ClassInfo

Everyday we encounter food in variety of ways: in television commercials and magazine ads encouraging us to eat certain food, through diet fads encouraging us to abstain, through the labor of shopping, cooking, and perhaps even growing food, and (if we are lucky) through eating food. Food can seem quite quotidian, but its centrality to our lives means it's a great place to look for deeper historical meaning. In fact, as we will see in this course, what we eat, how we eat, and the meanings that we assign to food and eating have changed tremendously across time and place. As such, we can use food as a lens through which to explore history on a global scale. In this class, we will think deeply about the various ways that food functions: as a form of culture; as a commodity; as a signifier of race, gender, class, and religion; as a source of power and a signifier of oppression. Tracing the path of foods and eating, we will discuss major themes in world history, including religious transformations, the "discovery" of the New World, shifting trade networks, the institution of slavery, the development of capitalism and imperialism, and 20th-century globalization. Because food is deeply connected to our environment, we will also discuss changes in how humans have interacted with the natural world. Since the agricultural revolution occurred roughly 10,000 years ago, humans have dramatically altered their landscape in order to produce and maintain and steady supply of food. The environment, in turn, has transformed in ways that shape human behavior.

In this class, students will learn historical methods of reading, researching, writing; in particular, students will learn the very particular ways in which historians understand and analyze evidence. At the end of the course, students will be able to articulate the symbolic and cultural importance of food in global history, understand the changing connections between humans and their environments, and think critically about the politics of food and eating. In the spirit of feminist praxis, we will also do a lot of snacking.

Attendance and Participation: 20%

3 Primary Source Exercises: 15%

Timeline: 15%

Timeline Write-Up: 10%

Midterm Exam: 15%