Download the Day by Day Schedule

NCLC 102: Global
Networks and Communities: Food and Sovereignty

Mason Cornerstones,
Fall 2009

Week 1

Oct 26-29

 Overarching questions
for the week :

  • What is globalization? And
    what are some of the different experiences of globalization?
  • What produces/makes possible
    these experiences?
  • What are the ways of looking
    at/thinking about globalization, and why do we use the lens of food?
Learning
objectives:

    • Recognize that globalization
      is an uneven and an unequal process; we experience it differently, and
      our experiences are determined by our positions in the global power
      structures
    • Illustrate that globalization
      is a multi-dimensional process, at once cultural, economic, political,
      and social.
Class
Activities:		 Readings and Texts: Assignments:
Mon 10/26 – Syllabus review

– Groups assigned

– Video: Shift Happens (YouTube)

 Wilk, “Home Cooking
in the Global Village,” pp 1-8, 14-18

Koeppel, Banana, pp xi-xix

 In-class writing on global networks
and communities
Wed 10/28 – Film: Eat, Drink,
Man, Woman—opening scene

–
Video: Ilha das Flores (YouTube)

– Film: Corn is Life

– Discuss films + readings

– Discuss group contracts

– Introduce Tomlinson

 Koeppel, Banana,
pp 3-50

Friedman, “Lexus and the Olive Tree”

Robins, “Encountering Globalization”
Thu 10/29 – Discuss assigned reading

– Share food stories

 Tomlinson, “Global Food
and Local Identity”

Tomlinson, “Cultural Globalisation:
Placing and Displacing the West”

Chapter 1 of Food Book
Week
2

Nov 2-5

Overarching questions
for the week:

  • Because of globalization,
    the range of sources and resources available to construct and challenge
    identities has increased; how does food help us construct, reinforce,
    and change those identities?
  • What is the cultural impact
    of globalization?
Learning
Objectives:

  • Learn about some cultural
    implications of globalization; specifically, identify food as a marker
    of identity—regional, religious, ethnic—that is rapidly changing
    because of globalization
  • Become familiar with various
    resources for research, for identifying, analyzing, and managing appropriate
    information.
Class
Activities:		 Readings and Texts: Assignments:
Mon 11/2 – Discuss readings

– Workshop for Chapter 2 of Food Book:
Digital Story

– Advising session during the morning

 Gutierrez, “Ethnic/Regional Foodways”

Fernandez, “Colonizing the Cuisine”

Milton, “Real Men Don’t Eat Deer”

Pollan, “Introduction,” Omnivore’s
Dilemma, pp 1-19

 Writing on reading

Group contract
Wed 11/4 – Grocery store trip Checklist to guide field trip and
to record observations
Thu 11/5 – Introduction to library
& web resources

– Introduce Chapter 3 of Food Book:
Sources & Destinations

– Debrief Wed field trip

 Research & library resources In-class written reflection
on first 2 weeks of class

Week
3

Nov 9-12

 Overarching questions
for the week:

  • To what extent and in what
    ways are we all the same or different as individuals, communities, cultures
    and sovereignties, and why should one care?
  • How does globalization change
    the way we understand/experience our differences and sameness?
  • What is cultural imperialism?
    How is it a continuation of imperialism/colonialism? What are the differences?
Learning
objectives:

  • Understand the concepts
    of homogeneity, heterogeneity, hybridity/hybridization
  • Understand the notion of
    cultural imperialism
  • Understand hegemony, sovereignty,
    neoliberalism
Class
Activities:		 Readings and Texts: Assignments:
Mon 11/9 – Discuss readings Watson, Golden Arches
East, Introduction & Update

Ritzer, “An Introduction to McDonaldization”

Koeppel, Banana, pp 51-98

Writing on readings

Bring visual narratives about McDonald’s
around the world for short presentation.

