Food Matters: Introduction to American Food Studies from a cultural and social perspectives 4219-SD099
Food has always had a profound impact on shaping the American continent, culture, and society. One of the most significant holidays celebrated every year by the US citizens, and commemorating the appearance of a community that later became the United States is Thanksgiving, a festive dinner that is supposed to resemble the one that the first Colonists and Native Americans had. Food therefore does not only satisfy one of the most basic human needs but it may also have a symbolic meaning, whereas culinary culture in general undoubtedly influences each sphere of one’s life. That is why the analysis of eating practices, and of the functions of food and widely understood consumption in the United States, enables one to get a broader overview of this society.
The course is supposed to acquaint the students with the changes that occur in American society through the functions that food - a core element of everyday life culture – performs and used to perform there. Such an innovative, yet seemingly well-known perspective, derived from a new interdisciplinary branch of Cultural Studies – Food Studies, will enable the students to see some characteristic elements of US culture like fast food, obesity, or celebrity chefs in a new context.
Since the topic of food is a part of both high and popular culture, the knowledge about it may be treated as a social and cultural capital, whereas the analysis of one’s eating practices may reveal information not only about one’s health but also his social status or wealth. In order to introduce all these aspects, the course will present food from the perspective of Cultural Studies, anthropology, sociology, literature, gender, and feminist criticism. During the course the students will analyze a variety of historical, critical and analytical texts, extracts from American literature and press, advertisements, fragments of films, and blogs.
The topics will include:
-What is Food Studies?
-History of Food in the US
-Food and ethnicity, race, gender, class and ability
-Food writing
-Food in film and popular culture
-Food in Disability and Fat Studies
-Economy and geography of food
-Food as Fashion; Food as Lifestyle
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge:
Upon completing this course a student:
- knows the basic of Food Studies in cultural studies
- knows the basis topics related to food in culture and society
- understands the historical and socio-cultural factors influencing the food culture of the US
- knows the terminology related to the American popular culture, especially terminology related to food and consumption practices, as well as food functions in American culture
Skills
Upon completing this course a student:
- is able to plan and conduct indepenant filed research including observation of social phenomena, as well as draw conclusions from teh observations and present them to others
- can participate in groupwork
- can explain basic concept related to the study of food in culture and society
- is able to decipher the overt and covert messaging in cultural texts, including films, advertisements or literature and connect it to theoretical concepts related to the function of food in US culture
Competences:
Upon completing this course a student:
- is able to critically engage with literary and theoretical texts
- actively participates in class discussions on complicated topics
- can select and evaluate key ideas and arguments from texts
- can conduct observations and draw conclusions on the basis of information gathered and selected
- is able to analyze political discourses
- is aware of the effects race, class, gender and ability may be reflected in food and consumption practices and relations
Assessment criteria
Pass at 60% of total points
active class participation - 20%
response papers, individual student project, short quizzes - 80%
Bibliography
Selected readings (subject to change):
Wybrane pozycje literatury:
Adams, Carol J. The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-vegetarian Critical Theory. Bloomsbury Academic, 2010.
Belasco, Warren. Food: The Key Concepts. Bloomsbury Academic, 2008.
Counihan, Carole. Food and Culture: A Reader. Routledge, 2007.
Foer, Jonathan S. Eating Animals. Brown and Company, 2009.
Rubin, Lawrence C. Food for Thought: Essays on Eating and Culture. McFarland, 2008.
Schofield, Mary Anne. Cooking by the Book: Food in Literature and Culture. Popular Press, 1989.
Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: