Are animals people too? Today, the answer to this question often seems to be “yes.” The truth is that how we think about and interact with animals in the United States today directly grew out of literary and historical developments in the nineteenth century. For example, the first packaged “pet food,” bird seed, began to be sold in stores in the 1840s; humane societies focused on ending animal cruelty—like the ASPCA in 1866—were founded; laws outlawing inhumane behavior were introduced; public veterinary science schools were established; literature focused on imagining animal perspectives circulated widely; and perhaps most famously, the British scientist Charles Darwin pointed directly towards humankind’s animal origins in The Descent of Man (1871). While cats and dogs would become particularly popular as pets—as evidenced by pet photography of the period, for example—other animals were also brought into the cognitive and physical spaces of the “human.” 

In this class, we'll consider how nineteenth-century literature was a central site where writers humanized different animals. Texts we'll read include Emily Dickinson's animal poems, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun (1860), selections from Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), animal "autobiographies" like Anna Sewell's Black Beauty (U.S. edition, 1890), Jack London's The Call of the Wild (1903), and more. Questions we’ll address include: How and why were different animals humanized during this time period? What kinds of humanization existed? What roles did animal humanization play in historical developments in animal welfare initiatives and humane education? While we’ll focus on the nineteenth-century United States, we will necessarily engage with transatlantic contexts, as animal welfare developments in the U.S. in many ways grew out of developments in England. Class readings will largely revolve around primary texts, but we'll also consider recent criticism in the field of animal studies. Assignments will include: 3 short reflection essays (2-3 pages each); a research project on a topic of your choice (that connects back to the course theme in some way); and a creative field work assignment in which you will have the opportunity to connect your observations of animals today with materials we are discussing in our class.