The Call of the Wild CC 101P

Dr. Angela  Hofstetter

Office Location: JH 305A, x9285

Office Hours: T 4-5 & by appointment

Email:  ahofstet@butler.edu

Cell:  317-777-0553 (NEVER after 7 p.m.)

 

Drawings of horses, stags, and bulls on the caves of Lascaux illustrate that animals have captured the human imagination since the dawn of the Paleolithic era as food, workers, companions, and fellow warriors:  our path to modernity tells the tales of a relationship paradoxically fraught with violence and love.  The intensity of this primordial fascination erupted with new vehemence in nineteenth-century America, England, and France as discussions of transmutation (what became evolution) destabilized the already fragile line distinguishing man and beast.   This First Year Seminar adopts an interdisciplinary approach to how questions of animals and animality were developed across both generic and national boundaries:  the burgeoning fields of anthropology, zoology, and sociology will be read alongside art and literature of the period.  In addition to the controversial writings of Charles Darwin and Charles Hodge and art of Sir Edwin Landseer, Édouard Manet, and Frederic Remington, texts will include Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, Emile Zola’s Nana, Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, Robert Browning’s “Caliban upon Setebos,” Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.  Semester one is a prerequisite for semester two.

Texts:

Kaloff, Linda.  The Animals Reader.

Ouida, A Dog of Flanders.

Poe, Edgar Allen:  The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Sewell, Anna. Black Beauty.

Stevenson, R.L.  Jekyll and Hyde.

Stoker, Bram.  Dracula.

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels.

Next Semester:

Zola, Emile.  Nana. Hardy,

Thomas.  Far From the Madding Crowd.

London, Jack. The Call of the Wild.

Kipling, Rudyard.  The Jungle Book.

Sue, Eugene:  The Godolphin Arabian.

Opening Remarks:

The liberal arts have always been the vast warehouse of the best of humanity.  Intimacy with such greatness has historically been a privilege that cultivates the better part of our nature.  Such erudition, however, offers surprisingly practical benefits. In the complex & changing world of the twenty-first century, a liberal arts education is more relevant than ever.  Whether your final destination is the corporate boardroom, a military jet, a pharmacy, a newspaper, a law firm, or any of the myriad of possibilities, employers value the agile mind fostered by the liberal arts.  Your personal development of analytical thinking through a sustained contemplation of these texts will prove personally & professionally rewarding.

Learning Objectives:

1. To reflect on “big questions” about themselves, their community and their world.
2. To develop the capacity to read and think critically.
3. To develop the capacity to write clear and persuasive expository and argumentative essays, with an emphasis on thesis formation and development.
4. To gain an understanding of basic principles of oral communication as they apply to discussion.
5. To understand the liberal arts as a vital and evolving tradition and to see themselves as agents within that tradition.
6. To develop capacities for careful and open reflection on questions of values and norms.
7. To develop the ability to carry out research for the purpose of inquiry and to support claims.

Course Expectations & Policies:

As an important part of Butler’s core curriculum, students of the First Year Seminar closely examine significant works that make an enduring contribution to our understanding of the human condition.  The aim of this course is to have students think critically & write provocatively about the subject matter at hand as well as be able to relate it to larger issues & contexts.  With that thought in mind, students must carefully prepare the readings before class to participate in discussions of the texts.  More than (3) unexcused absences will result in the loss of a letter grade.  Students who show up to class unprepared will not be given credit for that day’s attendance.

• 2 formal research essays, 4-6 pages, MLA, edited rough drafts. 2 sources, 20% each.
• 1 formal research essay 6-8 pages, MLA, edited rough drafts, 3 sources, 30%.
• Oral Quizzes 10%
• Written Quizzes 10 %
• Attendance and Participation 10%.  Both routine absence and showing up unprepared  are lethal.  Make NO mistake—this will sink you.  Facebooking/Texting/etc. during class will also lead to loss of points in this category.

 

Special needs:

It is the policy and practice of Butler University to make reasonable accommodations for students with properly documented disabilities. Written notification from Student Disability Services is required.  If you are eligible to receive an accommodation and would like to request it for this course, please discuss it with me and allow one week advance notice.  Otherwise, it is not guaranteed that the accommodation can be received on a timely basis.  Students who have questions about Student Disability Services or who have, or think they may have, a disability (psychiatric, attentional, learning, vision, hearing, physical, medical, etc.) are invited to contact Student Disability Services for a confidential discussion in Jordan Hall 136 or by phone at extension 9308.

