Anthropology 288 – Exp:Anthropology of Food

 

Spring 2013

Mondays and Fridays, 2:30 - 3:45pm – Sturges 14

Instructor: Brian Marks

Office: Fraser 107D

Office hours: Wednesdays 4-5pm, Thursdays 10am-12pm, and by appointment

Phone: (585)245-6053

 

Course description

This course asks how food, as both universal human need and enormously diverse cultural production, is involved in social relations, cultural meanings, and human interactions with the physical world. The course reviews classic approaches to food in social-cultural anthropology like food taboos, subsistence strategies, and gendered divisions of labor, and considers anthropological perspectives on contemporary areas of public concern like obesity, nutrition, and food safety, the social implications of new food and agricultural technologies, and the human dimensions of environmental and political challenges to feeding the world in the 21^st Century. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered not on a regular basis.

 

Intended learning outcomes

Having taken this class, students should be able to:

-       Understand anthropological perspectives on the topic of food

-       Explain what food can tell about culture and social relationships and the limitations of these interpretations

-       Recognize, compare, and contrast food-related problems in different social settings

-       Understand the role of anthropological knowledge in human development issues

-       Read and interpret a variety of texts like journal articles, books, films, and journalism on food with an anthropologists’ eye

-       Demonstrate critical thinking in research, writing, and class discussion

-       Apply course concepts to specific places, situations, and social groups

 

Prerequisites

ANTH 100 or ANTH 202 or ANTH 204 or ANTH 307.

 

Academic integrity

All College rules regarding student conduct and ethical behavior apply in this class. See the Undergraduate Bulletin for these rules. Academic honesty and integrity are expected from all at all times and plagiarism and cheating are not tolerated. All work submitted for this course must be original. You may not submit work prepared for another course or work done by another person.

 

Disability accommodations

SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical, emotional or cognitive disabilities. Students should contact the Director in the Office of Disability Services (Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, 106A Erwin) and their faculty to discuss needed accommodations as early as possible in the semester.

 

Withdrawal dates

The last day to withdraw without receiving a “W” in the course is January 28, 2013.

The last day to withdraw from the course is March 29, 2013.

 

Classroom behavior

Please turn off or make silent your cell phones and any other mechanical things that can make noise before class starts. Any student in violation of these rules will be asked once to turn off those things before being asked to leave the classroom for the rest of that class period.

 

Access to grades

I cannot provide students’ grades over the phone or email.  I will post grades through the MyCourses system and you can ask me in person during office hours for your grades. Grades should be posted to the MyCourses page within three days of your receiving your graded exams, papers, or assignments in class.

 

Late papers and other assignments

I do not accept late papers or other assignments for any reason, nor do I give make-up exams after the exam date. If you believe you cannot turn in a paper or other assignment on the due date, turn it in before the due date. Papers and other assignments must be turned in to me in paper format in class and/or electronically through a MyCourses drop box on or before the due date. No assignments should be turned in through my departmental mailbox.

 

Religious holiday absences

Students who miss class for observance of religious holidays are excused from class attendance and any exams or other assignments on those days, as per Section 224-a of the Education Law of the State of New York. Students are still responsible for the work missed, however. Any exams or other class work missed to observe religious holidays must be made up before the assignment is due. Contact me at least one week before your expected absence to make arrangements for taking make-up exams or completing other assignments early.

 

Rescheduling exams and other course assignments

If you can’t take an exam or do other course work on a specified day and time because:

 

- You are traveling to an official university-sponsored event; or

- You have a prescheduled medical appointment; or

-You are observing a religious holiday; or

-You have a personal or family emergency

Then, to the best of your ability, contact me at least one week before your absence. In the case of official university-sponsored events and scheduled medical appointments, please provide me appropriate documentation when you’re able to. Appropriate documentation means a letter from your coach, instructor, or doctor that provides me with the details of the event or appointment and is signed by the appropriate party. For religious observances, you don’t need to provide documentation. In the event of family emergencies, contact me as soon as possible and provide any documentation you can, such as an obituary, about the emergency. All rescheduled exams or other coursework, whatever the reason for the absence, must be taken before the original date and time for the exam. In the eventuality of extraordinary circumstances where I judge it was impossible for a student to complete an assignment on time and could not give prior notice to turn in the assignment early, I will adjust that student’s grading scale to make all other course work worth more toward the final grade in proportion to the points lost in the missed assignment.

Course readings

1. Pottier, Johan (1999) Anthropology of Food: The Social Dynamics of Food Security. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. ISBN: 0745615341.

2. Coleman, Leo (2011) Food: Ethnographic Encounters. London: Berg Publishers. ISBN: 1847889077.

3. Herzog, Hal (2011) Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN: 0061730858.

 

The books should be available at the SUNY-Geneseo bookstore and Sundance Books.

 

Other readings will be available through the course’s MyCourses web page, under Course Materials.

