GEOG 4742

Monday, 2-4:30

Office: Guggenheim 103B

Office Phone: 492-5388

Office Hours: Monday 9-11 and by appointment

Email:elizabeth.dunn@colorado.edu

Audrey Richards, the great British anthropologist, once pointed out that the need to eat is the most basic and important of all human drives. We need food more frequently and more urgently than we need even sex. The central place of food in our lives has made food one of the major foci of human existence. How we grow, process, distribute, and consume our food often defines us as a society.

Human beings often organize societies around food production. By hiring or enslaving others to produce food, members of one social group exert power over other groups. Human beings from one culture are connected to people in far away places and vastly different cultures because they trade food with them: for example, Americans are connected to people all over the world through the export of Coca-Cola. People cement our social connections to one another by exchanging food, as Americans do at Thanksgiving dinner, or Polynesians do at a ritual pig roast. And food is one of the most deeply symbolic of all substances. The French or the Italians define their nationality partially through their cuisine, for example, so that to "be Italian" is to eat pasta. Lovers symbolize the sweetness of their affections by giving one another chocolate, and Christians symbolize their relationship to their Savior by consuming bread and wine.

In this course, we are going to study two broad elements of food. The first is the political economy of food. We will look at food as a commodity, study where it comes from, how it connects members of different societies and social groups as it travels along the commodity chain, and how it creates social and geopolitical inequalities. We will also study food as culture, including the symbolic meanings of different foods in various world cultures, the role of food in defining gender and ethnicity, and the role of food in religious practice.

The main texts for this course (Schlosser, Friedberg and Belasco) can be purchased at the University Book Store in the UMC.† All other readings will be on electronic reserve. This course has a very heavy reading load. If that is not acceptable to you, please drop this course.

Reading responses     3 at 10 points each     30

Midterm                     1 at 30 points             30

Final                         1 at 30 points             30

Participation             1 at 10 points             10

This course will be graded on a curve. If you do not understand what a bell curve is, or how curved grades are determined, please see me by January 30 for an explanation.

(1) Please arrive on time. When we’re all in the classroom on time, we all stay on the same page and the flow of class discussion is vastly improved. Coming late disrupts other students, breaks the flow of discussion, and disturbs me. For that reason, I will lower your participation grade if you are habitually late.

(2)Please hand assignments in on time. All work is due at the beginning of class. Work that is handed in within six days of the assignment’s due date will be docked one letter grade. Work more than 7 days late will not be accepted.

(3) Please treat one another respectfully. In this class, we will often deal with controversial issues and have spirited debates and discussions. Two people in the class may have positions which are precisely opposite from one another, and each may be equally passionately held. It is okay—and even encouraged—for you to disagree with each other and with me, as long as it is done respectfully.

(5)Always write in your own words. Do not plagiarize---EVER! Plagiarism is an endemic problem in the academy, but it cheats the student and it cheats the people students plagiarize from. If I discover you have plagiarized, you will be reported to the dean as a plagiarist. The university’s statement on plagiarism is as follows:

Violations of the ban on plagiarism include plagiarizing from other students. Do not, under any circumstances, copy papers written by another student. If you copy someone else’s work, or allow someone to copy yours, you will receive an automatic F and be reported to the dean.

If you have any questions about how to properly cite an author’s work, check out the Chicago Manual of Style or the American Anthropological Association’s style guide, which is available online at: http://www.aaanet.org/pubs/style_guide.htm

(5) Honesty: I expect you to adhere to the CU honor code. Any violations will be reported to the Honor Board and you will be dismissed from this course. If you have any questions about the Honor Code, please look at the following website: http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/

(6) Attendance and Readings: Attendance in this course is required. There are no excused absences---you're either here, or you're not. If you must miss class, please check with a classmate to get the handouts and assignments you’ve missed. Unfortunately, I can’t send you notes or handouts via email.

(7) Religious Observances: I will accommodate anyone who must miss class due to a religious observance. Please contact me in writing by January 30 to inform me of which courses you will miss, and I will arrange a makeup.

(8) Disabilities :If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability please submit to me a letter from Disability Services by January 30 so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities (303-492-8671, Willard 322, www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices).

(10)Communication: I believe that the most important learning you will do will happen outside this classroom. For that reason, I want to make it easier for us to communicate with one another outside classroom hours. I will endeavor to return all emails within 48 hours, but please be advised that I reserve my weekends for my family and don’t check email.

You should also know how to get in touch with at least two of your classmates to get notes, check facts, and discuss issues. Please write down the names, telephone numbers, and email addresses of two of your classmates here:

Classmate1:______________________________________________________________

Classmate 2:_____________________________________________________________

The books by Schlosser, Friedberg and Belasco are available at the bookstore. Articles with the notation (B) after them are in the Belasco reader. All other articles are available on electronic reserve at Norlin Library.