ASS203 - Being Human (With the Nonhuman)
Unit details
| Year: | 2024 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 1: Burwood (Melbourne), Online, Community Based Delivery (CBD)* From 2025: Trimester 1: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online, Community Based Delivery (CBD)* |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Unit Chair: | Trimester 1: Gillian Tan |
| Cohort rule: | Nil |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Corequisite: | Nil |
| Incompatible with: | Nil |
| Typical study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site. |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour lecture per week, 1 x 1-hour seminar per week |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour lecture per week (recordings provided), 1 x 1-hour online seminar per week |
Note:*Community Based Delivery (CBD) is for National Indigenous Knowledges, Education, Research and Innovation NIKERI Institute students only. | |
Content
This unit introduces students to the various ways that “being human” is understood and experienced among different groups of people, particularly in their classifications of, and relationships with, nonhumans, such as animals and deities. A framework of what it means to be human often presupposes a certain definition of consciousness. For the most part, this is predicated on the subjective “I” and a corollary understanding of the individual. But is this framework universal? How do people in non-modern societies, for example, convey what it means to be human? This unit explores the multiple ways of “being human” and suggests that one articulation reveals itself through relationships with nonhumans. By examining how nonhumans are included into society – through kinship structures, for example – and the implications on notions of personhood and consciousness, this unit opens up the possibilities of what it means to be human while simultaneously clarifying its scope.
| ULO | These are the Learning Outcomes (ULO) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can: | Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| ULO1 | Define and assess broad approaches within human-nonhuman relations, with a critical awareness of dualism and its implications | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities GLO4: Critical thinking |
| ULO2 | Analyse (articulate, synthesize and compare) how personhood is understood among various groups of peoples from non-modern societies | GLO4: Critical thinking |
| ULO3 | Conduct ethnographic observations of everyday classificatory categories in student pairs to demonstrate how categories are constructed | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities GLO7: Teamwork |
| ULO4 | Compare and contrast human-nonhuman relations across the globe, and reflect on the observations with awareness of one's own assumptions and practices | GLO8: Global citizenship |
Assessment
| Assessment Description | Student output | Grading and weighting (% total mark for unit) | Indicative due week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1 - Seminar/Online Exercises | 800 words or equivalent | 20% | Week 5 |
| Assessment 2 - Journal | 1200 words or equivalent | 30% | Week 9 |
| Assessment 3 - Essay | 2000 words or equivalent | 50% | Week 11 |
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
Learning Resource
The texts and reading list for the unit can be found on the University Library via the link ASS203
Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Unit Fee Information
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