Animals have been used for entertainment and spectacle in a broad range of pursuits, such as horseracing, greyhound racing, pigeon racing, bear baiting, cock fighting, dog fighting, hunting, in zoos and in wildlife parks, to name but a few.
What can we learn from watching these events and what do these events say about the humans that participate in them? We shall explore the relation of these activities to social divisions of gender, race and class.

Slides here

Essential readings
Cassidy, R (2002) The sport of kings: kinship, class, and thoroughbred breeding at Newmarket, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Chapter 4, 49-65 here

Marvin, G (2007) ‘On being human in the bullfight’ in L. Kalof and A Fitzgerald (eds) The Animals Reader, Oxford: Berg, section 4, 22 here

Pliny the Elder (2007) ‘Combats of elephants’ in L Kalof and A Fitzgerald (eds) The Animals Reader, Oxford: Berg, section 4, 21 here