Det är allmänt känt att det sker en kontinuerlig ökning av världens befolkning och följden av detta är att städer växer kraftigt. Det medför en förtätning i stadskärnan och som en konsekvens sker en konflikt mellan grönstrukturen och nybyggnationer. Varje kommun strävar efter tillväxt och balansen för hållbar tillväxt är subtil och det är här intresset för uppsatsen grundar sig.  Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur stor plats grönstrukturen får i planeringen av Karlstads stadskärna. För att besvara syftet studeras förtätningens olika utmaningar, samt hur ekocentrism och antropocentrismens etiska synsätt uttrycks i planeringen. Synsätten skapar en förståelse för hur och för vem stadsrummet planeras för. Det finns en skildring i planeringen där antropocentrismen under en längre tid kritiseras av ekocentrismen. Det har genomförts en kvalitativ metod för att besvara syftet och frågeställningarna. En dokumentanalys har utförts, samt en gruppintervju med representanter från Karlstads kommun. Resultatet om grönstrukturen i centrum visar sig ha många likheter mellan de olika metoderna, vilket ökar uppsatsens trovärdighet. I samband med att staden förtätas minskar gaturummet och det leder till att det skapas en konflikt mellan olika aktörers intressen för platsens användning. Aktörer har ett stort intresse av en hög ekonomisk tillväxt och det innebär att grönskan värderas lägre i planeringen mot en hållbar stadsutveckling till skillnad från bostäder, verksamheter och parkeringsplatser. Grönstrukturen saknar riktlinjer i planeringen, vilket gör att grönskan är svår att motivera när samhällsplaneringen styrs av en antropocentrisk syn. Sammanfattningsvis skapar det svårigheter när grönstrukturens plats ska motiveras i Karlstads växande stad. / It´s commonly known that there is a continuous increase of the world´s population and the consequence of this is that cities are growing rapidly. This means a densification in the center of the city and a consequence of this is a conflict between the green structure and the new construction. Each city seeks for growth and the balance for sustainable development is subtle and this is where the essay found its interest.  The purpose of the essay is to look over how big influence the green structure gets in the planning of Karlstads city. In order to answer the purpose, the various challenges of the densification are studied, as well as how ecocentrism and anthropocentrism ethical approach is expressed in the planning. The approach creates an understanding of how and for whom the urban space is planned. There is a depiction in the planning where anthropocentrism has long been criticized by ecocentrism. A qualitative method has been implemented to answer the purpose and the questions. A document analysis has been performed, as well as a group interview with representatives from Karlstads kommun. The result of the green structure in the city proves to have many similarities between the different methods, which increases the credibility of the essay. In connection with the city being densified, the street space decreases and this leads to a conflict being created between the various developers interests for the use of the space in the city. Developers have an interest in high economic growth and this means that the greenery is valued lower in the planning for sustainable urban development, unlike housing, businesses and parking spaces. The green structure lacks guidelines in the planning, which means that the greenery is difficult to justify when the planning of society is governed by an anthropocentric view. In summary, it creates difficulties when the location of the green structure must be motivated in Karlstad's growing city.

