Postgraduate Module Descriptor

ANTM103: Applied Anthrozoology

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The aims of the module are to:

  • enable you to explore and critically reflect upon the applied dimension of anthrozoological research;
  • offer students already employed in a related profession to put what they are learning in the classroom into practice and consider how their anthrozoological knowledge might be utilised to improve human-animal interactions in their working environment; and
  • provide students who are hoping to pursue a career in a related field to engage in work experience which will enable them to put what they have learned in the classroom into practice and provide them with valuable transferable skills for future employment.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. critically reflect upon the practical application of anthrozoological knowledge in a wide range of existing case studies/ethnographic contexts;
2. critically reflect upon the potential for anthrozoological knowledge to benefit humans and nonhuman animals in other 'real world' situations;
Discipline-Specific Skills3. demonstrate a critical awareness of contemporary theoretical debates concerning applied anthropology, advocacy and cosmopolitanism;
4. apply these debates and appropriate theoretical models to anthrozoological examples;
5. demonstrate an understanding of the ethical and practical implications of the application of anthrozoological theory, method and data in 'real world' situations;
6. Demonstrate a sound understanding of the ethical implications of applied research;
Personal and Key Skills7. effectively apply anthrozoological knowledge to practical 'real world' situations;
8. formulate and present convincing and reasoned arguments.

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:

Appiah, K.A. 2006. Cosmopolitanism: ethics in a world of strangers. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.

Birke, L. 2009. Naming names – or, what’s in it for the animals? Humanimalia 1(1): n.p.

Hastrup, K. and Elsass, P. 1990. Anthropological advocacy: a contradiction in terms? Current Anthropology 31(3): 301–311.

Kellett, P. 2009. Advocacy in anthropology: active engagement or passive scholarship? Durham Anthropology Journal 16(1): 22–31.

Layton, R. 1996. Advocacy is a personal commitment for anthropologists, not an institutional imperative for anthropology. In: P. Wade (ed.) Advocacy in anthropology. GDAT Debate No. 7.Manchester:ManchesterUniversity Press.

Nadasdy, P. 2003. Hunters and bureaucrats: power, knowledge, and aboriginal–state relations in the southwest Yukon. Vancouver:University ofBritish Columbia Press.

Petto, A.J. and Russell, K.D. 1998. Practicing anthropology on the frontiers of humanity: interspecies applied anthropology. Practicing Anthropology 20(2): 26–29.

Rapport, N. 2007. An outline for cosmopolitan study, for reclaiming the human through introspection. Current Anthropology 48: 257–283.

Theodossopoulos, D. 2005. Troubles with turtles: cultural understandings of the environment on a Greek island. Oxford: Berghahn Books.