Students in a new course at Smith College might actually get away with the excuse that the dog ate their homework. In “Colloquium in Anthropology: Pets,” sometimes the dog—or even a cat or a bird or a rodent—is the homework.
Donald Joralemon, chairman of the anthropology department, developed the course in the relatively young science of anthrozoology, which examines the interactions between humans and their animals.
“I knew that I would be interested in it, since I have three dogs, one cat, and six horses,” he says, “and I suspected the same would be true for my students.”
In the spirit of anthropological study, students threw a bone to observational research about two weeks into the course.
“They were to walk the main street, one on one side, and one on the other, and simply observe every case of a dog—how the dog was being walked, what interaction it had with other people, with other animals, and then to carefully record all of that,” says Mr. Joralemon.
Kayleen A. Duclos, a junior majoring in anthropology and classical studies, says her interests lie in both the emergence of animals as pets and the way different cultures interact with them.
“I plan on going to Italy over the summer,” says Ms. Duclos, who will leave her cat, Daxter, behind. “It’ll be interesting to see peoples’ reactions to pets in another culture, especially ones that are stray.”
Mr. Joralemon concedes that while his students enjoy the class, he may have a harder time winning over his fellow faculty members.
“Having the name ‘Pets,’ I think, made them wonder whether this was a serious academic exercise,” he says. “So I need to do some convincing that this is not just playtime with animals.”
Mr. Joralemon’s own English springer spaniels, Pancho and Silkie, recently sat in on the class during a lesson in pet keeping. Students ensured the good behavior of their long-eared guest lecturers with a supply of dog biscuits.