This essay investigates the ecological values present in antagonists and protagonists in the narrative revolving the Avengers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The analysis concludes that biocentric ideals primarily are embodied by the main antagonist of the film series, whereas the protagonists mainly represent anthropocentric perspectives. Since there is a continuum between these two ideals some variations were found within the characters themselves, but philosophical conflicts related to the environment were also found within the group of the Avengers. Excerpts from the films of the study can thus be used to discuss and highlight complex ecological issues within the EFL-classroom.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:47:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HENRIQUE PANDIM BARBOSA MACHADO.pdf: 1671621 bytes, checksum: 6ea79b708ec97fb95a1afbdbc3776e6e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-01 / This paper analyzes how nature and other living beings are treated in the 1988 Federal Constitution, if objects or subjects of rights. The work is developed from a threefold approach to the subject: philosophical; legal and historical. In the field of philosophy, draws up, in the first chapter, an overview of the relationship between man and nature with a focus on mythology, religion and philosophy itself, with the development of different worldviews prevailing along the human history. The legal harvest, treated in the second chapter, takes care of how the law, focusing on the constitutionalist movement, comes to environmental issues, in particular under the so-called new Latin American constitutionalism. And in the final, it is shown how the Brazilian legal system protects the environmental issue, focusing on the Federal Constitution of 1988, when revolutionary in its issue today is short of its neighbors when it comes to environmental protection. the treatment of environmental issues in the 1988 Federal Constitution, for, in the end, to propose the adoption, in Brazilian territory, a Charter able to overcome the anthropocentric paradigm from the recognition of nature and other living beings - not human animals - as subjects of rights. / Este trabalho analisa como a natureza e os demais seres vivos são tratados juridicamente à luz da Constituição Federal de 1988, se objetos ou sujeitos de direitos. O trabalho é desenvolvido a partir de uma tríplice abordagem do tema: filosófica; jurídica e histórica. No campo da filosofia, traça-se, ainda no primeiro capítulo, um panorama da relação entre o homem e a natureza sob o enfoque da mitologia, da religião e da filosofia propriamente dita, com o desenvolvimento das diferentes visões de mundo prevalecentes ao longo da história humana. Na seara jurídica, tratada no segundo capítulo, cuida-se de como o Direito, com enfoque no movimento constitucionalista, trata da questão ambiental, em especial no âmbito do denominado novo constitucionalismo latino-americano. E, na derradeira parte, demonstra-se como o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro tutela a questão ambiental, com enfoque na Constituição Federal de 1988 que, revolucionária quando de sua edição, hoje se encontra aquém de suas vizinhas no que tange à proteção ambiental. o tratamento da questão ambiental na Constituição Federal de 1988, para, ao final, propor a adoção, em terras brasileiras, de uma Carta capaz de superar o paradigma antropocêntrico a partir do reconhecimento da natureza e dos demais seres vivos animais não humanos - como sujeitos de direitos.

This thesis first describes and analyzes the key concepts and rationalities that are dominant in the content of the Environmental Enforcement Act (EEA). The research project concludes that despite legislative shifts towards increased punishment and deterrence, key concepts and rationalities such as the importance of economic globalization, the continuation of risk-management and anthropocentric values, and the dominance of staples development can be observed in the content of the EEA. The EEA also reflects growing concerns towards managing known structural economic problems such as Canada’s staples development and economic globalization. Secondly, this thesis critically evaluates whether the EEA is likely to contribute towards the effectiveness of Canadian environmental governance strategies. The EEA is likely to be ineffective based on observations of structural challenges in environmental governance and the Canadian political economic context. Neoliberalism, economic globalization, risk management, anthropocentrism, and staples based economic development characterize the problems identified in existing research that the content of the EEA does not adequately address.

