Undergraduate Course: The social life of food (SCIL10081)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Food has long been, and will continue to be, an intense socio-cultural, material, ethical and political issue. Taking sustainability as a specific lens, the course examines what we eat, how we eat, where food comes from, and goes, what food is wasted, who gets to eat and grow food, how food brings us together and how food divides us, who is excluded or disadvantaged at different points in the process of producing, consuming and wasting food. Sustainability is introduced as pertinent not only to the environment, but also to people. Food appears in the course:
- as good to think (and act) with;
- as an area of debate and inquiry in its own right;
- as a force which acts on us and on the world;
- as a site where we can explore the use of, and apply, key concepts in social science study as varied as capitalism; globalization; industrialization; colonialism; inequality and social justice; migration; work and labour; family relations and sociability; environmental (un)sustainability etc. (the course is thus in dialogue with quite a few other Sociology honours courses).
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| Course description |
The course provides a framework for understanding key concepts and contemporary debates about food, as well as critically evaluating how past, current and future food-related issues are framed and dealt with locally and globally. This year we particularly explore issues of (in)equality and (un)sustainability in and through food and eating. We look into the broken food system, ongoing inequality both at the production and at the consumption end, and ways in which sustainability can be worked upon.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 2 social science courses (such as Sociology, Politics, Social Policy, Social Anthropology, etc) at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 72 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Short assignment: 25%
Long essay: 75%.
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| Feedback |
Formative feed-back will be provided on the short assignment (through the feed-back form). Part of a session will be dedicated to providing collective feed-back once the short assignment has been returned. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of some of the main terminologies, theories and disciplinary boundaries in the study of food through the lens of sustainability
- Apply the acquired knowledge to make sense of historical, contemporary and newly emerging food debates
- Apply the acquired methodological and theoretical skills to critically identify, define, conceptualise and analyse complex problems around food and sustainability
- Apply the acquired methodological and theoretical skills to assess currently debated ¿solutions¿ to issues of food sustainability
- Present and convey information about contemporary debates around food to informed audiences.
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Reading List
¿ Cappellini, B., Marshall, D., & Parsons, E. (eds) The Practice of the Meal: Food, Families and the Market Place. Routledge.
¿ Counihan, C. and Van Esterik, P. 2013. Food and Culture: A reader. Routledge.
¿ Counihan, C., & Højlund, S. 2018. Making taste public: Ethnographies of food and the senses. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic.
¿ Crouch, D., & Ward, C. 1994. The Allotment: Its landscape and culture. Nottingham: Mushroom.
¿ Crowther, Gillian. 2018. Eating Culture: An Anthropological Guide to Food. Second Edition. 2 edition. University of Toronto Press, Higher Education Division.
¿ Korsmeyer, C., 2005. The taste culture reader: experiencing food and drink English., Oxford, England; New York, N.Y.: Berg.
¿ Lang, T., Barling, D., & Caraher, M. 2009. Food Policy: Integrating health, environment and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
¿ Lang, T., Dibb, S., & Reddy, S. 2011. Looking Back, Looking Forward: Sustainability and UK food policy 2000-2011. London: Sustainable Development Commission.
¿ Lang, T. (2020). Feeding Britain: Our food problems and how to fix them. Penguin UK.
¿ Lebesco, Kathleen, and Peter Naccarato, eds. 2017. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Food and Popular Culture. London, UK¿; New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Critical analysis and evaluation
- Communication to informed audiences
- Working with others
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| Keywords | Food,sustainability,naturecultures,food inequalities |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Niamh Moore
Tel: (0131 6)50 8260
Email: Niamh.Moore@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr James Heitler
Tel:
Email: jheitler@ed.ac.uk |
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