Wolves and Humans in History
506:402:10
Paul G. E. Clemens <clemens@rci.rutgers.edu>
Karen Routledge <kirimsa@gmail.com>
Office 217B
Course Web Page: http://fas-history.rutgers.edu/routledge/wolves/Home.html
The goal of this course is for you to research and write a
paper of 15-30 pages on the history of some aspect of the relationship between
wolves and humans in the history of
Instructors: Paul Clemens is an American colonial
historian, who also teaches and works on legal and constitutional history. His interest in wolves grew from studying the
legal battles over the reintroduction of wolves to
We will be interested in many aspects of the relationships of humans and wolves in history: how wolves have been depicted in popular culture (novels, folklore, movies, music); how wolves became a subject for scientific study and how the methods and goals of that study have changed; the development of zoos and natural history museums and the place of wolves in such institutions; the history of efforts to exterminate wolves and the current efforts to protect wolves; the history of groups dedicated to protecting wolves (most notably, Defenders of Wildlife); the legal battles over wolf "reintroduction" at Yellowstone. At the end of this syllabus you will find an annotated list of possible topics -- before the second meeting of the semester, you will have selected a topic and begun your research.
In other words, work on your paper begins immediately. You are expected to work on the paper over the entire semester. You will be submitting outlines and drafts as you go, have a finished paper drafted well before the end of the semester, and have a rewritten final paper to submit by the last class meeting. If you are used to writing papers the night before they are due, you'll have to change your habits -- or take a different course. The goal here is to give you a chance to investigate a topic on your own, write that research up around a question you have defined for yourself, improve the organization and argument of the paper with rewriting, and present your ideas to others who will question you about your work.
Attendance: you are expected to attend every class. More than one unexcused absence will lower your grade one letter grade. Three unexcused absences from class will result in failure. Excused absences (for medical, legal, family emergencies, or, intercollegiate athletic competition with written documentation; or religious observances) do not count in this total. Multiple late arrivals will count as an absence.
Field Trips: We
hope to have two field trips during the semester. One will be to the American Museum of Natural History in
Academic Integrity: the
History Department undergraduate web page has a link to the "Academic
Policies" that apply to undergraduate education and the classroom. One such statement concerns plagiarism and
it is particularly important
that you review that page, and understand the
requirements
for correctly
attributing the sources you use. The
Books required:
Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson: Decade
of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to
Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual (4th
ed.,
1. January 23rd
Link: http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/singer02.htm
2. January 30th - introduction to on-line resources. Paper Topics Selected.
3. February 6th
4. February 13th - Outline and Bibliography Due.
5. February 20th
6. February 27th - class meets individually with Clemens.
7. March 5th - class meets individually with Clemens
8. March 12th - Class meeting to discuss progress; 5-10 page "introduction" to paper due.
Spring Break
9. March 26th - class meets individually with Clemens
10. April 2nd - Class meeting. Rough draft due, must be suitable for presentation and critiquing by other students.
11. April 9th - Presentation of Papers
12. April 17th - Presentation of Papers
13. April 23rd - Presentation of Papers
14. April 30th - Papers duehttp://fas-history.rutgers.edu/clemens/Wolves/Wolves%20and%20Humans%20in%20History_files/image006.jpg
Possible Paper Topics Briefly Described:
A . Paper Topic: Adolph Murie and
early scientific research about wolves
Summary: Adolph Murie
was a biologist and environmentalist who worked for the National Park
Service. In the 1940s, he travelled to
what is now Denali National Park in central Alaska, where he conducted the
first in-depth scientific study of wolves.
This paper would be about Murie’s
work in
Alaska, and more generally on the history of the wolf colony in
Denali.http://fas-history.rutgers.edu/clemens/Wolves/Wolves%20and%20Humans%20in%20History_files/image006.jpg
B. Paper Topic: Colonial
Laws about Wolves
Summary: This paper would examine colonial
American laws about wolves and how they were interpreted in select colonies. In
some colonies (e.g. MD) it would be possible to trace through local records how
wolf bounty laws played out.
C. Paper Topic: Wolves of
Summary: Isle Royale in
Michigan is the largest island in Lake Superior. It is now a National Park, and is home to a
colony of wolves that have been studied continuously for over 45 years. The biologists most associated with wolves on
Isle Royale are L. David Mech
(pronounced Meech) and Rolf Olin Peterson. This paper would examine the history of the
Isle Royale wolf colony, how scientists have studied
them, and how the Isle Royale studies have impacted
wolf conservation/biology in general.
D. Paper Topic: Wolves at the
Summary: This paper will examine the
history of wolves at the Bronx Zoo, placing this in the context of the history
of zoos and of wolves in captivity.
E. Paper Topic: Werewolves
Summary: This paper should explore
legends about werewolves and their relationship to ideas about actual
wolves. Reports of werewolves date back
at least as far as Ancient Greece; you should narrow your focus to a specific
time and region but be able to situate it in its larger context.
F. Paper Topic: Defenders of Wildlife & Wolf Campaigns
Summary: Defenders of Wildlife (originally
Defenders of Furbearers) is a conservation organization founded in 1947 and
based in Washington DC. They have over
half a million members worldwide.