 

# of points	Assignment	Due date
40	Reaction papers (10 x 4)	During the semester
5	Food security prospectus	3/15
20	Food security research paper	5/3
5	Fieldwork prospectus	2/11
20	Fieldwork paper	4/26
10	Final exam	5/6, 5/13
100	Total points	End of Semester

Class format and assessment

In this class, we will critically engage with the readings and our original research. Everyone is expected to come to class prepared to discuss the material.

 

Classes will consist of a mix of lectures, discussions, and research presentations. 

 

Assessment will be based on written reactions to readings, two written research projects, and presentation on one of those projects. Assignments will be accepted in person at the beginning of class and to MyCourses at the end of the day they are due (11:59pm).

 

Some guidelines for your written work:

-       Type your written work double-spaced and proof them before you turn in the assignment.

-       Include bibliographic references to others’ work that you used in your writing.

-       Use correct grammar and syntax in your writing.

 

Reaction papers (10, 4% each = 40%, due throughout the semester)

You will choose ten class periods or outside events (like lectures, forums, films, or community events) during the semester to write a 250 word reaction paper reviewing the readings for that class or the content of the event. Reaction papers are due at the beginning of the class the readings cover. A reaction paper will be a concise but informative description of the topic and your analysis discussing the topic. Remember to cite any references you make use of in your reaction papers. I’ll call upon students who hand in reactions that class period to lead part of the discussion in class.

 

Food security research paper prospectus (5%, due 3/15)

See below for the details on this paper. Your prospectus is a proposal of what you want to write about – what your research question is and how you’re going to go about answering that question, in 500-1,000 words. Consider this prospectus a first rough draft of your paper, from which you can narrow down what you will research and get feedback from me on the topic and your writing.

 

Food security research paper (20%, due 5/3)

One of the books we’ll be reading is Johan Pottier’s 1999 book Anthropology of Food: The Social Dynamics of Food Security. You will choose one of the seven chapters in the book’s body (any one of 2 through 8) and do research on the current social scientific literature on the topic and current journalism and development reports on real-world events related to that topic. Your paper (2,000-3,000 words) should define the topic you’re focusing on, review what has been written by anthropologists and other social scientists on that topic since 1999 (at least 5 scientific articles or books), and describe one major event or process relevant to the topic that happened somewhere in the world since 1999 covered by at least 5 journalistic articles or agency reports. Include a complete list of the sources you cited in your paper. If you have any doubts or insights during your research process for this or the next paper, please see me during office hours or speak up during class – your research experiences will be a valuable part of our class discussion.

 

Fieldwork research paper prospectus (5%, due 2/11)

See below for the details on this paper. Like the food security research paper, your prospectus is your first attempt at putting on paper what you will investigate, how you’ll do the research and with whom, and how you’ll structure your final paper. So think through those questions in 500-1,000 words and as with the other paper, use this prospectus to focus your thinking and get feedback from me.

 

Fieldwork research paper (20%, due 4/26)

This assignment will have you implement your own mini-ethnographic project on some anthropological aspect of food, however defined. You will write a 2,000 word paper based on your findings. You should choose a topic of personal interest to you and that you believe you’ll be able to gather direct information on through talking to and interacting with people. This could mean interviewing members of your family or friends about a food-related topic, doing observation or participant observation of food production, distribution, and consumption activities, or something else you can think up. Be creative, and if you want some inspiration, review some of the chapters in Leo Coleman’s (2011) Food: Ethnographic Encounters and talk with me about your ideas during office hours. The paper should first explain, with cited references to literature, what the research question is you’re pursuing and where it fits within the social study of food, then describe your research methodology, your results, and discussion. The paper can be personal and informal in its content, but should be rooted in serious thought about approaching your topic and reflection on what you learned from the fieldwork. As with the other papers for this class, remember to cite any published work you reference in your writing.  

 

Final exam (10%, May 6^th 2:30-3:45pm and May 13^th, 12:00-3:00pm)

The final exam is your oral presentation to the class of one of your papers – your choice between the fieldwork and food security project. With three hours, each student will only get 8-10 minutes for their presentation, so we’ll split the presentations over two days – 7 on the 6^th (70 minutes) and 18 on the 13^th (180 minutes). Assessment of presentations will be based on how well you explain what you did and the results of your research.

 

Course schedule

January                           M   21                        Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

                          M    4                         Food marketing and farming styles (Pottier 98-141)

April                          M    1                            Animals and us (Herzog 129-48, 237-80)

                        M   15                         Technological disasters, subsistence foods, and culture 2 (Jorgensen 1995; 

                                                         Wooley 1995)

                        M   22                        Global food crisis 2 (de Ita 2007; Wise and Murphy 2012; Marks

2010) 

May                        F     3                          Organic and fairtrade standards (Nielson 2008; Muradian and Pelupessy 2005)

                                                 Food security paper due

                        M  13                        Final exam, 12:00-3:00pm – Research paper presentations (2)