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Anthropology of Food



to Sweet Treats around the World

What FoodAnthro is Reading Now . . .
. Monday, 02 December 2024, 16:43 (04:43 PM) CST, day 337 of 2024 .
 
BBC Food
The Gardian News/ The GardianAnimals Farmed/

World Food and Water Clock
OWL logo, Online Writing Lab, Purdue University.    
 
     
Sicilian ice-cream in a bread bun. A good solution to a local problem: the Mediterranean heat quickly melts the ice-cream, which is absorbed by the bread.
"Palermo,Sicily
Italy
A Fistful of Rice.
A Fistfull of Rice
Nepal
Claire Kathleen Roufs eating first food at 5 months.
Claire Kathleen Roufs
U.S.A.

Eating rat.
"Eating Rat At The New Year"
Vietnam
National Geographic
Desert People, boy eating "grub worm"
Desert People
Australia

Search the troufs Site
(all TR courses and web pages)
Anthroplogy of Food

 Course Description
 
  Course Overview

  Course Objectives 

 Conceptual Outline / Topics
 
 Learner Outcomes



Course Description

Advanced survey and comparative study of the relationship between food and culture in the past and present. Topics include the domestication and evolution of plants and animals, biological and cultural aspects of the production, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food, and an analysis of the social and cultural significance of food—including food preferences and taboos, food and religion, food and identity, food and power, gendered division of labor in foodways, beliefs and values about foods, food symbols and metaphors, new food technologies, and the globalization of contemporary food systems.


Course Overview

Additional General Course Information

It's usually a good idea at the beginning of each course to read the official "Course Description" and have a look at the "Course Objectives and Outcomes."

A course may be exactly what you are looking for, or it may not. If it is not, it's a good idea to figure that out as soon as possible, and in time to find the course you might really be looking for. 

So take a minute to have a look at the "official" UM items below.

In the Week 1 materials we'll have a little more informal look at what the course is all about.

And you can have a look at the course "Resources" available to the class for a bird's-eye view of the semester's topics and reading, video, and assignment schedules

Another thing you might do is have a preview look at the course calendar and General Information WebPage on the regular UM Web.

And, as always, if you have questions ask—either myself, or your classmates via the "General Student Discussion" area.

—Tim Roufs

COURSE STRUCTURE
ANTH 3888 Anthropology of Food
consists of three main segments:

  I Orientation and Background  
      Introduction  
      Basic Concepts  
      History  
      Theory  
      Methods and Techniques  
  II Explorations  
      Comparative / Cross-Cultural  
      Holistic (holism slides.pptx)  
      Ethnographic Case Studies from the Real World: Real People . . . Real Places from Around the Globe  
  III Student Presentations on Term Research Project


The Course in a Nutshell

COURSE CONTENT
primarily comes from the following sources . . .
   
  • "SUNDAY MEMO" for the week . . .
  •    
  • VIDEO EXPLORATIONS . . .
  •    
  • SLIDE PRESENTATIONS . . .
  •    
  • READINGS for the week . . .
  •    
  • OTHER ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION . . .
  •    
  • MIDTERM AND FINAL EXAMS . . .
  •    
  • RESEARCH PROJECT for the term . . . on a topic of your choice related to the course
  •    
  • DISCUSSIONS . . . including your personal experiences
  •    
  • (optional) FOR FUN TRIVIA . . .
  •    
  • (optional) EXTRA CREDIT . . . on a topic of your choice related to the course
  •    
  • OTHER (optional) . . .
  •    
  • IN-THE-NEWS . . .
  • Course Structure
       

    PLEASE NOTE:

    Both the Midterm Exam and Final Exam are open-book/open-notes essay exams.

    So there should be very little work and effort spent on memorizing facts, other than, perhaps, where to go to find the information you are looking for.

    More Information on Exams: Midterm / Final


    NOTE: "In this class, our use of technology will sometimes make students' names and U of M Internet IDs visible within the course website, but only to other students in the same class. Since we are using a secure, password-protected course website, this will not increase the risk of identity theft or spamming for anyone in the class. If you have concerns about the visibility of your Internet ID, please contact me for further information."

    Course Objectives

    1. American Anthropology has long emphasized a fourfold approach to the study of the humankind--one embracing physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology and linguistics--and one regularly doing so with a comparative methodology and explicitly holistic theoretical perspective. It is an aim of the proposed course to demonstrate those interrelating characteristic qualities of the discipline with a foremost topic, the “cultural universal” of food.