According to the Defenders website (www.defenders.org),
their primary goal is wolf restoration and conservation in the continental US. This
paper would examine how Defenders of Wildlife has worked with supporters and
opponents of wolf relocation in the Yellowstone area.
G. Paper Topic: Wolves at the
Summary: the wolf exhibit at the museum was one of several that documented the
lives of North American animals. The
Museum was a leader in what at the beginning of the nineteenth century was
considered the "natural" and "scientific" depiction of
animals. This paper would look into the
assumptions behind the creation of the wildlife exhibits and explore why these
have increasingly become less acceptable ways of relating humans to animals.
Diorama at
H. Paper Topic: Wolves as Metaphor in Early Modern
Summary: Wolves are frequently mentioned
in English and North American pamphlets of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. However, most of these works
have nothing to do with actual wolves, but rather use the wolf as a symbol for
political or religious enemies. This
paper would investigate metaphorical discourses about wolves, what purposes
they served, and how and why they changed over time and across space. Much of the literature deals with the theme
of “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (based on the fable in which a wolf infiltrates
a flock of sheep by covering himself in a sheepskin, and is then mistaken for a
sheep and killed for dinner by the shepherd). You may wish to focus exclusively
on this particular metaphor, but you can limit the project in whatever way you
see fit. The searching possibilities in
the databases listed below are nearly endless, so you are also free to do a
topic about actual wolves if you can find enough sources about it.
I. Paper Topic: Wolves in Native American Societies
Summary: This is a broad topic, and
should be narrowed to a particular time/space focus. For example, you could choose to talk about
one group and the significance of the wolf to them over time, or you could
choose a specific focus – for example the wolf as a character in stories – and
analyze several examples from across North America. Whatever you choose, you must put your events
in the context of their time and place.
J. Paper Topic: Wolves in Folklore
Summary: This is a broad topic and you
can choose to narrow it however you see fit – e.g. to fairy tales, African
American folktales, etc.
K. Paper Topic: Wolf
predator control in the
Summary: Wolves were virtually exterminated from
the continental United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. This paper could examine
various aspects of the predator control:
how it played out in a specific region, analysing specific texts for
what the wolves symbolised to those who were killing them, etc.
L. Paper Topic: Outlaw
Wolves
Summary: During the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, governments and individuals worked to exterminate the wolf from most
settled areas of the United States. A
few wolves, known as “outlaw wolves,” became famous for their ability to avoid
hunters and traps. This paper would
include stories about individual outlaw wolves but would also be more generally
about why outlaw wolves were worth telling stories about, and what they
symbolised to the American public.
M. Paper Topic: Wolf
Reintroduction in New Mexico/Arizona
Summary: The last wild Mexican wolf was seen in the
United States in 1970 (and in Mexico in 1980).
This wolf was added to the Endangered Species list in AZ, TX, and NM in
1976. In 1982, the Fish and Wildlife
Service developed a recovery plan for the species. Captive Mexican wolves were
released into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area (NM/AZ) in 1998. Like wolf reintroductions elsewhere, this
program divided local people, and there have been many battles over it in the
courts and elsewhere. The wolf
population is slowly increasing today.
There are a lot of sources available for this topic, so you would need
to choose one angle – e.g. how the conflict has been portrayed in newspaper
articles, how the government or environmental organisations or opponents have
argued their case and why they have/have not been successful, etc.
N. Possible
Topic: Wolves in Music
Summary: There have been thousands of songs written
about wolves (both about the actual animal and wolves as a metaphor for
something else). You will need to locate
some of these songs, narrow down your focus (e.g. by period, musical genre,
songs that tell the same story or have similar themes, etc.) You will then analyse how your selected
subgroup of songs have portrayed wolves.
O. Paper Topic: Wolves
in Film
Summary: Many documentaries have been made about
wolves, and they have been popular characters in animations, fantasies,
children’s movies, etc. For this paper,
you would choose a certain subset of these movies (limit by genre, issue, time
period, specific wolf “actors,” etc.) and analyse them using some of the
sources below.
P. Paper Topic: Wolves
in Fiction
Summary: Wolves are such a popular topic in fiction
that you will need to limit your sources.
Possible topics could include:
wolves in fantasy novels, recent novels about conflicts over wolf
reintroduction (there are a lot of these and many seem to end in romance),
recent historical novels about wolf encounters on the frontier, classic
American stories about wolves (e.g. Jack London), stories told from the wolf’s
point of view, etc. Regardless of which
books you focus on, you should discuss how perceptions of wolves in the books
relate to historical developments and attitudes from the time of their
publication.
Q. Paper Topic: Wolf
Reintroduction in
Summary: This paper will investigate the government
hearings surrounding wolf reintroduction at
R. Paper Topic: Wolf
Reintroduction in
Summary: This paper will investigate the court cases
surrounding wolf reintroduction at
S. Paper Topic: Wolf Conservation Issues in
Summary: This paper will examine how wolf
populations are regulated in
Wolf in