Plagiarism: One important task of CC 101 is for you to master integrating source material correctly & ethically into your own writing.  You will have the opportunity to practice summarizing, paraphrasing, directly quoting sources & then integrating the material into your own essays.  The research essay is especially assigned so that you will have occasion to generate an original thesis, support it with your own reasoning in addition to secondary sources.  The task will be for you to differentiate your original ideas from these sources.  Recording source material as though it is your original idea constitutes plagiarism—whether intentional or not. All first-year seminar students are asked to take the “Plagiarism Tutorial” on the Library’s website as well as to complete the “Plagiarism Quiz” available on Blackboard.  An essay plagiarized in part or in full will receive an F.  Plagiarized work also places a student in jeopardy of failing the course.  Repeated incidents of Academic Dishonesty results in a student’s suspension from the University.  Students should also refer to the Butler University Student H&book (available online @ www.butler.edu Student Life tab) for a full discussion of student rights & responsibilities regarding “Academic Integrity.”

Course Calendar

Please have the assignment prepared on the date listed.

Week One

• Thursday, August 25: Class Introduction. Reading of Manifestos. Farm City.

 

Week Two

• Tuesday, August 30:  Discussion of Farm City.  Read Chapters 17 (Plutarch, “The Eating of Flesh), 18 (Mason and Finelli, “Brave New Farm?), 19 (Adams, “The Sexual Politics of Meat”), 20 (Nibert, “The Promotion of Meat and its Consequences”) in The Animals Reader.
• Thursday, September 1:   Read Chapters 14 (“The Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory of Human-Animal Interactions”), 15 (“Animal Planet”), 16 (“Animal Pets:  Cruelty and Affection”) in The Animals Reader.

 

Week Three

• Tuesday, September 6:  Read Chapters 1 (Aristotle, “The History of Animals”), 2 (Bentham, “Principles of Morals and Legislation”), 4 (Singer, “Animal Liberation or Animal Rights”) in The Animals Reader.
• Thursday, September 8:   Read Chapters 5 (Regan, “The Rights of Humans and Others”) and 6 (Nussbaum, “The Moral Status of Animals”) in The Animals Reader.

 

Week Four

• Tuesday, September 13:    Library Meeting.
• Thursday, September 15:   TBA. Writer’s Studio Workshop.

 

Week Five

• Tuesday, September 20:   Hand in Essay #1.  Read Chapters 8 (Montaigne, “An Apology for Raymond Sebond”) and 9 (Descartes, “From the letters of 1646 & 1649”), and 11 (Bekoff, “Wild Justice”).  Darwin (“Emotions”) on e-reserves.
• Thursday, September 22:  Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, Part IV, “A Voyage to the Country of the Houynhnhnms.”

 

Week Six

• Tuesday, September 27:  Ouida, A Dog of Flanders.
• Thursday, September 20: Sewell, Black Beauty.  Parts 1 & 2.

 

Week Seven

• Tuesday, October 4:  Sewell, Black Beauty.  Parts 3 & 4.
• Thursday, October 6:  Assigned essays (Padel, Lansbury, etc.) & the art of Landseer.

 

Week Eight

• Tuesday, October 11:  Assigned essays continued.
• Thursday, October 13: FALL BREAK-NO CLASS!!!!

 

Week Nine

• Tuesday, October 18:  Thesis workshop.
• Thursday, October 20:  Thesis workshop.

 

Week Ten

• Tuesday, October 25:  Essay #2 Due.  In-class screening of Nosferatu.
• Thursday, October 27:  Djikstra on-reserves.

 

Week Eleven

• Tuesday, November 1:   Darwininan Nightmares:  Darwin, Hodge, Spenser, Lombroso on e-reserves & Broadview Edition Appendices.
• Thursday, November 3:   Browning, “Caliban upon Setebos.”  Kipling, “White Man’s Burden.”

 

Week Twelve

• Tuesday, November 8: Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”
• Thursday, November 10: Stevenson, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

 

Week Thirteen

• Tuesday, November 15:  Dracula, I-IX.
• Thursday, November 17:  Dracula, IX-XVI.

 

Week Fourteen

!!!!!!Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

Week Fifteen

• Tuesday, November 29:  Dracula, Conclusion.
• Thursday, December 1: Thesis workshop.

 

Week Sixteen

• Tuesday, December 6: Thesis workshop.
• Thursday, December 8: Hand in Final Research Essay.