HUMANS, ANIMALS, ENVIRONMENTS

Master’s course: 5GN045 – 7,5 ECTS SPRING 2023: January 16 to March 24 Uppsala
University

TEACHER: Jacob Bull, jacob.bull@gender.uu.se

DIRCTOR OF STUDY: Karin Lindelöf karin.lindelof@gender.uu.se
COURSE ADMINISTRATOR: Caroline Bergström, caroline.bergstrom@gender.uu.se
SCHEDULE: Seminar attendance and participation is mandatory. Dates and times are found on
Studium.

DESCRIPTION – Addressing how the “Social” always involves non-humans and how the “Natural” is
inherently social, this course responds to two interrelated challenges; the first is how the
construction and performance of gender is inter-implicated with the non-human and, second, how
feminist and gender studies informed theories can contribute to knowledge about environmental
questions. Informed by two overlapping bodies of work, one from gender studies and the other from
animal studies, the course material addresses a series of topics such as gender, race, ability and
sexuality from a more-than-human theoretical standpoint, and then brings these perspectives to
bear on a series of contexts such as agriculture, science, pandemics and environmental change.

LEARNING OUTCOMES - Following successful completion of the course students will be able to:

• Independently identify and discuss various theoretical conceptualizations of 'the human',

'animals' and 'environments.'
• Take an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to questions of power in the
construction and enactment of categories such as 'human' and 'environment.'
• Discuss the inter-implication of the human and non-human in the construction and
experience of life.
• Discuss how critical theory can contribute to debates around 'environmental' issues.
• Actively participate in seminar discussions and present written and oral arguments in the

independent and critical manner expected at the advanced level.

FORMAT – The course is organized in seminar form. This means that students have a great
responsibility for the content and direction that discussions take. All students will be expected to
have read all the required readings prior to the seminars and come prepared to actively engage with
it in the seminar. You should prepare by formulating text-related questions or comments to discuss
in the seminar, which will form the basis of our joint discussion.

ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENTS – There are three assessment opportunities in this course:

• Engaged seminar attendance (5%) and text presentations (15%), individual work (Total 20%)
• Group project, group work (20%)
• Final paper, individual work (60%)

Seminar attendance and assigned text presentations are mandatory. If you cannot attend a
session, please email Weinstein as soon as possible to arrange a compensatory assignment.
While you may make up absences from 2 seminars, failure to attend 3 or more teaching
sessions will result in being unable to pass the course in this period.
 1. TEXT PRESENTATIONS (10%) – Each week students will be chosen to present one or more
texts for each seminar. These will be assigned by the instructor after the introductory
seminar and all students will present 1-2 times during the course. This means that you
present one or more texts in a given session for a maximum of 10 minutes. The
presentation should not be biographical of the author, instead you are tasked with
providing (a) summary the author’s central arguments/claims and (b) a critical
examination of the text based on the following questions: What is new about the
argument/analysis/study? Do the claims relate to any others studied in the course? What
did you find enlightening, clear, difficult, etc.? What aspects did you agree/disagree with
and why?

Variable deadlines – grades will be assessed after the last seminar session, when all
presentations have been completed.

2. GROUP WORK (30%) – All students are required to participate in both the preparation and
writing of this assignment and for presenting at Session 6 – Group Project Presentations.
More detailed instructions will be given 2 weeks in advance. A single grade will be given to
the entire group, even if there are individual aspects to the assignment.

Deadline 24th February 2023 09.00 – Submit by email: a summary of your group’s work
with details of each member’s participation (one submission per group).

3. FINAL PAPER (60%) – The final paper should address a topic of your choosing and engage
with a significant variety of the course material (approx. 200 pages of required readings
from at least THREE different seminar sessions) and include at least 10% from readings
listed as recommended. While you may use additional sources not listed as course
readings, this is not required.

