Animal Rights Study Group

Week 1: Challenging Negative Views about Nonhuman Animals
Critically examine common misperceptions about nonhuman animals in a variety of areas such as morality, intelligence, language capabilities, etc.

Notes on readings: The purpose of these readings is simply to be exposed to things about animals that we don't often hear. Don't get too bogged down in the details -- they are not intended to be dense reads.

Week 2: Introduction to Speciesism
Gain an understanding of common arguments against animal rights and responses to those arguments.
Notes on readings: The Cohen reading focuses on animal experimentation. Please try to focus on the chapter as a more general argument in favor of speciesism. We will hold off on a specific discussion of animal experimentation until week 8 when we devote a whole meeting to it.
Week 3: Guest speaker: Breeze Harper
Speaking on Race Class Food & You!
Week 4: Introduction to Animal Rights + Speciesism & Human Supremacy as a System
Examine an affirmative case for animal rights & understand the broader picture of how speciesism & human supremacy operate as a system of oppression.
Week 5: Animal Activism as Refined Speciesism
Explore animal rights vs. animal welfare and evaluate current animal advocacy to see if it contributes to the exploitation of animals through unexamined speciesism.
Week 6: Exhibiting Animals
Examine institutions such as zoos and circuses and their perpetuation of the exploitation of animals.
Week 7: Animal Experimentation
Explore the broader context of medical experimentation (including experimenting on humans, past and present) and the ethical case against experimenting on animals.
Week 8: Hunting & Free-living Animals
Explore stalking and killing animals and the domination of free-living animals through methods such as hunting, reproductive control, and habitat destruction.
Week 9: Pets
Look at the history and creation of pets, the curent state of animals kept as pets, and appropriate animal rights responses.
Week 10: Male Supremacy and Animal Rights
Explore how the oppression of women and animals are linked, including an examination of sexism and misogyny in the animal rights movement.
Week 11: White Supremacy and Animal Rights
Explore how some animal rights activists perpetuate racism and what anti-racist animal rights activism would look like.
Week 12: Non-speciesist activism
Generate ideas for activism that challenge speciesism and co-option by those who exploit animals.
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