f2f Anth 3888 Fall 2013
Anthropology of Food University of Minnesota Duluth 33196 -001 LEC, 12:30 P.M. - 01:45 P.M., Tu,Th (09/03/2013 - 12/13/2013), Cina 214, Roufs,Tim, 3 credits
Schedule may change as events of the semester require
f2f Calendar
"What you eat, and why you eat it . . ."
"This course dared me to find out where our food comes from, and has changed the way I think about the world. The 'textbooks' . . . were a joy to read. In short, this is the one course everyone who eats needs to take." — Andy Kadlec, UMD Labovitz School of Business
“Food is required by every human on earth, yet the types of food we eat and how we produce and consume it vary tremendously. It is therefore a nearly perfect subject for anthropology, since it can be examined in terms of human biology, culture, and social status across time from our evolutionary ancestors to the present day. . . .” -- Ryan Adams, IUPUI Anthropology
The course anchor text, The Cultural Feast: An Introduction to Food and Society, 2nd Edition, is currently available on-line new from about $50.00-$107.46 [this is correct--it pays to comparison shop!], $39.00 used, and $17.49 to rent from Amazon.com (+ p/h, and at amazon.com you get FREE Super Saver Shipping on some orders). (27 August 2013)
The Meaning of Food: The Companion to the PBS Television Series Hosted by Marcus Samuelsson is currently available online from about $3.81-$9.18 new / $3.81 used. (+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25). (27 August 2013)
This text is not available at the UMD Bookstore
The Omnivore's Dilemma is currently available online from about $12.09 new / $5.08 used. (+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25). (27 August 2013)
Rice Gatherers 1867 Seth Eastman (1808-1875) from The Anishinabe of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (1975; 2013),
Timothy G. Roufs, Phoenix: Indian Tribal Series; Reprinted, Cass Lake, MN: Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, 2013, p. 27.
A note on the slide formats: Since at this point we do not know what software you are using on your computer, we offer the slides in two formats. We recommend you first try "(.pdf)" , the “Portable Document Format” that is the open standard for document exchange. If you have problems with that format, please try "(.pptx)" , Office PowerPoint 2007. It is unlikely that you will have problems with both of them, but if you do, please let us know: troufs@d.umn.edu. When the materials are on your screen they should be running as a slide show. If you want or need to upgrade your software, you can download the latest PowerPoint viewer free, as well as download the latest Adobe .pdf Reader free.
Have a look at the Main Characteristics of Anthropology full long slide deck (.pptx) or have a look at the Main Characteristics in segments . . .
(NOTE: The full set is a long slide deck as it covers some very important background information that will be referred to often as we go through the semester. Please bear with it to the end. And it will take a little longer to load, so please bear with that also, or have a look at all of the various segments separately.)
(NOTE: These are long slide sets as they cover more than 2000+ years. Please bear with it to the end. And it will take a little longer to load, so please bear with that also. Also see note on slide formats.)
Students in the past have commented that there is TOO MUCH INFORMATION available on the class Moodle and supporting WebSites. Yes, there is a lot of information, no doubt about it, and it can be confusing at first. It’s helpful when starting out to remember that the required information for the course is contained in the middle panel of your HomePage. The information in the sidebars and many of the links are just there should you find those interesting and/or helpful.
~
Have a look at the Main Characteristics of Anthropology full long slide deck (.pptx) or have a look at the Main Characteristics in segments . . .
(NOTE: The full set is a long slide deck as it covers some very important background information that will be referred to often as we go through the semester. Please bear with it to the end. And it will take a little longer to load, so please bear with that also, or have a look at all of the various segments separately.)
(NOTE: These are long slide sets as they cover more than 2000+ years. Please bear with it to the end. And it will take a little longer to load, so please bear with that also. Also see note on slide formats.)
Have a look at the Main Characteristics of Anthropology full long slide deck (.pptx) or have a look at the Main Characteristics in segments . . .
(NOTE: The full set is a long slide deck as it covers some very important background information that will be referred to often as we go through the semester. Please bear with it to the end. And it will take a little longer to load, so please bear with that also, or have a look at all of the various segments separately.)