Titles and a 250-word summary of your argument/thesis statement and a list of sources
you intend to use should be submitted for approval by the teacher no later than Session 7.
Papers are not expected to deal with all issues covered by the course, but you should
attempt to think through and across issues presented in the course. Those who make
connections between readings/sessions and develop arguments across the texts will
achieve higher grades.

Submissions should be 2500-3000 words / 12pt font, 2.5cm margins, 1.5 line space.
Students may not hand in a copy of a previously submitted paper (or part thereof) or a
section of their thesis.

Deadline 24th March 2023 (16.00) - Final papers are to be handed in via Studium and will
undergo a plagiarism check.

The second deadline for late papers and papers that were submitted on time but did not
pass is 5th May 2023 (16.00). If you chose to hand in either a rewrite or first submission of
the original assignment, you will only have the opportunity to earn a Pass (G). A New
assignment for those who wish to strive for a (VG) will be posted at the end of the course.

GRADES – Grades for the final assignment will be given in accordance with the Swedish grading
system: Väl Godkänd (VG), Godkänd (G), and Underkänd (U). Grades for the first two assignments
are Pass (G) / Fail (U). In order to receive the relevant grade, students must:
 • Have completed the required tasks regarding seminar participation and assessment
• Have actively and independently participated in advanced seminar discussions
• Have presented advanced written and oral arguments in an independent and critical manner

G VG
Independently identify, and discuss various
theoretical conceptualisations of ‘the human’,
‘animals’ and ‘environments’.
Take an interdisciplinary and intersectional
approach to questions of power in the
construction and enactment of categories such
as ‘human’ and ‘environment’.
Discuss the inter-implication of human and
non- human in the construction and
experience of life.
Discuss how critical theory can contribute to
debates around ‘environmental’ issues.
Independently identify, and discuss various theoretical
conceptualisations of ‘the human’, ‘animals’ and
‘environments’ and position them in relation to each other.
Take an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to
questions of power in the construction and enactment of
categories such as ‘human’ and ‘environment’ and identify
their relevance for contemporary or historical debates/issues.
Discuss the inter-implication of human and non- human in the
construction and experience of life and make connections to
theory within or beyond gender studies.
Discuss how critical theory can contribute to debates around
‘environmental’ issues and critically discuss the various merits
of various theories and methods.

SEMINAR SCHEDULE AND READINGS

The texts are listed in alphabetical order. You should be sure to read all the required reading and
strive to read 10-20% of the recommended readings. As the course progresses, you should consider
how the texts relate to each other. The purpose is not for you to perfectly understand all the parts of
these sometimes quite challenging texts, instead it is for you to learn how to identify the main and
most significant points, their central arguments/claims, and how they are structured. Keep in mind
that the texts are different lengths and of different difficulty - plan your studies carefully. Identify
concepts you do not understand and take the time to discover what they mean. Two texts are listed
as background reading in the first session for those who might not have read them. They are
particularly challenging; however, they are key, since many of the other works we will read make
reference to them or use their insights. So, reading them might be helpful for informing your own
analyses of the required/recommended texts.

2022-1-20 • SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION

REQUIRED (100 pgs.)

• Acampora, Ralph R. 2001. “Real animals? An inquiry on behalf of relational

zoöntology.” In Human Ecology Review 8(2): 73-78 (6)
• Buller, Henry. 2013. “Animal Geographies I.” In Progress in Human Geography
38(2): 308- 318 (9)
• Haraway, Donna. When Species Meet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008, 3-
42 (39).
• Hird, Myra. The Origins of Sociable Life: Evolution After Science Studies. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2009. “Communities” (46-52), “Natural, cultural, social” (54-57), “Sexual
Diversity” (103-115). (Total: 21)
• Wolfe, Cary. “Introduction.” In Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and
Poshumanism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003, 1-17 (17).
 RECOMMENDED

• Haraway, Donna. The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant
Otherness. Prickly Paradigm Press, 2003.
• Nimmo, Richard. “Enfolding the BioSocial Collective: Ontological Politics in the Evolution of
Social Insects.” Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 9:2, 2018, 28-43
(15).
• Sandilands, Catriona. “Some “F” Words for the Environmental Humanities: Feralities,
Feminisms, Futurities.” In The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities.
Edited by Ursula K. Heise, Jon Christensen, and Michelle Niemann. New York, 2017, 443-450
(9).

