{"id":73760,"date":"2024-08-12T00:20:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T04:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=73760"},"modified":"2024-08-12T00:20:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T04:20:57","slug":"this-anthropology-course-looks-at-building-design-from-the-standpoint-of-different-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/this-anthropology-course-looks-at-building-design-from-the-standpoint-of-different-species\/","title":{"rendered":"This anthropology course looks at building design from the standpoint of different species"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Title of course:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Space\/Power\/Species<\/a><\/p>\n

What prompted the idea for the course?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A few years ago, I came across the architect Joyce Hwang\u2019s artificial\u00a0habitat for bats<\/a>\u00a0at the Griffis Sculpture Park in upstate New York. Titled \u201cBat Tower,\u201d this outdoor installation was designed to house the little brown bat, an endangered species threatened by a fungal infection known as white-nose syndrome.<\/p>\n

By including \u201clanding pads,\u201d \u201cbat ladders\u201d and other features that cater to the bat\u2019s needs, Hwang not only brought public awareness to the plight of this animal. She also inspired deeper reflection about how humans do, or more often do not, make space for the nonhuman. It was this question that I wanted to address in Space\/Power\/Species.<\/p>\n

What does the course explore?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This course in cultural anthropology surveys how architecture shapes human and animal relationships. We explore the diverse ways that buildings affect animals, people and their interactions.<\/p>\n

I start off with the\u00a0spikes<\/a>\u00a0that architects install on buildings to prevent pigeons, seagulls and other birds from nesting, and discuss the violence of methods meant to deter animals. We then look at traps, tethers and enclosures \u2013 what some anthropologists call\u00a0architectures of domestication<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our approach is historical and comparative. We cover\u00a0dovecotes<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 houses for pigeons or doves \u2013 in ancient Iran and\u00a0industrial pig farms<\/a>\u00a0in the United States. In one of my favorite lessons, we visit the Penn Museum in Philadelphia to examine artifacts from their collection, including fishnets and chicken coops.<\/p>\n

The animals we discuss vary based on student interest. When I first taught this course as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 2023, we considered parakeets, mosquitoes, dogs, reindeer, oysters, coral, bats, coyotes, rats and snails.<\/p>\n

What materials does the course feature?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In the first half of this hybrid seminar-studio, students conduct fieldwork around the city. They bring back jottings, photos, recordings and other documentary media from places where humans encounter animals, including dog parks, botanical gardens, animal shelters and vacant lots.<\/p>\n

As a class, we discuss how the material features of these sites reflect and reinforce how people relate to these animals, whether as\u00a0companion species<\/a>\u00a0or as\u00a0vermin<\/a>. We pay close attention to how these spaces center human bodies and interests.<\/p>\n

To make sense of the students\u2019 findings, we read\u00a0scholarship<\/a>\u00a0in animal studies about\u00a0urban wildlife<\/a>,\u00a0animal perception<\/a>\u00a0and frameworks of justice that extend beyond the human, or\u00a0multispecies justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the second half of the course, students translate their fieldwork into representations of imaginary architectures that would be more hospitable to animals. Guest critics from architecture, landscape architecture, history and anthropology evaluate their work. As students refine their projects, we analyze exemplary cases of animal-centered architecture, from designer \u201cpet-tecture<\/a>,\u201d such as doghouses and fish tanks, to case studies from the architect\u00a0Ned Dodington<\/a>\u00a0and the landscape architects\u00a0Ariane Lourie Harrison<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kate Orff<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the end of the term, students and I curate a one-night, pop-up\u00a0exhibition<\/a>\u00a0of all their \u201cdesign ethnography\u201d projects. They showcase everything from ceramic models and virtual reality simulations to tabletop role-playing games and performance art.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a critical lesson from the course?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One of my students gave a brilliant answer to this question in\u00a0an interview<\/a>\u00a0for Penn\u2019s alumni magazine. \u201cWe tend to hold a very anthropocentric view of the world and our place in it,\u201d she reflected, but the process of designing for animals ultimately helped her to \u201csee ourselves as beings in the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n