    2. Within this comparative holistic traditional disciplinary framework the course aims to convey a basic understanding of fundamental biological nutritional needs, “derived” needs relating to the production/obtaining, distributing, preparing, consuming, and honoring/celebrating the use of food within a global perspective.

    3. The course aims to provide a fundamental understanding of subsistence strategies past and present, including domestication and evolution of plants and animals.

    4. The course aims to provide an understanding of prehistoric and contemporary regional cuisines and subsistence patterns, including those native and immigrant to Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.

    5. This course aims to familiarize students with comparative categories of food and foodways, and how they are constructed.

    6. The course aims to impart an understanding of the importance of the social and cultural significance of food--including food preferences and taboos, the relationship between food and religion, and food and identity, and food and power, gendered division of labor in foodways, beliefs and values about foods, food symbols and metaphors, new food technologies, and the globalization of contemporary food systems.

    7. This course aims to prepare students to think critically about the meanings of what we and others eat and drink, and of what we do not consume.

    8. This course aims to help students better understand societies of the world through an understanding of their foods and foodways.

    9. The course aims to understand and reflect on their personal relationship to food chains and food procurement and utilization systems.

    10. Finally, the course aims to provide some experience and practice at researching, writing about, and publicly presenting results of anthropological inquiry.

    Conceptual Outline / Topics

        • Food and Culture: Introduction and Orientation

        • Basic Human Nutritional Needs and Nutritional Anthropology

        • Diet and Human Evolution: Archaeology/Prehistory of Food and Subsistence

          • Paleontology and the Diets of Extinct Hominids/Humans

          • The Neolithic Revolution: Domestication of Plants and Animals

          • “The Omnivore’s Paradox”

          • “The Diseases of Civilization”

        • Eating as a Cultural Affair

          • Food Preferences

          • Dietary Restrictions and Taboos

          • Ritual Feasts

        • Food Technologies: How People Get Their Food in Nonindustrialized Societies 

          • Hunting/Gathering/Foraging

          • Horticulture

          • Pastoralism

          • Intensive Agriculture

          • Contemporary Peasant Societies 

        • Food Technologies: How People Get Their Food in Industrialized Societies 

          • Structures of Industrial/Global Production, Distribution and Consumption

          • Pre-globalization “Globalization”

          • Genetically engineered crops and industrial/factory-farmed animals

          • Organic and “Industrial Organic” foods, and sustainable agriculture

          • Food security

        • Food and Social Organization

          • Food as a Means of Solidifying Social Ties

        • Food/Cuisines and National, Ethnic, Class and Personal Identities

        • Boundary Crossings

        • Eating and Ritual

          • Eating Ritual

          • Ritual Feasting

        • Food and Social Status/Food as Social Markers

        • Food as a Means of Strengthening Economic and Political Alliances

        • Local and Regional foods and food issues

          • Local Foods

          • Chippewa/Ojibwa/Anishinabe and other Native Americans

          • Regional Immigrant Ethnic Foods

        • Other America Immigrant Ethnic Foods

        • European Union Regulations and Policies

        • Worldview, Religion, and Health Beliefs: The Ideological Basis of Food Practices

        • Food and Religion

        • Food and Traditional Medicine, Health Beliefs and Practices

        • Ritual/Non-ritual Fasting

        • Food as Pleasure

        • Food Linguistic Classification and Communication: Culturally Constructed Categories of Food

        • Global Food Issues

        • The Current World Food "Crisis"

        • Overnutrition

        • Manutrition

        • Famine

        • Development and issues of world hunger

        • Feeding the World

        • World Health Organization

        • Food and Social Change: Dietary Behavioral Change

        • The future of food

        • Student Presentations on Term Paper Research
    top of page A-Z index
     Canvas 
    TR HomePage

    Learner Outcomes

    Learner Outcomes are guided by the following information . . .

    See rubrics details with individual Canvas assignments.


     Course Overview, Objectives, Outline, and Outcomes

    General Course Information

    Grades / Grading / Academic Policies and Rubrics

    Midterm Exam Rubrics

    Final Exam Rubrics

    Problem / Project Statement / Proposal Rubrics

    Project Presentation Rubrics

    Term Paper Rubrics

    Extra Credit Rubrics

    Class Activities Rubrics

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    Main Due Dates
    f2024 Calendar
    "Sunday Memos"   Videos   Slides   Text
     
      Other (check Canvas   Exams: Midterm / Final   Project   Discussions   


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