The Circled Square

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“The Circled Square: Buddhist Studies in Higher Education” explores practices of effective teaching and learning in a diversity of higher education contexts.

Episodes

Thursday May 13, 2021

Janet Gyatso, Posthumanism and Animal Ethics in Buddhist Studies

Thursday May 13, 2021

Description

In this episode, Dr. Janet Gyatso discusses how she teaches her students about posthumanism and animal ethics in her courses on Buddhist Studies. She is the Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies and Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs at Harvard Divinity School.

Quotes

“Part of what I'm trying to do is set aside all the mythology and ideology that we have and try to see animals for what they are.” Janet Gyatso

“Posthumanism is an attempt to ratchet down the centrality of humans, in our thought, in our discourse, in our vision of what's important, and to decenter the human.” Janet Gyatso

“We don't only use our rational minds, we never only use our rational minds, we always are embodied, it's only the question of what we can foreground and be aware of.” Janet Gyatso

Links and References

Autobiography of Jigme Lingpa https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691009483/apparitions-of-the-self

Donna Haraway

Rosi Braidotti https://rosibraidotti.com/publications/the-posthuman-2/

Dipesh Chakrabarty

Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo22265507.html

Eduardo Kohn, How Forests Think https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520276116/how-forests-think

Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter https://www.dukeupress.edu/vibrant-matter

Franz De Waal

Carl Safina, Beyond Words https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805098884

Barry Lopez, Of Wolves and Men https://bookshop.org/books/of-wolves-and-men/9780684163222

Robert Macfarlane