Idag står vi inför utmaningen att leva inom vår planets gränser. För att uppnå en hållbar utveckling krävs det en förändring i tankesätt, värderingar och livsstil menar UNESCO-UNEP. Detta kan åstadkommas genom en fundamental förändring i utbildningen från tidig barndom. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur hållbar utveckling tolkas i den svenska grundskolan. Två ämnen har valts; biologi och hem- och konsumentkunskap. I uppsatsen identifieras de miljöetiska perspektiven antropocentrism och ekocentrism och hur de kommer till uttryck i förhållande till ämnestradition. De metoder som används är semi-strukturerade intervjuer av högstadielärare, dokumentanalys av läroplan och kursplaner och tematisk analys intervjuerna. Resultatet visar att i såväl läroplan och kursplaner som undervisningen framgår det att antropocentrismen har stort utrymme, då det är stort fokus på resurser, människan och samhället, i såväl hem- och konsumentkunskap som biologi. Ekocentrismen kan ses i form av uttryck i läroplan och kursplaner utifrån hänsyn och respekt för naturen, och genom att ge eleven förståelse inför valsituationer som rör hälsa och miljö. Ämnestradition har betydelse för hur hållbar utveckling tolkas i undervisningen. Biologi är naturorienterat med naturliga processer och kretslopp i fokus, vilket leder till fler ekocentriska resonemang. Hem- och konsumentkunskap har fokus på individen, hemmet och samhället, vilket ger mindre utrymme för ekocentrism. Alla lärare visade på både ekocentriska och antropocentriska resonemang. Lärarnas egna åsikter angående hållbar utveckling kan finna väg in i undervisningen, vilket anses kunna leda till större utrymme för ekocentrism i undervisningen. / Today we stand before the challenge of living within our planets limits. UNESCO-UNEP argue that to achieve a sustainable development changes in thinking, attitudes and lifestyle is required. This can be accomplished with a fundamental change in education from early childhood. The aim with this study is to research how sustainable development is interpreted in the Swedish elementary school. Two school subjects have been chosen; biology and home economics. In the essay the environmental ethics anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, and how they are expressed in relations to tradition is identified.  Methods used are semi-structured interviews with teachers, document analysis of the curriculum and syllabus and thematic analysis of the interviews. The results show that in the education as well as the syllabus it is clear that anthropocentrism has larger room. This because of the focal point in both home economics and biology is common resources, humans and society. Ecocentrism in the curriculum and syllabus is shown through consideration and respect for the nature, and through students’ understanding when making choices. The tradition of the school subjects has significance for how sustainable development is interpreted in the education. Biology is nature oriented with focus on natural processes and cycles, which lead to additional ecocentric reasoning. Home economics has the focal point on the individual, the home and society, which leads to less ecocentric reasoning. All teachers that were interviewed showed both ecocentric and anthropocentric reasoning. The teachers’ opinions can find way in to the education, which here is considered to the possibility of more room for ecocentrism in home economics.

This thesis first describes and analyzes the key concepts and rationalities that are dominant in the content of the Environmental Enforcement Act (EEA). The research project concludes that despite legislative shifts towards increased punishment and deterrence, key concepts and rationalities such as the importance of economic globalization, the continuation of risk-management and anthropocentric values, and the dominance of staples development can be observed in the content of the EEA. The EEA also reflects growing concerns towards managing known structural economic problems such as Canada’s staples development and economic globalization. Secondly, this thesis critically evaluates whether the EEA is likely to contribute towards the effectiveness of Canadian environmental governance strategies. The EEA is likely to be ineffective based on observations of structural challenges in environmental governance and the Canadian political economic context. Neoliberalism, economic globalization, risk management, anthropocentrism, and staples based economic development characterize the problems identified in existing research that the content of the EEA does not adequately address.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Charles Morphy Dias dos Santos / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa De Pós-Graduação em Ensino, História, Filosofia das Ciências e Matemática, 2017. / Este trabalho insere uma discussão histórico-filosófica sobre antropocentrismo e evolução biológica. A presente pesquisa tratou de sintetizar afirmações e reafirmações histórico-culturais do ser humano como sendo excepcional em relação ao mundo natural, e coloca-las à luz do evolucionismo, que, por sua vez, reposiciona o Homo sapiens como sendo apenas mais um animal no ramo de diversificação da árvore da vida, desconstruindo excepcionalismos humanos baseados na abstração de tradições intelectuais antropocêntricas. Em seguida o presente trabalho visou traçar um perfil dos estudantes e professores da UFABC acerca de percepções sobre a `evolução biológica¿ e a `seleção natural¿, visando não apenas diagnosticar o nível de conhecimento sobre tais em uma amostra universitária, bem como estudar se esse nível de conhecimento tem relação com posições antropocêntricas sobre o mundo natural. O teste foi criado via ferramenta de formulário da Google Inc e aplicado online através de disparos em listas de emails e rede social. O público de discentes e docentes do ensino superior da UFABC foi de graduação e pós-graduação alcançando todas as áreas disponibilizadas pelos cursos da universidade. O teste alcançou um total de 243 respondentes, dos quais são 166 estudantes e 77 professores. Os resultados mostraram que, na Universidade Federal do ABC, as reações do público-alvo demonstram um bom índice de compreensão científica sobre o evolucionismo. A análise das respostas dadas foi capaz de parcialmente responder a um dos objetivos centrais deste trabalho, o de discutir se há uma relação entre a compreensão indevida da teoria da evolução e concepções antropocêntricas sobre o mundo natural. Em linhas gerais, tal relação foi evidenciada. Ela fica mais clara a partir dos cruzamentos das respostas, onde foi capaz de identificar certas lacunas de formação e um baixo entendimento sobre conceitos centrais da teoria evolutiva. O desenvolvimento deste trabalho propõe ainda que o potencial reflexivo trazido pela compreensão da evolução biológica poderia ser mais evidenciado no ensino de ciência em seus diferentes níveis. / This work presents a historical-philosophical discussion about anthropocentrism and biological evolution. The research synthesized historical-cultural statements about human beings always seen as exceptional in relation to the natural world. It puts these assumptions in contrast to evolutionism, which, in turn, positions the Homo sapiens as simply another animal branch in the tree of life. The debate deconstructs human exceptionalisms based on abstract anthropocentric intellectual traditions. This work also aimed at tracing UFABC¿s students and teachers profiles about theirs perceptions on 'biological evolution' and 'natural selection' subjects, aiming not only to diagnose the level of knowledge on evolutionary theory within a university population-sample, but also to study if the level of knowledge on evolution in the sample is related to anthropocentric positions over the natural world. The test was created via Google Inc form and applied online after social networking and sending the form to email lists. The target was teachers and undergraduate / graduated students from UFABC, reaching all areas available through the university courses. There was a total of 243 respondents ¿ 166 students and 77 teachers. The results showed that at UFABC there is a good scientific understanding on evolutionism. The analysis of the entries given was able to partially respond one of the core goals of this work, which was to realize if there is a relationship between improper understanding of evolutionary theory and anthropocentric conceptions about the natural world. In general terms, such a relationship has been highlighted. It becomes clearer by crossing the answers, and allows us to identify certain educational gaps and low understanding on central concepts of evolutionary theory. The development of this work also proposes that the potential of existencial reflection brought by the understanding of biological evolution could be more evident in science education at its different levels.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:11:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1893356 bytes, checksum: 8fbc59b0bbc25fa9ecc4b981482e0d5c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The ecological issue is one of the most disturbing and complex problems of our time because it calls into question the future of humanity. This research is the result of a reflection on the philosophical dimension of environmental issues. It has been guided by the central thesis that a democratic ecology is the political option most indicated to create the conditions that can agglutinate some needed alternatives to the confrontation of the above question. Accordingly, the general objective aims to reflect on the range and limits of a democratic ecology with a liberal nature. To accomplish this, we face as central axis of the thesis the controversy between anthropocentrism and biocentrism and its impact on various fields that characterize the complex human-nature relationship, especially in ethical and political levels. The course of this work began, in the first chapter, with a study of the theoretical assumptions of the ecological problem, which sent us to an analysis of the foundations of modernity, exposing its dualistic and anthropocentric face governed by the categoris reason and freedom.Then, the research was directed to the current ecological debate that can be synthesized around the existing controversy between biocentrism and anthropocentrism. Therefore, in Chapter2, we exposed the main authors and environmental trends that can be defined as biocentric. In Chapter3, we presented the "moderate anthropocentric" proposal with democratic and liberal nature contained in the texts of Luc Ferry, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus. Finally, in the fourth chapter, it was made a reflection on the various dimensions of the ecological problem: ontological, ethic-political, legal, technological, sociocultural and educational; aiming to demonstrate the validity of our central thesis that recognizes the responsibility as a fundamental ethical category and the importance of education, awareness, the state's role as an environmental manager, and of the technology as auxiliary tools for coping with the afore mentioned problem. We hope, thereby, that our choice of a philosophical reflection, grounded in the perspective