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79634-01 - Practical course: The Animal on Display: Visual and Material Cultures of Nature (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | |
| Content | This course invites students to reflect on the manifold relations and attitudes humans had and have towards their fellow earthlings throughout time—admiring them, studying them, learning from them, hunting and parading them, etc. Drawing on the disciplines of history, art history, and science and technology studies (S&TS), the course thus explores in depth the production and representation of natural history knowledge, notably about animals, in the modern era and the present day (18th to 21st centuries). Inspired by current discussions and theories in Human-Animal Studies within the New Humanities more broadly, we aim to understand where, when, and how animals, or rather, animal-related artifacts, have been artfully depicted, taxidermically prepared, and effectively exhibited in museums—for both scientific and artistic, as well as pedagogical and communicative purposes. An important focus of the course will be on finding the animal’s presence in the archive: what kind of historical sources—textual, visual, and material—are available to us today, and how can they be analysed and interpreted to reveal human-animal relations? Part of the course are two field trips to the museums of natural history in Strasbourg and in Basel respectively. At the museums, students will have the opportunity to examine various animal objects more closely and analyse them in terms of their materiality and mediality, as well as their historical-semantic context, by discussing questions of aesthetics, knowledge, and display. The dates for the day-long excursions will be announced at the beginning of the semester. They have been made possible by generous support from the Eucor network. |
| Learning objectives | • Get acquainted with concepts and theories in human-animal studies • Learn and practice historical and art-historical analysis of objects (images, specimens) • Rehearse and hone methodological skills of source analysis and interpretation • Practice contextualization and provenance research |
| Bibliography | Aloi, Giovanni, Art and Animals. I.B. Tauris, 2011. Daston, Lorraine, and Gregg Mitman, eds. Thinking with Animals: New Perspectives on Anthropomorphism. Columbia University Press, 2005. Descola, Philippe. Beyond Nature and Culture. Transl. by Janet Lloyd, foreword by Marshall Sahlins. University of Chicago Press, 2013. Desmond, Jane C. Displaying Death and Animating Life: Human-Animal Relations in Art, Science, and Everyday Life. Animal Lives. University of Chicago Press, 2016. Harkett Daniel, Katie Hornstein (eds), Animal Modernities: Images, Objects, Histories. Leuven University Press, 2025. Poliquin, Rachel. The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012. Thorsen, Liv Emma, Karen A. Rader, and Adam Dodd, eds. Animals on Display: The Creaturely in Museums, Zoos, and Natural History. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013. |
| Comments | The dates for the two excursions will be announced at the beginning of the semester. They have been made possible by generous financial support from the Eucor network. |
| Admission requirements | Studierende der Geschichte aller Studienstufen sowie Studierende anderer Studienfächer, in deren Module die Übung verknüpft ist. Bei Überbelegung werden Studierende der Geschichte bevorzugt zugelassen. The course is limited to 20 students max. Spots will be assigned first to history students, then on a first come, first served basis. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14-täglich | Tuesday | 10.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 22.09.2026 | 10.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Tuesday 06.10.2026 | 10.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Tuesday 20.10.2026 | 10.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Tuesday 03.11.2026 | 10.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Tuesday 17.11.2026 | 10.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Tuesday 01.12.2026 | 10.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Modules |
Modul: Archive / Medien / Theorien (Bachelor's degree subject: History) Modul: Archive/Medien/Theorien Osteuropa-Studien (Bachelor's degree program: Eastern European Studies) Modul: Reflexion, Methodik, Praxis (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Module: Advanced Theories and Debates in Gender Studies (Master's degree subject: Gender Studies) Module: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Wahlbereich Master Geschichte: Empfehlungen (Master's degree subject: History) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Departement Geschichte |