Wed 11/11 – Discuss readings

– Film: Life & Debt

– Compare Food Book chapters

 Bestos, “Sushi Went
Global” (online)

Barndt, “On the Move for Food: Three
Women Behind the Tomato's Journey” (online)

Raworth, Kate, “Injustice in the
Fields” from Trading Away Our Rights: Women Working in Global Supply
Chains, Chapter 4, pp 66-79 (online)

 Chapter 2 of Food Book
Thu 11/12 – Class debates: argue
the opposite of your own position		 McChesney, “Introduction,”
to Chomsky, Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order

Friedman, “It’s a flat world after
all” (online)

Koeppel, Banana, pp 99-134
Week
4 and 5

Nov 16-23

 Overarching questions
for the week:

  • What can food production
    and consumption models tell us about globalization?
  • How have technologies changed
    food production and consumption?
Learning
Objectives:

  • Investigate and understand
    how food is produced and consumed throughout the world
  • Understand the role of corporations
    in food production
  • Recognize the costs of our
    production and consumption system (i.e. human health, environmental,
    etc.)
  • Understand how governments
    and international organizations control and influence food production
    exports and imports .e. subsidy, tariffs, etc.
Class
Activities:		 Readings and Texts: Assignments:
Mon 11/16 – Discuss: readings

– Data analysis

Pollan, “Section I:
Industrial Corn,” Omnivore’s Dilemma, Chapters 1-7; pp 19-119

Worldwide production and consumption
figures:

http://www.fao.org/corp/statistics/en/

 Writing on readings
Wed 11/18 – Field Trip: industrial agriculture
facility or sustainable farm 		Ackerman, “Food: How
Altered?” (online)
Thu 11/19 – Debrief field trip

– Video: Futurama episode

Hunger Banquet 5-6:30

 Koeppel, Banana,
pp 135-182 		In-class writing about field trip

Chapter 3 of Food Book due on Saturday,
November 21
Mon 11/23 – Individual student conferences with
instructor

– Time for group work

Week
6

Nov 30-

Dec 3

 Overarching questions
for the week:

  • Are current models of food
    production and consumption sustainable?
Learning
Objectives:

  • Investigate, understand,
    and identify the different definitions of sustainability and conservation
  • Investigate and understand
    how the production and consumption of food throughout the world influences
    environmental conservation and sustainability
  • Appreciate the interconnectedness
    of the world food production and consumption system and how this affects
    conservation and sustainability
  • Appreciate how different
    places and regions of the world are dealing with sustainability and
    conservation issues in terms of food in different ways
Class
Activities:		 Readings and Texts: Assignments:
Mon

11/30

 – Discuss readings Barlett and Steele, “Monsanto’s
Harvest of Fear” (online)

NPR reports on India's Farming Revolution:
“India's Farming Revolution Heading for Collapse” and “Bucking
the 'Revolution' By Going Organic” (online)

Wehrfritz and Theil, “It’s the
Stupid Politics” (online)

 Writing on readings
Wed

12/2

 – Discuss readings

– Afternoon: prep time for group presentation

 Pollan, “Section II: Pastoral Grass,”
Omnivore’s Dilemma, Chapters 8-14; pp 123-273
Thu

12/3

 – Discuss: definitions of conservation
and sustainability 		Bourne, “The End of Plenty”
(online)

Koeppel, Banana, pp 185-241

 Chapter 4 of Food Book due on Saturday,
Dec 5

Week 7

12/7-10

 Overarching question for
the week:

  • What alternatives and interventions
    are available to you? To others?
Learning
Objectives:

  • Investigate and understand
    possible alternatives and choices in regards to the prevailing/standard
    production and consumption models around the world
  • Explore the future of globalization—local/global/glocal
    alternatives?
Class
Activities:		 Readings and Texts: Assignments:
Mon 12/7 – Panel: discussion and advocacy McKibben, “The Year of Eating Locally”

Pollan, “Why Bother” in Faigley,
Writing, pp 559-565

Lavin, “Pollanated Politics, or,
The Neoliberal's Dilemma” (online)
Wed 12/9 – Student presentations Presentation report
Thu 12/10 – Course summary

– Course evaluations

– Celebration of Learning J

 In-class response to panel or presentation

12/14
Chapter 5 and Epilogue of Food Book due