PhD programs, interested in human-animal relationships

[Ilikekitties]

My plan is to apply to mostly anthro programs, but my profs want me to diversify that. Know of any interdisciplinary programs that take social human-animal relationships into account? I'm thinking of something along the lines of animal studies, but not many PhD programs of that kind exist.

[otherss]

What exactly are you looking for? Human-Animal interactions are becoming bigger in the field of wildlife/ecology. So instead of looking at programs that look at that specifically, try going a tad broader. Take a look at schools with a wildlife or agriculture department. A good place to start would be looking at land grant schools (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_land-grant_universities), as these schools are associated with a cooperative extension (which can be helpful depending on how you want to focus your studies). You can also sometimes find these topics in biology departments but that will require a bit more digging around.

[Ilikekitties]

I'm interested in how people perceive animals as, for example, human-pest, human-child, human-food, etc. I made up those binaries, but hopefully you get the idea. I'm interested in how humans construct and define animal categories and how they perceive their relationships with the constructed categories. What they're used for. I would like to ask questions like "what makes this particular animal edible in this context? What makes this one good for keeping in the home?"

 

I wouldn't say no to environmental studies, but I don't have any type of science background under my belt.

Edited August 6, 2015 by CostaRita

[otherss]

Have you tried looking into psychology programs? I can't point you in the right direction with those but I was able to find a non-phd program looking at human-animal interactions in a psychology department.

 

Maybe you can take a look at some literature dealing with what you want to study and track down where those authors are teaching.

[bonnieh]

I'm interested in how people perceive animals as, for example, human-pest, human-child, human-food, etc. I made up those binaries, but hopefully you get the idea. I'm interested in how humans construct and define animal categories and how they perceive their relationships with the constructed categories. What they're used for. I would like to ask questions like "what makes this particular animal edible in this context? What makes this one good for keeping in the home?"

 

I wouldn't say no to environmental studies, but I don't have any type of science background under my belt.

I think U Chicago's Comparative Human Development program might be interesting for you

[Ilikekitties]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[kittyoverthemoon]

It's possible that a program in Sociology might work for you. I did a research paper about this specific topic as it related to human social interaction and the roles that animals and/or pets play. I don't know of any specific programs, but it's possible that a generic Sociology program faculty member might have research interests within this domain, or the program itself might be flexible enough for you to take courses in anthrozoology, ecology, etc. Good luck!

[darklullaby]

I don't have any programs in mind, but you might do an internet search for scholars interested in critiques of anthropocentrism.