Summer 2004 Voyage

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ANT 1752: Anthropology of Food:
Food, Culture, and Globalization

Prof. Eriberto P. Lozada Jr., Davidson College

Note: Syllabus and Schedule have been modified, 25 June 2004

Course Description

This course focuses on the general subject of how food shapes societies and cultural practices throughout the world. Foodways will be examined from an anthropological perspective for its social and cultural implications; this is not a survey of nutritional or dietetic sciences. Topics to be covered include: food in social contexts; food exchanges and the social construction of groups; food as a marker of social boundaries; food taboos and restrictions; the symbolism of food; folk conceptions of food; body image; transnationalism and global food industries; changes in dietary patterns; famine and food emergencies; fasting and abstinence; vegetarianism and alternative consumption regimes; the invention and commodification of new foods.

Course Objectives:

• to understand the role of food in Asian cultural systems
• to examine the role of food and foodways in the naturalization of social structures and cultural practices
• to study how food is used in the construction of cultural identity
• to use methods of anthropological inquiry in exploring culture
• to develop a better understanding of one’s own culture by comparing Asian foodways and culture with one’s own