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The aim of this book is to explore the human-animal relationship as a new subject of political education and to make it accessible for critical reflection. A guiding thesis is that society s relationship with animals is both political and problematic, as it is shaped by power structures and rarely recognized as an issue due to its status as an unexamined norm. To explore this topic, the model of didactic reconstruction is employed. A problem-centered interview study is used to reconstruct students everyday conceptions of animals, humans, and their (political) relationship. These conceptions are then compared with academic perspectives particularly from Human-Animal Studies in order to uncover contradictions and taken-for-granted assumptions, and to identify exemplary, didactically fruitful approaches to the subject. The author concludes that future engagement with the human-animal relationship in the context of political education should be critically oriented toward power structures. This would enable reflective and multi-perspective political judgment on the human-animal relationship making the invisible visible.
List of contents
Introduction.- Theoretical Framework and Basic Assumptions of the Study.- Society's Relationship with Animals (Subject-Matter Clarification).- The Human-Animal Relationship as a Subject of Political Education (Normative Clarification of Objectives).- Research Design and Methodology.- Interview Results.- Structuring the Human-Animal Relationship as a Learning Subject in Political Didactics.- Summary, Conclusion, and Outlook.- References.
About the author
Jennifer Bloise
earned her doctorate at the Junior Professorship for the Didactics of Political Education at the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University of Kaiserslautern-Landau. She is currently a trainee teacher (Studienreferendarin) for secondary school teaching (Gymnasium level).
Summary
The aim of this book is to explore the human-animal relationship as a new subject of political education and to make it accessible for critical reflection. A guiding thesis is that society’s relationship with animals is both political and problematic, as it is shaped by power structures and rarely recognized as an issue due to its status as an unexamined norm. To explore this topic, the model of didactic reconstruction is employed. A problem-centered interview study is used to reconstruct students’ everyday conceptions of animals, humans, and their (political) relationship. These conceptions are then compared with academic perspectives—particularly from Human-Animal Studies—in order to uncover contradictions and taken-for-granted assumptions, and to identify exemplary, didactically fruitful approaches to the subject. The author concludes that future engagement with the human-animal relationship in the context of political education should be critically oriented toward power structures. This would enable reflective and multi-perspective political judgment on the human-animal relationship—making the invisible visible.