(NOTE: These are long slide sets as they cover more than 2000+ years. Please bear with it to the end. And it will take a little longer to load, so please bear with that also. Also see note on slide formats.)
For Week 3 Activities see
Week 3 Reading Assignment
The Cultural Feast, Ch. 3, "Food in Historical Perspective: Dietary Revolutions"
The Cultural Feast, Ch. 5, "Food Technologies How People Get Their Food in Nonindustrialized Societies"
(The materials from Ch. 5 will be supplemented in Week 6 with the video Desert People. a classic film on one of the last gathering / foraging peoples discovered.)
(We're starting this book here, with Michael Pollan's discussion of "The forager" and "The ethics of eating animals" as next week we begin having a closer look at hunting / gathering / foraging as a way people get their food in nonindustrialized societies)
Nutritional Consequences: Foragers and Agriculturalists (.pdf) (.pptx) based on The Cultural Feast: An Introduction to Food and Society, Second Edition.
Bryant, Carol A., Kathleen M. DeWalt, Anita Courtney, and Jeffery Schwartz.
(Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson, 2003).
su2024 Wk 5 The LIVE CHAT for the Anthropology of Food Midterm Exam will be Tuesday, 2 July 2024, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
su2024 Wks 4-5 the Anthropology of Food Midterm Exam will be available from 12:01 a.m. Thursday, 27 June 2024 to 11:59 p.m. (10:00 p.m. starting time), Wednesday, 03 July 2024
NOTE: There will be at least one question in the pool from each of the assigned videos from Weeks 1-5, so be sure not to miss watching them.
We're continue this book here, with Michael Pollan's discussion of Hunting and Gathering, and in Ch. 5 of The Cultural Feast we have a closer look at hunting / gathering /foraging as a way people get their food in nonindustrialized societies.
Chapter 5 of The Cultural Feast, focuses on "Food Technologies: How People Get Their Food in Nonindustrial Societies."
Notes:
Be sure to watch award-winning Our Daily Breadbefore you watch We Feed the World. And for its real impact, watch it on a large screen.
Our Daily Bread has almost no dialogue.
From one reviewer: It's "The 2001: A Space Odyssey of modern food production." -- The Nation
~
video--International Focus:
Week 7 Day 13, Tuesday 15 October 2013
Our Daily Bread
(92 min., CC, but almost without dialogue, 2005, DVD 1988)
"Fueled
by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, college buddies Ian Cheney and
Curt Ellis return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa, to find out
how the modest corn kernel conquered America. With the help of real
farmers, powerful fertilizer, government aid, and genetically modified
seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they
unlock the hidden truths about America’s modern food system."
Big River: A King Corn Companion
(27 min., SB191.M2 K56 2010 DVD, 2010)
view streaming video
[the link will be added as soon as licensing has been finalized]
"Following up on their
Peabody winning documentary, the King Corn boys are back. For Big
River, best friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis have returned to Iowa
with a new mission: to investigate the environmental impact their acre
of corn has sent to the people and places downstream. In a journey
that spans from the heartland to the Gulf of Mexico, Ian and Curt trade
their combine for a canoe––and set out to see the big world their
little acre of corn has touched. On their trip, flashbacks to the
pesticides they sprayed, the fertilizers they injected, and the soil
they plowed now lead to new questions, explored by new experts in new
places. Half of Iowa’s topsoil, they learn, has been washed out to
sea. Fertilizer runoff has spawned a hypoxic “dead zone” in the
Gulf. And back at their acre, the herbicides they used are blamed
for a cancer cluster that reaches all too close to home."
~
video--United States Focus:
Week 8 Day 16, Thursday, 24 October 2013
Food Fight (NOTE: Educational Edition is 48 min.) (73 min., 2009, UM Duluth Library Multimedia HD1761 .F66 2008 DVD) film homepage
While you are watching The Two Fat Ladies do a "freelisting" of the things that The Two Fat Ladies talk about or
mention that are not specifically related to the actual cooking of the
meal in the kitchen. Freelisting is a technique commonly used by
anthropologists when doing fieldwork, and it's basically just making a
list of the things you're focusing on—but a complete list.
