Seminar Overview

Considering Animals in Washington, DC

On site July 8-18, 2012

Cross-Disciplinary Approaches

Investigating the meanings of animal-human relationships raises a host of broad and compelling questions and draws on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives.

• The topic is grounded in ecology and biology: Homo sapiens have evolved from relatively animalistic beginnings to become more fully human, in part because of the range of both positive and negative interactions with animals.
• Works of literature and art, from The Iliad to Guernica, reveal new layers of meaning when the focus shifts to how they produce or deconstruct "animalness." And animals as literary symbols, such as Keats’ nightingale, reinforce the tie between humans and animals while helping to build new, imaginative connections.
• From the perspectives of history and political science, human-animal interactions have been significant factors in social life and political development; animal management, from the military use of animal power to the preservation of endangered species, continues to be a complex and dynamic area of public policy.
• The nature of human obligations to animals is a hot-button issue in philosophy and has recently been brought into the public consciousness by the Michael Vick dog-fighting case.

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Resources in the DC Area

The nation’s capital and its environs are home to a striking confluence of places and resources related to animals, many of which will be visited and utilized during the seminar.

• The National Zoo, an up-to-date zoo of international importance, which partners with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
• The National Gallery of Art, which contains animal-centric works by prominent American artists, such as Edward Hicks and John James Audubon
• The extensive zoological, biological, and anthropological collections of the National Museum of Natural History
• The national headquarters of The Humane Society of the United States and many other governmental and non-governmental organizations that focus on animals
• The University of Maryland's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Avrum Gudelsky Veterinary Center, both of which will help facilitate a unique understanding of the treatment of animals and the philosophy of animal welfare
• The Dogs Deserve Better Good Newz Rehab Center for chained and penned dogs, the former site of Michael Vick’s infamous Bad Newz Kennel
• Polyface Farms, the successful pasture-based, beyond-organic farm featured in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma