in:
- The Arts e.g. animals as inspiration
- Economics e.g. animals as products
- Politics e.g. animals as power or possessions
- Scientific e.g. animals as tools
- Environmental e.g. animals as heritage and nature
- Personal e.g. animals as companions
- Social/cultural e.g. animals as entertainment
The aims of human-animal studies and humane education are to provide new perspectives on the many different kinds of relationships with animals that are fundamental features of human societies, cultures and histories, while increasing the thoughtfulness and respect with which these relationships are conducted.
WHAT HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIES INVOLVES
The emerging multi-disciplinary field of Human-Animal Studies explores the ways in which non-human animals figure in human lives. It includes analysis of human-animal relations according to the following approaches:
- psychology
- sociology
- anthropology
- political science
- social sciences
- history
- literary criticism
- and other disciplines of the humanities
Source: http://www.psyeta.org/sa/
In human-animal studies human-animal relations are explored from diverse perspectives with two aims:
1. To learn more about human beings and how our societies and cultures operate, by focusing on our relationship to, beliefs about, and treatment of, non-human animals.
2. To challenge current ethical and environmental concerns regarding the treatment of non-human animals.