(Don't miss the gorilla. . . .)
Sherri A. Inness,
Secret Ingredients: Race, Gender, and Class at the Dinner Table
Ch. 8 "Thin Is Not In: Two Fat Ladies and Gender Stereotypes on the Food Network"
(Note: You do not have to read the book, just view the slides—but watch the video first, and freelist as directed)
~
When we're finished with the Two Fat Ladies slides based on Secret Ingredients, Ch. 8, we'll have a look at the slides on Obesity and on Eating Disorders . . .
The "Obesity Epidemic" (.pdf) (.pptx)
Body Image and Eating Behaviors (.pdf) (.pptx)
Eating Disorders (.pdf) (.pptx) Causes of Eating Disorders (.pdf) (.pptx) Obesity, Eating Disorders: Applications (.pdf) (.pptx)
~
Week 10 Day 20, Thursday, 7 November 2013
Designer Foods . . .
Food Design
Food Design takes a sneak peek into the secret laboratories of a major food manufacturer, where designers and scientists are developing your favorite mouthful of tomorrow
The Meaning of Food, pp. 1-33 The materials from The Meaning of Food, pp. 1-33 will be reviewed next week in the the video The Meaning of Food: "Food & Life."
"As you know, the food, farming &
gardening projects at UMD are well underway... the Sustainable Ag
Project will be doing a lot of things at the farm beginning in April.
We want to invite you to include service learning opportunities
for your students/classes if this is fitting... for the farm projects.
These SAP activities are mostly student centered and we can always
use the help... and students generally feel good about helping build
these things.
"Let me know if you have any
questions . . . we will be scheduling various things
including fence building, orchard planting, ethobotany/medicinal garden
planting, model school garden installation, and the Dining Services
garden planting going forward as the weather
allows . . . beginning in April or so."
(China) (Online Optional Resource)
(Malaysia) (Online Optional Resource)
[food tears Chinese culture apart in Malaysia
肉
肉
"It was hardly surprising that, for the Chinese, the words 'meat' and 'pork' became, and remain, synonymous."
-- concluding sentence to Chapter 2 "Changing the Face of the Earth," Reay Tannahill, Food in History (NY: Three Rivers Press, 1988)
Food Revolution #2: The Meaning of Eating
-- the discovery that food is more than sustenance
For a comprehensive review of pork avoidance and its historical and social importance see
Frederick J. Simoons, Eat Not This Flesh: Food Avoidances form Prehistory to the Present, 2nd Ed.
(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1994)
The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World And What We Eat
(85 min., CC, 2010, UM Duluth LibraryMultimedia SH329.O94 E43 2010 DVD film HomePage course viewing guide
Policy Options: Self-Sufficiency vs. Food Security of Small Farmers
Commercialization of Agriculture and Household Food Security
Entitlements
Nutritional Quality of Food, Education, and Household
Distribution
Health and Sanitation
Highlight: Women: A Pivotal Link in the Food Chain
[NOTE: If you are interested
in this topic, or the economics of Third World countries in general, be
sure to have a look/listen to Bina Agarwal's Nobel Food conference talk.]
For Week 12 Activities see
Non-Reading Assignment:
The Cultural Feast, Ch. 11, "Dietary Behavior Change: How People Change Eating Habits"
Ch. 11 is not assigned reading, but as with
Chapter 12, if you expect to go into or be a part of any program or
company involved in dietary behavior change (including advertising and
marketing), it would be a good idea to read this chapter. Materials from
this chapter may also be used as the make-up-your-own final exam question.
~
Non-Reading Assignment:
The Cultural Feast, Ch. 12, "Designing Large-Scale Programs to Change Dietary Practices"
Ch. 12 is not assigned reading, but as with
Chapter 11, if you expect to go into or be a part of any large-scale
program or company involved in dietary behavior change (including
advertising and marketing), it would be a good idea to read this
chapter. Materials from
this chapter may also be used as the make-up-your-own final exam question.
s2024 Wk 14 Final Exam Submitted Question due by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, 21 April 2024.
s2024 Wk 14 Term Paper (up to 400 points) due by Sunday, 21 April 2024.
