The nonhuman animal in social studies: Using critical animal studies for empathy

Abstract

Despite the many contributions of nonhuman animals in history, nonhuman animal representations are seldom crafted with care and accuracy in curricular texts. Because of the anthropocentric vantage point of textbook creation, the nonhuman animal is often portrayed as an object, but as our relationship with the nonhuman world continues to deteriorate, we need now more than ever to consider the agency and subjectivity of nonhuman entities across time and space. In this article, I will use critical contextual analysis as a research method to examine the representation of the horse in a commonly used textbook in middle and high schools in the United States titled World History: Patterns of Interaction to raise larger questions about how to engage with nonhuman animal presence in history with students. Using critical animal studies as a theoretical framework to illuminate the data, the findings reveal that the horse is depicted as agentless and is shown merely as a means for human animals to expand empire and perpetuate social norms. The exploration identifies a gap in the social studies scholarship that neglects the historical contributions of nonhuman animals in curriculum. This article will argue that juxtaposing anthropocentric curricular texts such as the one under investigation with narratives that illuminate nonhuman animal subjectivity is essential for building a more empathetic world and for cultivating a more inclusive historical narrative.

Keywords:

• Nonhuman animals
• critical animal studies
• social studies
• history education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The term nonhuman and human animal is used in the article to linguistically invite the reader to conceptualize all species on the planet in solidarity. Challenger (2021) contends that to use the tern human animal diminishes hierarchy of species upheld by scientific rationalism from the Western Enlightenment. The terminology has been popularized by the school of critical animal studies (Nocella, 2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alia Baker Danch

Alia Baker Danch, a PhD student at Teachers College, Columbia University works to develop social studies curriculum that includes nonhuman animal life. During the day, she teaches 8th grade social studies in New Jersey.