Food, Hunger, and Power in the Modern World
This course explores how conflicts over food shaped the modern world. We compare shifting interpretations of famine (in Ireland, India, and Ethiopia), and explore how food became a "weapon of war" during the World Wars. Finally, the course analyzes how race, gender, and class shaped American food and welfare policies.
Outcomes: Students will have developed an awareness of the biological, political, social, cultural, and economic meanings of food in modern societies; Students will have gained exposure to different methodological approaches to studying food and hunger (anthropology, economics, sociology, psychology, gender studies etc.); Students will develop skills in analytically interpreting both primary and secondary sources; Students will have engaged in independent research with both primary and secondary sources to complete a historical research project; Students will understand how race and gender have shaped and been shaped by the modern food system.
Outcomes: Students will have developed an awareness of the biological, political, social, cultural, and economic meanings of food in modern societies; Students will have gained exposure to different methodological approaches to studying food and hunger (anthropology, economics, sociology, psychology, gender studies etc.); Students will develop skills in analytically interpreting both primary and secondary sources; Students will have engaged in independent research with both primary and secondary sources to complete a historical research project; Students will understand how race and gender have shaped and been shaped by the modern food system.