BACKGROUND

• Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari: “Becoming-Intense, Becoming-Animal, Becoming-

Imperceptible,” in A Thousand Plateaus. Capitalism and Schizophrenia, University of
Minnesota Press, 2002, 232-309 (77 pgs.).
• Derrida, Jacques. “The Animal That Therefore I Am (More to Follow).” In Critical Inquiry 28,
2002, 369-418.

SESSION 2: MULTISPECIES ENVIRONMENTAL ENCOUNTERS

REQUIRED (84 pgs.)

• Clark, Nigel. “Ways to Make a World: From Relational Materiality to Radical Asymmetry.”
Inhuman Nature: Sociable Life on a Dynamic Planet. Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2011, 27-54 (17).
• Fritz-Henry, Erin. “Multiple Temporalities and the Nonhuman Other.” Environmental
Humanities 9:1, May 2017, 1-16 (16).
• Tsing, Anna. “Unruly Edges: Mushrooms as Companion Species.” Environmental Humanities
1, 2012, 141-154 (13).
• Van Dooren, Thom, Eben Kirksey, Ursula Münster. “Multispecies Studies: Cultivating Arts of
Attentiveness.” Environmental Humanities 8:1, May 2016, 1-17 (17).
• Zahara, Alexander R.D., Myra Hird. “Raven, Dog, Human: Inhuman Colonialism and
Unsettling Cosmologies.” Environmental Humanities 7, 2015, 169-190 (21).

RECOMMENDED:

• Ingold, Tim. The Perception of the Environment Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. New
York: Routledge, 2000. Chapter 10 “Building, dwelling, living: How animals and people make
themselves at home in the world,” 172-189 (17).

SESSION 3: QUEER/MULTISPECIES/ENVIRONMENTAL INTERFACE

REQUIRED (73 pgs.)

• Bell, David. “Queernaturecultures.” In Queer Ecologies: Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire. Edited
by Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands and Bruce Erickson. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University
Press, 2010, 134-143 (9)
• Davis, Heather. “Toxic Progeny: The Plastisphere and Other Queer Futures.” philoSOPHIA
5.2, Summer 2015, 231-250 (19).
 • Di Chiro, Giovanna. “Polluted Politics? Confronting Toxic Discourse, Sex Panic, and Eco-
Normativity.” In Queer Ecologies: Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire. Edited by Catriona Mortimer-
Sandilands and Bruce Erickson. Bloomington: Indian University Press, 2010, 190-224 (34).
• Hayward, Eva and Jami Weinstein, “Introduction: Tranimalities in the Age of Trans* Life,” in
“Tranimalities” special issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 2015, 2(2), 195-206 (11).

