Domestic Animals and Society:
Unit Overview
Stephen Vrla, Michigan State University
“How shall we (and, some would ask, should we) rethink, rebuild and recast our relationships with other animals?”
—Linda Kalof and Amy Fitzgerald
In this module, students will explore the status of domestic animals in present societies through photographic representations of them in National Geographic since 1988. By analyzing contemporary photographs of domestic animals, they will come to understand how humans have affected and been affected by domestic animals at levels ranging from individual humans and animals to societies and species.
Grade levels: High school
Subjects: English; history; language arts; social studies
Time: About ten fifty-minute class periods (or about eight fifty-minute periods and one 100-minute period)
Materials:
- The provided lessons, photographs, documents, and handouts, accessible by using the left sidebar
- A computer, a projector, and internet access
- Additional computers and cameras and/or magazines, blank paper, and colored pencils and/or other craft supplies
This module addresses the following Essential Questions:
- What is the relationship between contemporary photographs of domestic animals and their creators’ attitudes toward domestic animals?
- What is the relationship between contemporary photographs of domestic animals and their viewers’ attitudes toward domestic animals?
- How do the relationships between contemporary photographs of domestic animals and individuals’ attitudes toward domestic animals apply at other scales as well as to other forms of representation and types of attitude?
- How can sociologists and other researchers use an understanding of the interrelationship between representations and attitudes to create new knowledge?
- To what extent do individuals, including students and other youth, actively participate in this interrelationship?
By addressing these questions, the module promotes the following Enduring Understandings:
- Contemporary photographs of domestic animals reflect their creators’ attitudes toward domestic animals.
- Contemporary photographs of domestic animals affect their viewers’ attitudes toward domestic animals.
- The interrelationship between contemporary photographs of domestic animals and individuals’ attitudes toward domestic animals generalizes to the societal scale as well as to other forms of representation and types of attitude.
- Sociologists and other researchers can use contemporary representations to make predictions about present societies’ attitudes as well as their similarities to and differences from other societies’ attitudes.
- Individuals, including students and other youth, actively participate in the interrelationship between representations and attitudes as both creators and viewers of representations and holders of attitudes.
As evidence of these understandings, students will complete the following Assessments:
- A quiz in which students define the terms animal-human relationship, attitude, coexistence, domestic animal, extrinsic value, intrinsic value, lethal management, liminal animal, representation, non-lethal management, and wild animal.
- A group presentation in which students express their understandings of how to analyze contemporary photographs of domestic animals as well as how to use them to predict their creators’ attitudes toward domestic animals and their effects on viewers’ attitudes.
- A class discussion in which students support and critique their understandings of similarities and differences in contemporary individuals’ attitudes toward domestic animals.
- A written reflection in which students express their understanding of how the interrelationship between contemporary photographs of domestic animals and individuals’ attitudes toward domestic animals generalizes to the societal scale as well as to other forms of representation and types of attitude.
- A project in which students express their understanding of how they, as members of their society, actively participate in the interrelationship between representations and attitudes as both creators and viewers of representations and holders of attitudes.
In preparation for these assessments, students will complete the following Activities:
- Define the terms animal-human relationship, attitude, coexistence, domestic animal, extrinsic value, intrinsic value, lethal management, liminal animal, representation, non-lethal management, and wild animal.
- Analyze contemporary photographs of domestic animals and use their analyses to predict the attitudes toward domestic animals of the photographs’ creators and the photographs’ effects on viewers’ attitudes.
- Discuss similarities and differences in contemporary individuals’ attitudes toward domestic animals.
- Reflect on how the interrelationship between contemporary photographs of domestic animals and individuals’ attitudes toward domestic animals generalizes to the societal scale as well as to other forms of representation and types of attitude.
- Reflect on how individuals, including students and other youth, actively participate in this interrelationship as both creators and viewers of representations and holders of attitudes.
For more information about this module and other modules, see About the Teaching Modules.
