Leslie Irvine

Leslie Irvine is Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Director of CU’s Animals and Society Certificate Program. She received her Ph.D. from Stony Brook University. Her research focuses on the roles of animals in society. She is the author of several books, including My Dog Always Eats First, which examines homeless people’s relationships with their companion animals. After Hurricane Katrina, Leslie worked in the facility that sheltered animals rescued from New Orleans. The experience formed the basis for her book, Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters. In If You Tame Me: Understanding our Connection with Animals, Leslie provides evidence for a sense of self among animals. Leslie has also studied animal sheltering, animal abuse, animals in popular culture, and the feminization of veterinary medicine.

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Animals and Institutions (Coursera)

This course explores animals within the context of the functional relationships that sociologists call “institutions.” We first examine the use of animals in laboratory science. We then examine the controversial transformation of animals into “livestock” and "meat." We also explore the perspectives of people committed to rejecting the construction [...]

Animals, Self, and Society (Coursera)

This course explores how animals and people are situated within the web of structures and connections known as “society.” Module 1 considers some of the key symbolic roles that animals play in society by investigating the practice of “thinking with animals.” We investigate how people construct different meanings of [...]

The Changing Status and Perception of Animals (Coursera)

In this course, we explore how mainstream understandings of animals and human-animal relationships have changed in recent years. Module 1 focuses on the roles of animals in human physical health and psychological well being. Module 2 explores animal selfhood, particularly in light of their inability to use spoken [...]