RECOMMENDED

• Alaimo, Stacy. “Eluding Capture: The Science, Culture, and Pleasure of ‘Queer’ Animals.” In
Queer Ecologies: Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire. Edited by Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands and
Bruce Erickson. Bloomington: Indian University Press, 2010, 51-68 (17).
• Grebowicz, Margaret. “When Species Meat: Confronting Bestiality Pornography.”
Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 1:2, 2010, 1-14 (14).
• Hayward, Eva. “Lessons from a Starfish.” In Queering the Non/Human. Hampshire, England:
Ashgate, 2008, 249-262 (13).
• Hird, Myra. “Animal Transex.” In Australian Feminist Studies 21:49, 2006, 35-45.
• Irni, Kuura. “Queering Multispecies Bonding: Reading Donna Haraway’s Dog Stories as Queer
Feminism.” In Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 12:1, 2020, 188-
200 (12).
• Lönnegren, Ann-Sofie. “‘That’s When He Comes Rushing into Her Life.’ Swedish Literary
Depictions of Human-Animal Sexual Contact at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century.” In
Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 12:1, 2020, 167-180 (13).
• Straube, Wibke. “Toxic Bodies: Ticks, Trans Bodies, and the Ethics of Response-Ability in Art
and Activist Writing.” In Environmental Humanities 11:1, 2019, 216-235 (19).
• Sturgeon, Nöel. “Penguin Family Values: The Nature of Planetary Environmental
Reproductive Justice.” In Queer Ecologies: Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire. Edited by Catriona
Mortimer-Sandilands and Bruce Erickson. Bloomington: Indian University Press, 2010, 103-
128 (25).

SESSION 4: INVASION, MIGRATION, COLONIZATION

REQUIRED (80 pgs.)

• Birke, Lynda, Tora Holmberg, and Kirilly Thompson. “Stories of Animal Passports: Tracing
Disease, Movements, and Identities.” Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface
Studies 5:1, 2013, 1-20 (20).
• Cattelino, Jessica R. “Loving the Native: Invasive Species and the Cultural Politics of
Flourishing.” In The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities. Edited by
Ursula K. Heise, Jon Christensen, and Michelle Niemann. New York: Routledge, 2017, 129-
135 (16).
• Geroux, Robert. “Introduction to the Special Issue: Decolonizing Animal Studies.” In
Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 10: 2, 2019, 1-6 (6).
• Kelsey Dale, John. “Animal Colonialism—Illustrating Intersections between Animal Studies
and Settler Colonial Studies through Diné Horsemanship.” Humanimalia: A Journal of
Human/Animal Interface Studies 10:2, 2019, 42-63 (21).
• Ogden, Laura. “The Beaver Diaspora: A Thought Experiment.” In Environmental Humanities
10:1, 2018, 63-80 (17).

RECOMMENDED
 • Coates, Peter. American Perceptions of Immigrant and Invasive Species: Strangers on the
Land. Berkeley: UC Press, 2006, 1-27 (27).
• Powys Whyte, Kyle. “Our Ancestors’ Dystopia Now: Indigenous Conservation and the
Anthropocene.” The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities. Edited by
Ursula K. Heise, Jon Christensen, and Michelle Niemann. New York, 2017, 206-213.

SESSION 5: MICROBES & THE HUMANIMAL INTERFACE

REQUIRED (64 pgs.)

• Gundermann, Christian. “Equine/Human Lyme Embodiments: Towards a Feminist Ecology of

Entangled Becomings.” In Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 10:2,
2019.,150-172 (22).
• Shukin, Nicole. Chapter 4: “Biomobility: Calculating Kinship in an Era of Pandemic
Speculation.” Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009, 181-223 (42).

RECOMMENDED

• Kramer, Peter and Paola Bressan “Humans as Superorganisms: How Microbes, Viruses,
Imprinted Genes, and Other Selfish Entities Shape Our Behavior.” In Perspectives on
Psychological Science 2015, Vol. 10(4) 464–481 (17).
• Lowe, Celia and Ursula Munster. “The Viral Creep: Elephants and Herpes in Times of
Extinction.” In Environmental Humanities 8:1, 2016, 118-139 (21).
• Meijer, Eva. “The Melancholic Animal — On Depression and Animality.” In Humanimalia: A
Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 11:1, 2019, 109-21 (11).
• Porter, Natalie. “Risky Zoographies: The Limits of Place in Avian Flu Management.” In
Environmental Humanities 1, 2012, 103-121 (18).
• Reis-Castro, Luisa. “Becoming Without: Making Transgenic Mosquitoes and Disease Control
in Brazil.” Environmental Humanities 13:2, 2021, 323-41 (18).

