Special Topics in Transformative Education: Communicating with Non-Humans

Language has long been regarded as the defining trait of humanity, the distinctive ability that sets humans apart from all others. And yet, in all societies humans use language to communicate with a variety of non-human others, everything from spirits and gods to animals and material objects. On the one hand, this suggests that language may not be as unique to humans as is often thought. On the other, speaking with non-humans everywhere involves communicative adjustments and anxieties that bespeak the difficulties of communicating with non-human others. This class considers the relationship of language and humanity in a world of more-than-human communication by tracing the continuities and transformations in how people have tried to talk to nonhumans in different times and places. Specific questions include: How do we create ethical relations with nonhumans? How do these relationships with nonhumans transform our sense of self and subjectivity? Do the technical innovations that have enabled chatbots to produce mostly fluent language mean that we have to rethink our understanding of language as a uniquely human activity? Why is there such a concerted effort to talk to different species of animals at the moment? Students will conduct a final ethnographic project on how people are communicating with a particular kind of non-human.