Module ANTM101 for 2019/0
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
ANTM101: Animals, Health and Healing
This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.
Module Aims
The aims of this module are:
- to enable students to explore a wide range of anthrozoological interactions which relate to the health and well being of humans and/or nonhuman animals;
- to engage in analytical cross-cultural comparison of the various ways in which humans think about and utilise nonhumans in biomedical and therapeutic contexts;
- to engage in analytical cross-cultural comparison of the ways in which humans understand and treat the health and wellbeing of the nonhumans in their care;
- to consider the process of self-medication (zoopharmacognosy) in human and nonhuman animals; and
- to provide students with an opportunity to conduct their own empirical research and analysis.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of key themes and issues relating to the utilisation of nonhuman animals in biomedical and therapeutic contexts; 2. demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of key themes and issues relating to the preventative, palliative and curative care of nonhuman animals in a range of cultural contexts; 3. demonstrate a critical awareness of the implications (benefits and limitations) of utilising nonhuman animals in biomedical and therapeutic contexts; 4. demonstrate a critical awareness of the implications of zoonotic disease in relation to the anthrozoological understandings of human-nonhuman relations, as well as the ethical implications of human-nonhuman coexistences; 5. demonstrate a critical awareness of the processes and implications of zoopharmacognosy in a range of nonhuman species; |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 6. demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the potential and actual role of anthrozoology in helping to promote the welfare of human and nonhuman subjects; 7. demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of, and ability to critically assess a selection of key theoretical debates from anthropology and cognate disciplines surrounding human interactions with nonhumans in medical and therapeutic contexts; 8. apply a range of relevant theoretical models effectively in the critical analysis of ethnographic case studies and/or empirical data; |
Personal and Key Skills | 9. identify a coherent research question and conduct independent research to answer that question; 10. effectively communicate complex ideas in a clear, accessible and academic manner; 11. synthesise and critically analyse material from a wide range of sources; 12. present theoretically engaged and critically analytical research in accordance with the requirements of a peer-reviewed academic journal. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
The module will cover a range of theoretical debates and case studies concerned with the following topics:
- the use of animals in biomedical research (which could include animal rights/ethics, nonhuman models, history of vivisection, environmental enrichment programmes, genomics, xenotransplants, cloning)
- the use of animals in therapeutic contexts (which could include Animal Assisted Therapy, assistance animals such as Guide dogs, power relationships etc.)
- ethnoveterinary medicine (which could also include alternative/non-allopathic therapies such as homeopathy, as well as spiritual communications with nonhumans such as shamanism and animal psychics)
- zoonotic disease (which could include focus on transmission, responses, attitudes towards carriers etc.)
- zoopharmacognosy (which could also include ethnobotany)
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 |
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20 | 130 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
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Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 10 | 10 x 1 hour podcast audio lectures with accompanying powerpoint presentations |
Scheduled Learning & 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).
ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
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Non-assessed exercises | Weekly Q&A discussions on VLE discussion forums | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | Peer-assessed (via postings on ELE and/or The Den (Anthrozoology group on Exeter's social networking site) and written feedback on the discussion forums. |
Project proposal | 1,500 words | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | Peer-assessed (via postings on ELE and/or The Den (Anthrozoology group on Exeter's social networking site) and written feedback on the discussion forums. |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
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100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
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Research project to be written up in the style of an appropriate academic journal | 100 | 4,000 words | 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 | Written feedback |
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0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
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Research paper to be written up in the style of an appropriate academic journal | Research paper to be written up in the style of an appropriate academic journal (4,000 words) | 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 | August/September reassessment period |
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.
Arluke, A.B. 1988. Sacrificial symbolism in animal experimentation: object or pet? Anthrozoös 2(2): 98–117.
Bolton, M. and Dengen, C. (eds) 2010. Animals and science: from colonial encounters to the biotech industry. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars.
Caplan, P. 2000. ‘Eating British beef with confidence’: a consideration of consumers’ responses to BSE in Britain. In: P. Caplan (ed.) Risk revisited, pp. 184–203. London: Pluto.
Caplan, P. 2010. Death on the farm: culling badgers in north Pembrokeshire. Anthropology Today 26(2): 14–18.
Fine, A.H. (ed.) 2006. Handbook on animal-assisted therapy: theoretical foundations and guidelines for practice, 2nd edn. New York: Academic Press.
Fouts, R.S., Fouts, D.H. and Waters, G.S. 2002. The ethics and efficacy of biomedical research in chimpanzees with special regard to HIV research. In: in Fuentes, A.
and Wolfe, L. (eds) Primates face to face: the conservation implications of human–nonhuman primate interconnections. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Franklin, S. 2001. Sheepwatching. Anthropology Today 17(3): 3–9.
Franklin, S. 2007. Dolly mixtures: the remaking of genealogy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Franklin, S. 1995. Science as culture, cultures of science. Annual Review ofAnthropology 24: 163–184.
Gigliotti, C. 2009. Leonardo’s choice: genetic technologies and animals. Vancouver: Springer.
Hatley, J. 2011. Blood intimacies and biodicy: keeping faith with ticks. Australian Humanities Review 50: 63–75.
Heatherington, T. 2008. Cloning the wild mouflon. Anthropology Today 24(1): 9–14.
Holmberg, T. 2008. A feeling for the animal: on becoming an experimentalist. Society & Animals 16(4): 316–335.
Lefkowitz, C., Paharia, I., Prout, M., Debiak, D. and Bleiberg, J. 2005. Animalassisted prolonged exposure: a treatment for survivors of sexual assault suffering posttraumatic stress disorder. Society & Animals 13(4): 275–295.
Lowe, C. 2010. Viral clouds: Becoming H5N1 in Indonesia. Cultural Anthropology 25(4): 625–649.
Lynch, M.E. 1988. Sacrifice and the transformation of the animal body into a scientific object: laboratory culture and ritual practice in the neurosciences. Social Studies of Science 18(2): 265–289.
Mahaney W.C. and Krishnamani R. (2003) Understanding geophagy in animals: standard procedures for sampling soil. Journal of Chemical Ecology 29(7): 1503–1523
McCardle, P., McCune, S., Griffin, J.A. and Maholmes, V. (eds) 2010. How animals affect us: examining the influences of human–animal interaction on child development and human health. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
McCorkle, C.M., Mathias, E. and Schillhorn van Veen, T. (eds) 1996. Ethnoveterinary research and development. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.
McKay, R. 2006. BSE, hysteria, and the representation of animal death: Deborah Levy’s Diary of a Steak. In: Animal Studies Group, Killing Animals. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Serpell, J.A. 1991. Beneficial effects of pet ownership on some aspects of human health and behaviour. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 84: 717–720.
Servais, V. 2005. Enchanting dolphins: an analysis of human–dolphin encounters. In: J. Knight (ed.) Animals in person: cultural perspectives on human–animal intimacies. Oxford: Berg.
Smith, J.A. and Boyd, K.M. 2002. The Boyd Group papers on the use of nonhuman primates in research and testing. Leicester: British Psychological Society.
Smuts, B. 2006. Between species: science and subjectivity. Configurations 14: 115–126.
Villbala, J.J., Provenza, F.D., Hall, J.O. and Lisonbee, L.D. 2010. Selection of tannins by sheep in response to gastrointestinal nematode infection. Journal of Animal Science 88: 2189–2198.