Syllabus

 

The Anthropology of Food, 3 Credits

ANTH 486

Waldo 240 Fall 2013 TR 12-1:20

Professor Joan Gross

Office Hours in Waldo 222: W 1:30-4:30, or by appointment

 

Course Description:

In this course, we examine the role of food in human societies turning our attention to different food procurement styles around the globe and more symbolic aspects of food as well as the relationship between food and the environment. The politics of food and the challenges that globalization places on local food systems will be discussed. Food insecurity, obesity, and farming are all grist for the anthropological food mill. Finally, we will examine several social movements that concern food.

 

On November 7^th and 14^th from 3pm to 5pm, we will have an opportunity to connect with a class on Food Sovereignty in Ecuador. If you cannot make these times, let me know and I will assign an alternate external event.

 

Learning Outcomes:

After taking this course a student will be able to:

- Relate how the environment and culture have influenced foodways in several different societies, past and present

--Account for the politics of food and nutrition and the significance of public action

-Give examples of social movements that focus primarily on food

-Interpret the symbolic weight of various foods in particular cultures

-Identify personal, social, cultural, economic and historical variations in food and eating

-Describe the processes of domestication, industrialization and globalization as they concern food

-Explain how economic and political economic relations contribute(d) to food shortages and famines in peripheral countries

-Explain reasons for the current obesity epidemic

 

 

Readings in the order in which they will be read

 

Mintz, Sidney. 2006. Food at Moderate Speeds. In Wilk, Richard, ed. Fast food/Slow food: The cultural Economy of the Global Food System. Altamira.

 

Harris, Marvin. 1985. The Abominable Pig. In Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture. Simon and Schuster.

 

Meigs, Anna. 1988. Food as a Cultural Construction. Food and Foodways, reprinted in Food and Culture: A Reader, C. Counihan and P. Van Esterik, eds.

 

Lee, R.B. 2000. What Hunters do for a Living, or, how to make out on scarce resources. In Goodman, et. al. Nutritional Anthropology: Biocultural Perspectives on Food and Nutrition. Mayfield.

 

Cohen, Mark. 2012. Origins of Agriculture. In Nutritional Anthropology. Dufour, Goodman, Pelto, eds. Oxford 2012.

 

Barthes, Roland. 1972. Wine and Milk. In Mythologies, Hill and Wang publishers, pp. 58-61 available at http://books.google.com/books?id=BuLYyrScm1YC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=barthes+wine+and+milk&source=bl&ots=ST1HUn0ykJ&sig=XKnBuh2f0hJC2P0ZyKCsbpxedNw&hl=en&ei=i6C7Svr9HsO3tweVuunBDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Paxson, Heather. 2008.  Post-Pasteurian Cultures: The Microbiopolitics of Raw-Milk Cheese in the US. Cultural Anthropology, Vol 23 (1), pp. 15-47.

 

Pollan, Michael. 2013. at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/magazine/say-hello-to-the-100-trillion-bacteria-that-make-up-your-microbiome.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

Kulick, Don and Anne Meneley, eds. 2005. Fat: The Anthropology of an Obsession. Tarcher

 

Nabhan, Gary Paul. 2008. Arab/American: Landscape, Culture and Cuisine in Two Great Deserts. U. of Arizona.

 

Fischer, Edward and Peter Benton. 2006. Broccoli and Desire: Global Connections and Maya struggles in postwar Guatemala. Stanford.

 

Berg, Joel. 2008. All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America. Seven Stories Press.

 

Weismantel, Mary. 1988. Food, Gender and Poverty in the Ecuadorian Andes. Waveland

 

Course Evaluation:

486

2 sets of fieldnotes                                            10%

class participation                                             10%

Fat summary                                                      10%

Essay test                                                            30%

Cooking Project                                                 10%

Webpage                                                            30%

 

Outside Class Activities:

Students are required to attend two approved activities outside of class time. Fieldnotes are required during the week following the event.

 

Class Participation

·      I expect students to be in class having read and thought about that day’s readings and ready to discuss and occasionally, write.

·      Participation on Blackboard discussion boards is also required.

Cooking Project

·      I’d like everyone to listen to Ken Albala’s TED talk at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt-oaLVjz3U

·      Get together with 1-3 members of the class and choose a cooking project that takes a long time to make. Carefully document the stages and interactions. Present it to the class (hopefully with tastes) on November 26^th.

 

Webpage Project. Check out the website http://lilt.ilstu.edu/rtdirks/ Pick a topic (one of theirs or your own) and have it approved by your professor by week 3. (Remember that this is a cultural anthropology class, so your topic has to have something to do with culture.) You will be creating a webpage on that topic at

http://anthropologyoffood.jimdo.com/ More specific information will follow. I’ll set up a discussion board on your blackboard site where students can help each other out, if necessary. You will be required to use at least 5 academic sources. At least two must be class readings and at least 2 must be outside readings.

 

Course Schedule:

Week 1. Oct. 1, 3 Why and How do Anthropologists Study Food?

T-Introduction / fieldnotes/ Mintz

R- Harris/Meigs

 

Week 2. Oct. 8, 10 Foragers, Hunters, Pastoralists; Agriculture

T- Lee -What hunters do for a living

R- Video-Basques of Santazi; Cohen - Origins of Agriculture

 

Week 3. Oct. 15, 17 Food/ Fat as Symbol

T- Video-Milk in the Land; Barthes; Paxson; Read Michael Pollan’s article at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/magazine/say-hello-to-the-100-trillion-bacteria-that-make-up-your-microbiome.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

R- Fat: Read Intro and write 1-2 pg. summary on one of the following chapters. What does fat mean in that particular context?

 

Week 4: Oct 22, 24 Migrations of Food and People

T- Nabhan 1-64; Have website topic approved.

R- Nabhan 67-133

 

Week 5. Oct. 29, 31 Globalization of Food

T- Fischer 1-87

R- Fischer 91-172

 

Week 6: Nov 5, 7 Scarcity and Plenty

T- Berg 13-22; 45-98; 191-215; 237-257

R- film - Babette’s Feast (watch outside of class) (3-5 pm -Discussion of feasts with Myriam Paredes’ Food Sovereignty class)

 

Week 7: Nov 12, 14 Food and Nutrition in Ecuador

T- Weismantel; Current research in N. Ecuador

R- Weismantel (3-5 pm -Weismantel Discussion with Myriam Paredes’ Food Sovereignty class)

 

Week 8: Nov. 19, 21

T- Work on websites

R – Essay test

 

Week 9: Nov 26, 28

T- Presentation of cooking projects

R- No class. Thanksgiving

 

Week 10: Wrapping Up – During this week students will be preparing their websites which must be posted by Friday, December 6th. There will be no class given by the professor, but students are invited to come to class to work together on their websites if they so desire.

 

By Friday, Dec. 13^th at 5 pm, evaluations of classmates’ websites must by posted to Blackboard.

 

Accommodations are collaborative efforts between students, faculty and Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD). Students with accommodations approved through SSD are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course prior to or during the first week of the term to discuss accommodations. Students who believe they are eligible for accommodations but who have not yet obtained approval through SSD should contact SSD immediately at 737-4098.

See OSU Expectations for Student Conduct at 
http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/achon.htm