AVISO: Late Term Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
AVISO: Late Extra Credit Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
NOTE: The Gradebook entry for Extra Credit requires that “out of zero” be used when setting up an Extra Credit assignment.
Check Weeks 14 and 15 for qualifying videos of related topics
Ch. 13, "The market: 'greetings from non-barcode people'"
Ch. 14, "The meal: grass-fed"
~
s2024 Wk 14 Final Exam Submitted Question due by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, 21 April 2024.
s2024 Wk 14 Term Paper (up to 400 points) due by Sunday, 21 April 2024.
AVISO: Late Term Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
AVISO: Late Extra Credit Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
NOTE: The Gradebook entry for Extra Credit requires that “out of zero” be used when setting up an Extra Credit assignment.
Check Weeks 14 and 15 for qualifying videos of related topics
s2024 Wk 14 Term Paper (up to 400 points) due by Sunday, 21 April 2024.
AVISO: Late Term Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
s2024 Final Evaluation due on-line by the last day of the term, Friday, 3 May 2024.
su2024 Final Evaluation due on-line by the last day of the term, Friday, 26 July 2024.
Face-to-Face
s2024 Wk 16 The LIVE CHAT for the Anthropology of Food Final Exam will be Tuesday, 30 April 2024, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
s2024 Wk 16 The Anthropology of Food Final Exam will be available from 12:01 a.m. Monday, 29 April 2024, until 11:59 p.m., Friday, 3 May 2024.
NOTE: There will be at least one question in the pool from each of the assigned videos from Weeks 5-15, so be sure not to miss watching them.
s2024 Wk 14 Term Paper (up to 400 points) due by Sunday, 21 April 2024.
AVISO: Late Term Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
s2024 Final Evaluation due on-line by the last day of the term, Friday, 3 May 2024.
su2024 Final Evaluation due on-line by the last day of the term, Friday, 26 July 2024.
Use of AI-content generators for assignments in this class
When I taught Advanced Writing for the Social Sciences here at UMD, for over twenty-five years, my rule of thumb advice to students was to plan to spend 60% or more of their time and effort revising drafts (for academic type writing).
In 2001 Wikipedia appeared on the scene and very quickly became a useful tool asa starting point for many academic projects even though as an open-source resource the Wikipedia entries are not checked and verified in the same manner as other traditional reference materials.
Spelling and grammar checkers arrived on the general scene and helped with spelling and grammar checking, but, as you no doubt have discovered, they continue to require human editing.
And, of course, before that we had a selection of excellent Encyclopedia offering good starting points for many projects, the most popular being The Encyclopedia Brittanica.
And long before that there were libraries--since at least the days of Alexandria in Egypt, in the third century B.C.
The bottom line . . .
Today the evolution of research resources and aids continues with the relatively rapid appearance of ChatGPT and other automated content generators.
As many folks have already found out, they can be very useful as starting points, much like their predecessors. But, from the academic point of view, they are still only starting points.
Professors nationwide are for the most part advised, and even encouraged, to experiment with the potentials of ChatGPT and similar apps.
In this class it is fine to experiment, with the caveat that all of your written academic work demonstrates that your personal efforts—including content development and revision—reflect your personal originality, exploration, analysis, explanation, integrating and synthesizing of ideas, organizational skills, evaluation, and overall learning and critical thinking efforts.
That is to say you may experiment with the AI tool to do tasks such as e.g, brainstorming, narrowing topics, writing first drafts, editing text, and the like. AI-generated works should in no case be more than that.
In the end you need to become familiar enough with the various subjects, peoples, and places discussed in this class to research a topic and problem-solve on your own, and carry on an intelligent conversation about them in modern-day society . . . a conversation that goes byond your voicing an unsupported opinion.
