La question animale

This seminar studies representations of animals in French literature, visual arts, popular culture and critical thought through the 19th-21st centuries, attending to their specific cultural and material histories. We will consider the fates of animals as industrial modernity progressed (discussing in turn urban space, agriculture, the battlefield, zoos, science, meat, the beginnings of photography and cinema), and the important philosophical and ethical questions they raise. Authors include Renard, Michaux, Cixous, Roubaud, Pastoureau, Baratay, Philibert, de Fontenay, Derrida, Bailly et Despret. Taught in French.