Constructing the Human: Humans and Animals in the Hebrew Bible (FYS)
RELI 175F
Fall 2024
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
CJST 175F |
How do we define "humanness" and what assumptions do we make about our own distinctions between "humans" and "animals" when we define humanness? This course will look at the process of constructing the human category in the ancient world and Hebrew Bible and then compare that process to our own modern conceptions of humanness. In what ways are they similar and in what ways are they different? How can ancient examples of the human category inform our own ethical understandings of what it means to be human? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
| SECTION 01 | | Special Attributes: FYS |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Selected readings from:
M. Van De Mieroop, A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST CA. 3000-323 BC
Beate Pongratz-Leisten "All the King's Men: Authority, Kingship, and the Rise of the Elites in Assyria," in EXPERIENCING POWER, GENERATING AUTHORITY: COSMOS, POLITICS, AND THE IDEOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA
Rob Boddice, "The End of Anthropocentrism," in ANTHROPOCENTRISM: HUMAN, ANIMALS, ENVIRONMENTS
Margo DeMello, ANIMALS AND SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIES
Matthew Calarco, THINKING THROUGH ANIMALS
Adam Weitzenfeld and Melanie Joy, "An Overview of Anthropocentrism, Humanism, and Speciesism in Critical Animal Theory," in DEFINING CRITICAL ANIMAL STUDIES
T. Asad, FORMATIONS OF THE SECULAR
Derrida, "The Animal that I therefore Am"Giorgio Agamben, THE OPEN: MAN AND ANIMAL
Henri Lefebvre, THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE
Saul Olyan, "Failed Friendships," in FRIENDSHIP IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
Brent Strawn, WHAT IS STRONGER THAN A LION
Pauline Albenda, "Assyrian Royal Hunts: Antlered and Horned Animals from Distant Lands," in BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH 349
Donna Haraway, A CYBORG MANIFESTO
Donna Haraway, "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspectives,"Michele Foucault, "The Subject and Power,"Tracy Lemos, "Dogs Beneath the Tables of Men" in VIOLENCE AND PERSONHOOD IN ANCIENT ISRAEL AND COMPARATIVE CONTEXTS
Curated Primary Texts from the Hebrew Bible and ancient West Asia
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Examinations and Assignments:
1 page Reading Responses every other week
A Midterm Paper (6-7 pages)
A Final paper (12-13 pages) |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course satisfies the "Historical Tradition" and "Thematic Approach" requirement for the Religion major/minor. |
| Instructor(s): Walker,Tanner Ethan Times: .M.W... 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: PAC301; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
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