SESSION 6: GROUP WORK

SESSION 7: POLITICS & JUSTICE

REQUIRED (64 pgs.)

• Jaquette Ray, Sarah. “Introduction: The Ecological Other.” The Ecological Other:
Environmental Exclusion in American Culture. Tuscon: The University of Arizona Press, 2013,
1-30 (30).
• Hunt, Alastair. “Just Animals.” In The South Atlantic Quarterly 115:2, 2016, 231-244 (13).
• Wetzel, Jennifer. Turning Over a New Leaf: Fanonian Humanism and Environmental Justice.”
The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities. Edited by Ursula K. Heise, Jon
Christensen, and Michelle Niemann. New York, 2017, 165-172 (7).
• Yusoff, Kathryn. “Geology, Race, Matter.” A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2018, 1-14 (14).
 RECOMMENDED

• Cuomo, Chris. “Climate Change, Vulnerability, and Responsibility.” Hypatia 26:4, Fall 2011,
690-710 (20).

SESSION 8: POWER, PARASITES AND CORPOREALITY

REQUIRED (110pgs.)

• Acampora, Ralph R. 2006. Corporal Compassion. Animal Ethics and Philosophy of Body.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1–24 (24)
• Haraway D.J. Staying With the Trouble. Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University
Press, 2016. Chapter 3 ‘Sympoiesis: Symbiogenesis and the Lively Arts of Staying with the
Trouble’ pp 58-98 (40)
• Serres, M. 2007. The Parasite (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press) pp3-49 (46)

RECOMMENDED
• Bull, J. 2017. Geographies of Ticks and People. In Holmberg, T., Bull, J and Åsberg C. Animals
Places: New Cartographies of Human-Animal Relations (Routledge ISBN: 978-1-4724-8324-9)
pp 206-230 (24)
• Lorimer, J. 2016. “Gut Buddies: Multispecies Studies and the Microbiome.” In Environmental
Humanities, 8(1): 57-76 (29)
• Drisdelle. Romemary. 2010. Parasites: tales of humanity’s most unwelcome guests.
University of California Press: Berkley, chapter 5, 105-124 (19)
• Gilbert, Scott et al. 2012. “Symbiotic View of Life.” In Quarterly Review of Biology (87) 4, (15)
• McFall-Ngai Margaret et al. 2012. “Animals in a bacterial world, a new imperative for the life
sciences.” In PNAS (110) 9, 3229–3236 (7)

SESSION 9: ANTHROPOCENE, EXTINCTION, DE-EXTINCTION

REQUIRED (65 pgs.)

• Ahuya, Neel. “Intimate Atmospheres: Queer Theory in a Time of Extinctions.” GLQ: A Journal
of Lesbian and Gay Studies 21:2-3, 2015, 365-380 (15).
• Chrulew, Matthew. “Reversing Extinction: Restoration and Resurrection in the Pleistocene
Rewilding Projects.” In Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 2:2,
2011, 4-20 (16).
• Colebrook, Claire. Chapter 6 “Difference, Time and Organic Extinction.” Sex After Life: Essays
on Extinction, Vol. 2. Open Humanities Press, 2014, 126-136 (10).
• Haraway, Donna. “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin.”
Environmental Humanities 6, 2015, 159-165 (6).
• Oksanen, Markku and Vuorisalo, Timo. “De-Extinct Species as Wildlife.” In TRACE: Finnish
Journal for Human-Animal Studies 3, 2017, 5-23 (18).

RECOMMENDED
• Garlick, Ben and Symons, Kate. “Geographies of Extinction: Exploring the Spatiotemporal
Relations of Species Death.” In Environmental Humanities 12:1, 2020, 296-316 (20).
• Jones, Owain; Rigby, Kate; and Williams, Linda. “Everyday Ecocide, Toxic Dwelling, and the
Inability to Mourn: A Response to Geographies of Extinction.” In Environmental Humanities
12:1, 2020, 388-403 (15).