Environmental Studies 362: Food, Culture, and Politics

Eating is a relational act linking people and environments in complex webs of power. Across time and geography, food has united and divided, underpinned political systems, provided the material and symbolic basis for conceptions of society, and played key roles in forging gender, race, class, and status. This interdisciplinary class draws on texts from history, anthropology, political theory, literature, art, religion, and political economy to explore the cultural politics of food, diet, and eating. It focuses primarily on the development and dynamics of capitalist global food systems from the 18th Century to the present. May be elected as Politics 362, but must be elected as Environmental Studies 362 to satisfy the Interdisciplinary course requirement for Environmental Studies majors.