of a democratic ecology with a moderate anthropocentric nature, can contribute to the current ecological debate in Brazil, wich is still dominated by a largely biocentric stance. / A questão ecológica é um dos mais inquietantes e complexos problemas de nosso tempo porque põe em xeque o futuro da humanidade. Esta pesquisa é o resultado de uma reflexão acerca da dimensão filosófica da questão ambiental. Foi norteada pela tese central de que uma ecologia democrática é a opção política mais bem indicada para criar as condições que possam aglutinar algumas alternativas necessárias para o enfrentamento da referida questão. Nesse sentido, o objetivo geral visa refletir acerca dos alcances e dos limites de uma ecologia democrática de cunho liberal. Para alcançar este objetivo, enfrentamos como eixo central da tese a polêmica entre antropocentrismo e biocentrismo e suas repercussões nos vários âmbitos que caracterizam a complexa relação homem-natureza, principalmente nos níveis ético e político. O percurso deste trabalho iniciou-se, no primeiro capítulo, com um estudo dos pressupostos teóricos do problema ecológico, o que nos remeteu a uma análise dos fundamentos da Modernidade expondo a sua face dualista e antropocêntrica regida pelas categorias razão e liberdade. Em seguida, a pesquisa foi direcionada ao debate ecológico atual que pode ser sintetizado em torno da polêmica existente entre biocentrismo e antropocentrismo. Nesse sentido, no capítulo 2, expusemos os principais autores e correntes ambientais que podem ser definidos como biocêntricos. No capítulo 3, apresentamos a proposta antropocêntrica moderada de cunho democrático e liberal contida nos textos de Luc Ferry, Michael Shellenberger e Ted Nordhaus. Por fim, no quarto capítulo, foi efetuada uma reflexão acerca das várias dimensões do problema ecológico: ontológica, eticopolítica, jurídica, tecnológica, sociocultural e educacional; visando demonstrar a validade de nossa tese central que reconhece a responsabilidade como categoria ética fundamental e a importância da educação, da sensibilização, do papel do Estado como gestor ambiental, e da tecnologia como instrumentos auxiliares de enfrentamento do supracitado problema. Esperamos assim que a nossa opção por uma reflexão filosófica, assentada numa perspectiva de ecologia democrática de cunho antropocêntrico moderado, possa contribuir com o debate ecológico atual no Brasil, ainda dominado por uma postura majoritariamente biocêntrica.

Submitted by Marlene Santos (marlene.bc.ufg@gmail.com) on 2016-09-28T20:54:56Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Heloanny de Freitas Brandão - 2016.pdf: 1421355 bytes, checksum: 6d52330f08e153a27e738cbe79489f65 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-09-30T12:18:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Heloanny de Freitas Brandão - 2016.pdf: 1421355 bytes, checksum: 6d52330f08e153a27e738cbe79489f65 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-30T12:18:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Heloanny de Freitas Brandão - 2016.pdf: 1421355 bytes, checksum: 6d52330f08e153a27e738cbe79489f65 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-29 / The environment matters and its preservation have been large discussed nowadays fostering a variety of academic researches. In this term paper, a linguistic analysis of the contents of the of the Brazilian Environmental Law is proposed, regarding the art. 225 of Brazilian Constitution and its complementary legislation. From this corpus and its emerging demands it is targeted as a general scope to research the harmony between Brazilian Environmental Law and the values of the Deep Ecology included in the theoretical framework of the Ecological Discourse Analysis – EDA. This area suggests new paradigms to be pursued in which mankind establishes a closer and respectful relation with all living beings, including the comprehension of what makes part of the ecosystem. This new area possesses and suggests a holistic and integrated view of the world. In this direction, it is appealed the Econliguistic strand entitled Ecological Discourse Analysis (EDA) as the theoretical basis, which scope is the speech construction study from an ecological perspective considering a range of environment aspects, such as physical, mental and social ones, and not only the social environment reckoned in other strands. Furthermore, this aspect of analysis proposes linguistic studies based on an ideological and eco-ethic lifestyle, also having the Deep Ecology as one of its inspiration sources, thus making part of the EDA. Taking into account the analysis, it was possible comprehend that laws and principles, which assemble the corpus, reveal an embryonal tendency that follows the Deep Ecology values. Nevertheless, the manner in which laws and principles are written demonstrate a strong subordination of laws environment and environment principles to the capitalist and anthropocentric ideologies with priority over environmental ethics, which can harm the assurance of a balanced environment. / As questões sobre o meio ambiente e sua preservação têm sido amplamente discutidas atualmente, motivando diversas pesquisas. Neste estudo se propõe uma análise linguística dos princípios do Direito Ambiental brasileiro, do artigo 225 da Constituição da República Fderativa do Brasil e de suas leis