Compassionate Competency—How Literature Can Foster Empathy Towards Animals

A Didactic Proposal for Higher Education Within the SDG Framework

Abstract

Animals only appear indirectly in the SDGs, for example, in SDGs 13, 14, and 15. As implicit dimensions of these goals, animals, or rather human behavior towards them, represent an analytical lens how humans treat their environment in general. The seminar in literary studies proposed in this article addresses the question of how empathy towards the animal world can be enhanced in university teaching of Russian literature in BA and teacher education programs on the basis of fictional texts within the framework of education for sustainable development (ESD). The language of seminar instruction is German, and the source material is provided in German and Russian. The seminar incorporates methods for achieving sustainability skills into teaching. In addition to the subject-specific module objectives (acquisition of skills in literary studies and improvement of reading and writing skills in Russian), the following skills, among others, are intended to be acquired and enhanced in line with the ESD objectives: critical thinking, perspective-taking, and ethical judgment. Using transformative learning methods (emotion journal, storytelling) and based on selected Russian fiction (including Chekhov’s Kashtanka, Majakovskij’s Khoroshee otnosheniye k loshadyam), students will acquire ESD competencies in addition to key disciplinary skills.