Postgraduate Module Descriptor

ANTM106: Representation of Animals Through Religion

This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

The module forms broadly three parts and will focus upon: animist or shamanist approaches, and the historical and continued use of animals as ancestral or spiritual guides; the construction of and conduct towards non-human animals in contemporary religious discourse and practice; cosmology and animal participation. It will investigate the anthropomorphism of animals in religious thought and ceremonial activity, and the animals in the construction of religious ethical discourse, around either gift or sacrifice, or compassionate ideologies associated with animal welfare.

Topics may include:

Introduction
Deification and Worship of Non-Human Animals (Ancestral Animals and Animals as Spiritual Guides)
Animals in Hindu and Buddhist Religious
Hindu Temple Animals
Animals in Religious Art
Gifts to the Gods and Animal Sacrifice
Abrahamic religions, ethics, and animal welfare
Buddhism, Compassion, and Non-Violence Towards Animals
Bereavement and Pet Funerals
Anthrocosmology, Deep Ecology, and New Age Spirituality

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
20	130

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	10	10 x 1 hour podcast audio lectures with accompanying PowerPoint presentations
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	10	10 x 1 hour discussion/seminar participations on the VLE discussion forums (Including formative assessments)
Guided Independent Study	30	Preparation for formative assessments
Guided Independent Study	100	Research and writing of summative assessments

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic reading:

Aftandilian, David. 2007. What are the Animals to Us?: Approaches from Science, Religion, Folklore, Literature, and Art. University of Tennessee Press.

Baldick, Julian. 2000. Animal and Shaman: Ancient Religions of Central Asia. New York University Press.

Bolton, Maggie. 2005. Quartering Sheep at Carnival in Sud Lipez, Bolivia. In The Qualities of Time: Anthropological Approaches, edited by Wendy James and David Mills. Oxford: Berg.

Broglio, Ralph. 2012. Thinking With Surfaces: Animals and Contemporary Art, in Animals and the Human Imagination: A Companion to Animal Studies edited by Aaron Gross and Anne Valeley. Columbia University Press.

Carmak, Betty J. 2003. Grieving the Death of a Pet. Minneapolis: MN Augsburg Books.

De Silva, Lily. 2003. The Buddhist Attitude towards Nature, in Environment Ethics: Divergence and Convergence (Second Edition), edited by Richard G. Botzler, Susan J. Armstrong.

Fellenz, Marc R. 2007. The Moral Menagerie : Philosophy and Animal Rights. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Folzt, Richard C. 2006. Animals in Islamic Traditions and Muslim Cultures. Oxford: One World.

Kalof, Linda and Resl, Brigitte 2011. A Cultural History of Animals. Oxford: Berg.

Linzey, Andrew. 1999. Animal Gospel: Christian Faith as If Animals Mattered. London: Hodder and Stougton.

Masri, Basheer Ahmad. 1989. Animals in Islam. Petersfield: Athene Trust.

Morris, Brian. 2000 Animals and Ancestors: An Ethnography. Oxford: Berg.

Northcott, Michael S. 2007. Faithful Feasting. In A Moral Climate: The Ethics of Global Warming. MaryKnoll, NY: Orbis.

Regan, Tom. 1987. Animal Sacrifices: Religious Perspectives on the Use of Animals in Science. Temple University Press.

Taylor, Bron. 2010, Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Serpell, James. A. 2005. Animals and religion: Towards a unifying theory. In The human-animal relationship: Forever and a Day edited by Francien Heriette de Jonge. Uitgeverij Van Gorcum.

Waldau, Paul. 2001. The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals. American Academy of Religion Books.

Waldau, Paul. 2010. Religion and Other Animals. In Teaching the Animal: Human Animal Studies across the Disciplines edited by Margo DeMello. New York: Lantern Books.

Waldau, Paul and Patton, Kimberly C. 2006. A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics. Columbia University Press.

Journal Articles

Chur-Hansen, Anna. 2010. Grief and Bereavement Issues and the Loss of a Companion Animal. Clinical Psychologist. 14(1): 14-21.

Davis, Helen et al. When a pet dies: Religious issues, euthanasia and strategies for coping with bereavement. Anthrozoos. 16(1), 57-74.

Lee, Sherman A.; Surething, Nicole A. 2013. Neuroticism and Religious Coping Uniquely Predict Distress Severity among Bereaved Pet Owners. Anthrozoos. 26 (1): 61-76.

Parson, E.C.M. (Chris) 2004. Sea monsters and mermaids in Scottish folklore: Can these tales give us information on the historic occurrence of marine animals in Scotland? Anthrozoos. 17(1): 73-80.

Praet, Istvan. 2013. The Positional Qualitty of Life and Death: A Theory of Human-Animal Religions in Animism. Anthrozoos. 26(3): 341-355

Rea, Amadeo M. 2008. Wings in the Desert: A Folk Ornithology of the Northern Pimans. Anthrozoos. 21(4): 398-398

Sax, Boria. 2000. The Holocaust and Blood Sacrifice. Anthrozoos. 13(1): 22-33.

Sax. Boria 2009. The Magic of Animals: English Witch Trials in the Perspective of Folklore. Anthrozoos. 22 (4): 317-332.

Schaefer, Donovan O. 2012. Do Animals Have Religion? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion and Embodiment. Anthrozoos. Vol. 25 Supplement: 173-189.

Stibbe, Arran. 2007. Haiku and Beyond: Language, Ecology, and Reconnection with the Natural World. Anthrozoos. 20(2): 101-112

Sz?cs, Endre et al. (2012). Animal Welfare in Different Human Cultures, Traditions and Religious Faiths. Asian Australasian Journal of Animal Science, 25(11), 1499-1506.

Veldkamp, Elmer. 2009. The Emergence of "Pets as Family" and the Socio-Historical Development of Pet Funerals in Japan. Anthrozoos. 22(4): 333-346.