complementares. A partir desse corpus e dos questionamentos que dele emergem temos o objetivo geral de averiguar as consonâncias e dissonâncias entre Direito Ambiental brasileiro e os valores da Ecologia Profunda, incluída no arcabouço teórico da Analise do Discurso ecológica. Essa área sugere novos paradigmas a serem seguidos, em que o homem estabeleça uma relação mais próxima e respeitosa com todos os seres do ecossistema, inclusive por meio da compreensão de que faz parte do ecossistema, ou seja, ela possui e sugere uma visão holística e integralizadora de mundo. Nesse sentido, recorremos à vertente da Ecolinguística intitulada Análise do Discurso Ecológica como base teórica, cuja finalidade é o estudo da formação de discursos por uma perspectiva ecológica, incluindo em seus estudos aspectos do meio ambiente físico, mental e social, diferente de outras vertentes que se restringem apenas ao meio ambiente social. Essa vertente de estudos propõe, ainda, estudos linguísticos baseados em uma ideologia de vida e em uma ética ecológica, além de ter a Ecologia Profunda como uma de suas fontes de inspiração e, portanto, fazer parte da ADE. Pela análise, foi possível compreender que as leis e os princípios que compõem o corpus apresentam uma tendência embrionária que seguem os valores da Ecologia Profunda. No entanto, a forma como as leis e os princípios são escritos demonstram que há uma forte subordinação das leis e dos princípios ambientais à ideologia capitalista e antropocêntrica, sem que sejam priorizada uma ética ambiental, o que compromete a garantia de um meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado

This dissertation investigates the visual and verbal representations of animals in a selection of commercial picture books for a young readership of preschool children. The picture books selected are part of the Little Golden Book series. The first twelve books in this series were published in the United States in 1942 and are still in print today, while new books are continually being published. Because these popular picture books have had a broad readership from their inception and the books in the series have a uniform aesthetics, a comparative analysis provides insight into mainstream human-animal relationships.  Children’s literature is never innocent, and fraught with power imbalances. Animals become political beings, not only in the sense that they convey a didactic message, but in the sense that each animal representation carries a host of ideas and assumptions about human-animal relations with it. Using a theoretical framework that is grounded in Human Animal Studies (HAS), and more specifically literary animal studies, this dissertation analyzes the representation of human-animal interactions and relationships in different contexts.  Before the advent of HAS, anthropocentric, humanist interpretations of animal presence in children’s literature used to be prevalent. Commercial picture books in particular could benefit from readings that investigate animal presence without immediately resorting to humanist interpretations. One way of doing that is to start by questioning how interspecies difference and hierarchy is constructed in these books, verbally, visually and in the interaction between words and images. Based on this, we can speculate about the consequences this may have for the reader’s conceptualization of human-animal relationships. In children’s literature speciesism and ageism often intersect, for example when young children are compared with (young) animals or when animals are presented as stand-ins for young children. This dissertation explores the mechanisms behind the representation of species difference in commercial picture books.  The aim of this study is to analyze how commercial picture books like the Little Golden Books harbor a potential to shape young readers’ ideas about humanity and animality, species difference and hierarchy and the possibilities of interspecies interactions. The socializing function that is an important component of all children’s books makes that these picture books can shape readers’ attitudes from an early age. When reading children’s books featuring animals, the particular way these animals are represented guides the reader towards an ideology – and in the West, this ideology is predominantly anthropocentric. In Western cultures, children and animals are commonly thought of as natural allies, and as such they are often depicted as opposed to adult culture.  This dissertation identifies the ways in which certain conservative tendencies are activated by these commercial picture books, but also emphasizes that they can be a subversive space where anthropocentrism can be challenged. The case studies developed in this dissertation demonstrate how even so-called ’unsophisticated’ picture books contain interesting strains of animal related ideology worthy of in-depth analysis. The visual and verbal dimensions of these picture books show that these stories are embedded in a cultural context that helps give meaning to the animals. A recurring concern is the function of anthropomorphism and the role it plays in how we value the animals in these books. I am particularly interested in how picture books depict various degrees of anthropomorphism, because it has the potential to challenge species boundaries and disrupt the human-animal dichotomy.