AMS 139: Animals and Society

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  AMS 139
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This digital textbook, World of wonders : in praise of whale sharks, fireflies, and other astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil is being utilized in an American Studies course for undergraduates by Daniel Rivers at San José State University. The textbook is a series of essays exploring the natural world and reflecting on how its creatures provide lessons, encouragement, and inspiration. The main motivation to adopt a digital textbook was to save students money, and guarantee that the class has equal access to an excellent, bestselling text by a contemporary author.  Enrolled students access the textbook as an ebook through the library’s website. 

AMS 139: Animals and Society
Brief Description of course highlights:  Introduction to the practices of animal observation and the critical methods of the interdisciplinary field of Human-Animal Studies, paying particular attention to intersections among behavior, ecology, space, and critical theories of race, class, gender, colonialism, and power. To engage more deeply with the scientific methods and cultural theories that underpin this course, students engage in field observations and read texts from ethology (the study of animal behavior), evolutionary biology, ecological theory, history, philosophy, literature, and cultural studies.

Student population: This is a popular GE course, which regularly draws significant enrollment from students in animation, psychology, and design, among others. This course is also a keystone part of the curriculum for SJSU’s new certificate in Environmental Humanities.

Learning or student outcomes:  GE Learning Outcomes (GELO): Area 2,5: Earth & the Environment. Upon successful completion of this GE course, students will be able to:
1. Apply scientific principles and the scientific method to answer questions about earth, the environment, and sustainability while recognizing the limits of both the method and principles;
2. Apply mathematical or quantitative reasoning concepts to the analysis and generation of solutions to issues of earth, the environment, and sustainability;
3. Communicate a scientific finding, assertion, or theory to a general audience with the integrity and rigor of the underlying science; and
4.  Explain ethical, social, and civic dimensions of scientific inquiry.

Syllabus and/or Sample assignment from the course or the adoption:   AMS 139 Animals and Society, Fall Course Schedule.docx

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Nezhukumatathil, Aimee. World of Wonders : In Praise of Whale Sharks, Fireflies, and Other Astonishments. First edition, Milkweed Editions, 2020.

Brief Description:  This book uses a braided essay format to interweave memoir, science writing, and cultural reflections on humans’ relationships with nonhuman animals. We use this text to do the following: a) introduce cultural and social dimensions of humans interspecies relationships, b) to introduce creative and artistic engagements with “umwelt” (the theory of species’ different perceptual worlds, and c) to help students think about how they might use observation and the creative arts to practice observation of nonhuman animals.

We also use excerpts from John Muir Laws, The Laws’ Guide to Nature Drawing and Observation, both also free to students through the SJSU Library.

Please provide a link to the resource  
https://csu-sjsu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?&context=L&vid=01CALS_SJO:01CALS_SJO&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&docid=alma991014191698302919 

Laws, John Muir, and Emilie Lygren. The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling. Heyday, 2016, http://johnmuirlaws.com

Authors:  Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders: 

Student access:  These books are made available through Canvas or the library website.

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  World of Wonders: $20 savings

License: Copyright © 2022 Bernan Press. All rights reserved. Library access via ProQuest Ebook Central (Unlimited user access; 30-minute inactivity/idle timeout).

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. To save students money, and guarantee that the class has equal access to an excellent, bestselling text by a contemporary author. Along with supporting us in meeting the class’ pedagogical goals, this helps students see connections to contemporary discussions and artistic trends relevant to our subject matter.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course?  Consulted a librarian

Sharing Best Practices: It’s great to post a link on Canvas. Also, make sure that your text has a multiple-user link. This is especially important for large classes.

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. If you are working with a book that only has single user access, be sure to let the students know that they will only be able to access it one at a time. They can work with this limitation if they download chapters to read, especially if they are traveling or on public transit.

Instructor Name - Daniel Lanza Rivers
I am a Humanities and American Studies professor at San Jose State University
Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.sjsu.edu/people/daniel.rivers/

Please describe the courses/course numbers that you teach.

• AMS/HUM/RELS 180: Water & Culture (special topics course, California focus)
• AMS/ENVS/HUM 159: Nature & World Cultures (GE course I teach regularly, focuses on troubling histories of conservation while exploring Indigenous science and movements for land return, environmental justice, climate justice, environmental arts and literature.
• AMS 139: Animals & Society (see above)
• AMS 129: US in a Global Context (course exploring connections among migration, policy, memoir, and political critique)
• AMS 10: Stories that Make America (explores cultures of public memory by exploring history, literature, and the arts)
• ENGL 281:Environmental Futures (graduate literature course)
• ENGL 254: Environmental Horror and the Unnatural (graduate literature course)
• ENGL/WGSS 184: Queer and Trans Literary Studies (upper division literature elective)

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  My interdisciplinary pedagogy focuses on activating students’ curiosity and broadening their perspectives by using a mix of texts, lessons, and activities that help them place multiple (conflicting and complementary) perspectives into conversation with one another. My teaching assignments have spanned environmental humanities, US literature, and American studies, with a significant emphasis on helping students understand the regional, national, and global roots of climate change and extractive industry, as well as the movements to address social inequity and the climate crisis. Along with coordinating SJSU’s certificate in environmental humanities, I regularly teach upper-division and graduate courses in English. 

My research interests include: feminist science studies, American studies, ethnic studies, queer and feminist studies, environmental humanities, California studies, climate justice, environmental literature, and environmental justice movements.