For the record, what follows is the official UMD Academic Integrity Policy. Note that "unless otherwise noted by the faculty
member" this is the default policy.
"UMD’s Academic Integrity policy covers any work done by automated content generators such as ChatGPT or other generative artificial intelligence tools unless otherwise noted by the faculty
member. These tools present new challenges and opportunities."
"Within the confines of this
class The use of AI-content generators is strictly prohibited for any stage of homework/assignment
(e.g., draft or final product). The primary purposes of college are developing your thinking skills,
being creative with ideas, and expanding your understanding on a wide variety of topics. Using
these content generating AI tools thwarts the goal of homework/assignments to provide
students opportunities to achieve these purposes. Please make the most of this time that you
have committed to a college education and learn these skills now, so that you can employ them
throughout your life." -- Jennifer Mencl, UMD Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, 10 May 2023
. "Academic dishonesty
tarnishes UMD's reputation and discredits the accomplishments of
students. UMD is committed to providing students every possible
opportunity to grow in mind and spirit. This pledge can only be
redeemed in an environment of trust, honesty, and fairness. As a
result, academic dishonesty is regarded as a serious offense by all
members of the academic community. In keeping with this ideal, this
course will adhere to UMD's Student Academic Integrity Policy, which
can be found at [http://www.d.umn.edu/conduct/integrity/Academic_Integrity_Policy.htm].
This policy sanctions students engaging in academic dishonesty with
penalties up to and including expulsion from the university for repeat
offenders."
— UMD Educational Policy Committee, Jill Jensen, Chair
(08/16/2007)
The instructor will enforce and students are expected to follow the University's Student Conduct Code [http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/Student_Conduct_Code.html].
Appropriate classroom conduct promotes an environment of academic
achievement and integrity. Disruptive classroom behavior that
substantially or repeatedly interrupts either the instructor's ability
to teach, or student learning, is prohibited. Disruptive behavior
includes inappropriate use of technology in the classroom. Examples
include ringing cell phones, text-messaging, watching videos, playing
computer games, doing email, or surfing the Internet on your computer
instead of note-taking or other instructor-sanctioned activities."
— UMD Educational Policy Committee, Jill Jensen, Chair
(08/16/2007)
Failure to comply with the above
codes and standards when submitting an Extra Credit paper will result in
a penalty commensurate with the lapse, up to and including an F final grade for the course, and, at a minimum, a reduction in total
points no fewer than the points available for the Extra Credit project.
The penalty will not simply be a zero for the project, and the
incident will be reported to the UMD Academic Integrity Officer in the
Office of Student and Community Standards.
A Note on "Cutting and Pasting" without the Use of Quotation Marks (EVEN IF you have a citation to the source somewhere in your paper)
If you use others' words and/or works you MUST so indicate that with the use of quotation marks. Failure to use quotation marks to indicate that the materials are not of your authorship constitutes plagiarism—even if you have a citation to the source elsewhere in your paper/work.
Patterned failure to so indicate that the materials are not of your own authorship will result in an F grade for the course.
Other instances of improper attribution will result in a 0 (zero) for the assignment (or a reduction in points equal to the value of an Extra Credit paper), and a reduction of one grade in the final grade of the course.
All incidents will be reported to the UMD Academic Integrity Officer in the
Office of Student and Community Standards as is required by University Policy.
Students with disabilities:
It is the policy
and practice of the University of Minnesota Duluth to create inclusive
learning environments for all students, including students with
disabilities. If there are aspects of this course that result in
barriers to your inclusion or your ability to meet course requirements –
such as time limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of
non-captioned videos – please notify the instructor as soon as
possible. You are also encouraged to contact the Office of
Disability Resources to discuss and arrange reasonable
accommodations. Please call 218-726-6130 or visit the DR website
at www.d.umn.edu/access for more information.
Duluth Time
, the “Portable Document Format” that is the open standard for document exchange. If you have problems with that format, please try "(.pptx)" 
, Office PowerPoint 2007. It is unlikely that you will have problems with both of them, but if you do, please let us know: 
Gradebook entry for Extra Credit requires that 
) 
