GSWS 1180 - POLITICS OF GENDER AND FOOD

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
Food is sustenance and absolutely essential to life. But food is never simply about nutrition. Because it is fundamental to the human experience, food is also a medium for the expression of culture and social identity. Moreover, food relays complex social messages about gender, sexuality, and family. Consequently, food is also a means for expressing the social and symbolic use of power and control in which social inequalities are expressed in culinary forms. This course will examine food from the vantage point of gendered systems of production, distribution, and consumption as we consider: How does your food come to your table (or not) and what are the political implications of personal tastes? By the end of this course, students will be able to: 1) apply anthropological and feminist theories to food and eating in a cross-cultural perspective; 2) understand how gender, race and class influence our access to and perspective on food; and 3) make connections between eating and cultural identities and beliefs.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Seminar
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis
Course Attributes: DSAS Global Issues General Ed. Requirement, Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies, SCI Polymathic Contexts: Global&Cross Cul GE. Req.

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