CI 1908: Children and Other Talking Animals: Animal Tales in (Mostly) Children’s Literature
Marek Oziewicz
Curriculum and Instruction
CI 1908W

Humans and animals have coexisted for long millennia until humanity exiled itself from nature in order to rule it. In this course we look at the tradition of animal tales as humanity’s never-entirely-suppressed memory of our kinship with animals and as
a hope for our future. We explore how animal tales have been used through the ages to reflect diverse ethical conceptualizations of the human relationship with animals and the natural world. We study the connections between children and talking animals. We read a range of animal tales and consider their meanings for the environmentally threatened global world.