Cats, Cows, and Creatures: The Evolution of Animal Studies

Animals have held their own on university campuses. Trained rats ran mazes, cows occupied space in veterinary barns, and monkeys swung from bars and downed fruit in their cages. We can’t forget the cats and frogs awaiting dissection, can we? The one common thread tying this motley group of creatures together is science. These animals weren’t found wandering around colleges, showing up in the dorms or waiting for hand-outs in cafeterias. They were confined to the neuroscience departments or psychology labs with the intent of students earning their psychology degree or other science/human related degree to use them in their learning experience.

Times are changing. Animals are now slithering, creeping, crawling, and winging their way into social science degrees, literature classes, and even theaters. They are vying for spots alongside humans and they are getting some serious attention. Harvard is offering a class called Humans, Animals and Cyborgs, while last year, Dartmouth offered Animals and Women in Western Literature: Nags, Bitches and Shrews. Sounds interesting? Many students think so. In fact, animal studies as a field is growing.

Marc Bekoff, professor of evolutionary biology and ecology at the University of Colorado, says this up and coming field involves, ‘anything that has to do with the way humans and animals interact.’ Therefore, animals are being incorporated into anthropology, sociology, philosophy and many other disciplines. This is good news for students who have fond memories of their beloved childhood pets named Max, Bear, and Maggie.

Of course, animals don’t have to be alive to be studied. At the University of Illinois, Jane Desmond, who is a cultural anthropologist, arranged for a series of talks that focus on the safety of the food chain and “animals as food.” Even Jacques Derrida, the French writer and philosopher, thought about animals and “why we distance ourselves from them.” In one of his works entitled The Animal That Therefore I Am he talks about “not only what he thinks of his cat, but what his cat thinks of him.” Interesting.

So, the next time you are registering for those electives, be sure to scour the available courses. You might be pleasantly surprised. Fido, Tiger or their ancestors could be on the list or maybe Jane Goodall’s chimpanzees. Any way you look at, if you love animals, the classes should pique your interest and you could learn something new that makes you look at your pets or your dinner plates in different ways.