This course explores the cultural, political, and economic roles food has played in different times and places. Among the issues we will investigate are how political and economic power are expressed through production, availability, and consumption; the expression of religious, ethnic, class, gender, and regional identities through food; nostalgia for the food ways of the past; food science and corporate food production. The main goal of the course is to equip you with the empirical knowledge, research skills, and analytical chops you will need to think and write deeply about food, whatever your interests. To this end, we will examine a handful of issues in different times and places. You will put these skills into practice in a research paper on a topic of your choice. Over the semester, I will expect you to improve your writing and speaking skills.
- Teacher: Susan Glosser