GLOS 3613W is also offered in Spring 2025
GLOS 3613W is also offered in Summer 2023
Summer 2023 | GLOS 3613W Section 001: Stuffed and Starved: The Politics of Eating (87322)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- A-F or Audit
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- Completely Online
- Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
- Meets With:
SOC 3613W Section 001
- Times and Locations:
- Enrollment Status:
Open (13 of 16 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- This course takes a cross-cultural, historical, and transnational perspective to the study of the global food system. Themes explored include: different cultural and social meanings attached to food; social class and consumption; the global food economy; global food chains; work in the food sector; the alternative food movement; food justice; environmental consequences of food production.
- Class Description:
- Cheeseburgers, fair trade dark chocolate, organic produce, Impossible Burgers. These foods mean different things for different people. They also raise important questions about our relationship to food: Where are the ingredients grown and who picks them? Where are they sold? Who prepares these dishes? Who enjoys the final product? While relatively overlooked by sociologists until recent decades, food is a central facet of social life and offers a rich snapshot of the social relations that shape our world. This course addresses two key goals. First, we examine food as a site where meanings, culture, and social relations are shaped. While many of us find nourishment, comfort, and meaning in food, it is also central to foreign conflict and entrenched inequalities domestically. Second, we will examine the various actors, institutions, and political dynamics shaping how, what, and why we eat. By examining academic, articles, popular readings, films, podcasts, and songs, this course offers a multifaceted portrait of central concerns of food: hunger, obesity, trade agreements, community gardens, and meal replacements. The course concludes by offering an overview of alternative food systems and movements that emphasize the role of the environment in food production/consumption.
- Who Should Take This Class?:
- Students interested in food, culture, politics, cities, and the environment. This is also a writing-intensive course, so students interested in developing writing skills are encouraged to register.
- Grading:
- 20% Class participation
30% Reading responses
5% Short paper
15% Autoethnography assignment
30% Final paper
- Exam Format:
- No exams
- Class Format:
- Online/Hybrid; lecture & discussion-based
- Workload:
- 40-90 pages of reading per week
9-12 pages of writing across the semester (reading reflections, one short essay, ethnography activity report, policy memo)
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/87322/1235
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 16 February 2023
ClassInfo Links - Summer 2023 Global Studies Classes