Food, Identity, and Power

Food sustains not only bodies but also national, ethnic, and social identities. Notions of order and transgression, nature and culture, have long affected how and what people eat. Using interdisciplinary approaches, we will examine the practices and politics of food and eating in a range of regions. How does eating, this most basic and universal of human practices, both reflect and create difference? How are symbolic and “real” food systems linked to national and international politics? Finally, how are contemporary food practices influenced by modernization and globalization? 3 hrs. sem.