HON 300 Animal Rhetorics

Students in HON 300 The Rhetoric of the Animal

By Nick Lepp

What does it mean to be human? What is the difference between a human and an animal? How can we define interactions between and among humans and animals?

These and many more questions are discussed in the fall, 2015 semester of Honors 300, “The Rhetoric of the Animal”. This class draws heavily from a wide variety of different fields of research, including psychology, biology, and rhetoric, to develop an interdisciplinary approach to interspecies communication. Class readings reflect this diverse slant on interactions among animals, ranging from books written by PhD professors in philosophy to anthropologists to our very own Dr. Parrish. This unique approach means that members of the class learn about numerous different backgrounds to animal communication, including approaches deriving from the technical sciences to the creative arts, opening up space to think about how people interact with animals in a new light.

Class assignments reflect these varying perspectives as well. Ranging from traditional, methodical essays to creative projects presenting what it’s like to be inside the mind of an animal, this class runs the gamut of assignments to truly help students understand communication among and between animals and humans. Because of the freedom associated with the creative assignments, performances have included puppet shows and dramatic readings, reflecting unique takes on animal perspectives. This class has really facilitated thinking out of the box.

In addition to learning about different perspectives upon communication between animals, this class is instrumental in challenging prior assumptions about how and why animals interact. “The Rhetoric of the Animal” helps challenge what it even means to communicate, and how we can define that act in the first place.

"Planet of the Felines" video by Caitlin Flinn