Approaches human relationships with food from micro to macro levels. Considers personal and interpersonal relationships with food, examining the social, cultural, and political meanings of food at various intersections of identity (gender, race, class, ability, age, etc.), and within different institutions such as family, education, and religion. Asks questions about personal/individual responsibility in relation to food, and the role of communities, municipalities, governments, and global entities in determining what people eat and how. Explores the gendered, raced, and classed politics of food systems; questions of sovereignty, sustainability, access, regulation, dissemination, and policy making. Examines the cultural, ecological, and economic implications of the ways food is perceived, produced, and consumed across cultures. From rural development to major agribusiness, from land conservation to the politics of globalization, from local food systems to global food justice, we take a global approach to understanding how food is produced, by whom, the key stakeholders involved, and who benefits and who suffers in these arrangements of how food gets from a source to a stomach.
Gen&WS 472: Food For Thought
Download Gen&WS 472 Food for Thought Syllabus Spring 2026