Economies of Death, Geographies of Care
FGSS 235
Fall 2016
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
SISP 235 |
| Course Cluster: Animal Studies |
Living, dying, and care work are processes often governed by economic logics that render some lives killable and others grievable in global regimes of power. This course explores how theoretical frameworks of "economies of death" and "geographies of care" can help to illuminate how human and nonhuman lives, deaths, and systems of care are intertwined with economic logics. Whose lives are privileged over others and with what consequences? How are certain bodies made killable and others grievable? How do we understand and face care processes of death and dying, and how are these processes often geographically determined? How do we live and die well, give and receive care, and who has this privilege? This class interrogates these and other questions related to how we live and die with others in a multispecies world. With attention to race, gender, species, and other sites of perceived difference, students will gain a nuanced understanding of core themes related to fundamental processes of living, dying, and caring labor. This course asks students to theorize economies of death and geographies of care to understand the deeply political nature of life and death as differential moments on a continuum of being. We focus on key questions related to an affirmative politics of life--in other words, how we should live, how we care and for whom, and how we might foster nonviolent interpersonal life-affirming encounters. Students can expect to explore pressing contemporary issues such as mass incarceration and "social death;" climate change; valuing and commodifying life; breeding and raising nonhuman animals for food; plant consciousness; end-of-life care and euthanasia; and the role of marginalized bodies in biomedical research. The course will be primarily discussion-based. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS FGSS |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Possible texts include:
Elizabeth Tova Bailey, THE SOUND OF A WILD SNAIL EATING
Atul Gawande, BEING MORTAL
Karen Joy Fowler, WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES
Michelle Alexander, THE NEW JIM CROW
Ta-Nehisi Coates, BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME
Jonathan Safran Foer, EATING ANIMALS
Naomi Klein, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly online discussion posts/short critical reading response essays; public scholarship assignment; final research project. |
| Instructor(s): Gillespie,Kathryn Times: .M.W... 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: ALLB103; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 25 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: -3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 10 | FR: 10 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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