In this College Edge seminar, you will explore the world through a more-than-human lens, asking how animals, plants, environments, and emerging technologies shape human lives, histories, and systems of power. Drawing from Indigenous studies, environmental humanities, multispecies ethnography, and critical animal studies, the course challenges the idea that humans are the only meaningful actors in the world.

Through stories, images, and oral traditions, you will examine how human and more-than-human lives are deeply entangled in issues such as race, settler colonialism, extractive capitalism, captivity, war, and environmental violence. You will learn how scholars and communities think across species boundaries, and how paying attention to nonhuman perspectives can change the way we understand responsibility, care, and coexistence.

Seattle becomes an important learning site for the course. Early in the term, you will participate in an Indigenous Walking Tour that grounds the class in place, history, and living Indigenous knowledge. Midway through the course, you will conduct an ethnographic research project at the Woodland Park Zoo, practicing close observation and reflection on human–animal relationships in institutional settings. Later, you may visit a nearby animal sanctuary to consider alternative models of care, conservation, and coexistence. Additional field-based learning may include a visit to the Burke Museum to explore cultural collections and environmental histories, as well as a library workshop where you will meet UW librarians and learn how to navigate research resources across disciplines.

The course concludes by turning toward the future, asking what emerging tools like artificial intelligence might offer for thinking about multispecies communication, care, and ethics. Throughout the seminar, you will develop skills in observation, critical thinking, research, and reflective writing while engaging big questions about what it means to live responsibly in a shared, more-than-human world.

No prior background is required. This course is designed for curious students who enjoy discussion, field-based learning, and rethinking the boundaries between humans, nature, and technology.

Learn more about this instructor here.