| Political
Science 135: The Politics of Food and Agriculture
Faculty:Mary
Summers, mysummer@sas.upenn.edu
Subject/Discipline: Political
Science
School: University
of Pennsylvania
Project Area: Hunger
& Homelessness; Health
Spring 2006
The
Politics of Food and Agriculture
PSCI/HSOC
135-301 ABCS and Fox Leadership Program
Seminar
Monday 3-6
Prof.
Mary Summers
mysummer@sas.upenn.edu
215-746-7118
office hours: Tues,
2-3:30 and by apptmt
Leadership Hall, rm 20
3814
Walnut St (entrance is on side of left side of building )
From THE JUNGLE
to FAST FOOD NATION, this academically based community service seminar
will
explore the politics that have shaped food production, consumption and
problems
like food insecurity and obesity here in West Philadelphia and around
the
world. Students will be encouraged to think broadly about how people
define
their interests, ideas, goals and strategies in the many different
arenas and
institutions that shape the politics of food: farms, factories,
families,
markets, marketing, migration, legislatures, bureaucracies, research and health care institutions, and
social movements. The primary focus will be on the American politics
and
institutions that have shaped –and resisted-- the industrialization of
food and
agriculture; but there will also be opportunities for students to
develop
international and comparative perspectives on these issues. In the
course of
the semester students will develop their own research and writing
projects
related to some aspect of the politics of food and agriculture.
Community
Service
Students in this
course may participate in one of four established community service
projects.
The first is a food stamp enrollment campaign led by the Greater
Philadelphia
Coalition Against Hunger. If the food stamp program were more fully
utilized,
it would bring millions more dollars in federal funds to low-income
households
and neighborhoods. Students working with this campaign will be trained
to
screen clients for food stamp eligibility and assist with the food
stamp
application process at sites in low-income neighborhoods (health
centers,
Career Links). You will generally be expected to work at your site at a
time
that fits your schedule 2 hours a week.
The Campaign will also be sponsoring “food stamp
fairs” at grocery
stores fairs in low-income neighborhoods and developing some materials
about
food stamps for immigrant communities. Excellent project for students
interested in issues related to poverty, food insecurity, immigration,
low wage
work, and government support programs. The instructor and Campaign
staff will
work with students interested in using the significant Campaign Data
base to
look at obstacles to food stamp enrollment. For more information and to
get
enrolled in the trainings, contact Cindy Eisenberg, the volunteer
coordinator,
at ceisenberg@hungercoalition.org
(215-430-0555). For more information about the Coalition and the
Campaign,
check their web site at http://www.hungercoalition.org.
The second
service project is with an American history social studies class of
tenth
graders, taught by Mr. Bruce Poulson in the Eco-Tech Division at
University
City High School a few blocks from Penn on Tuesdays from 11:30 to
12:30. You
should also be available for occasional meetings with Mr. Poulson on
Tuesdays
at 10:30. You will work with small groups of students in this class for
an hour
one day a week on projects that use historical documents to relate “the
politics of food” to the Progressive and New Deal eras. You will also
attend
weekly planning sessions with Ashley Johnson (ashleyj@sas.upenn.edu), who
will be
coordinating this project and attend some additional meetings with Mr.
Poulson
to discuss how to work most effectively with his students.
This and the following community service
project are excellent opportunities for students interested in
developing
relationships with inner-city high school students that would allow
them
greater insight on a variety of research projects: for example, the
“school
food environment”; the impact of media and marketing and/or food
availability
(fast food outlets vs. grocery stories) on food choices and habits; the
history
of the school lunch program and opportunities for better nutrition and
constraints that impact school lunch programs; the teenage experience
of low
wage work in fast food and other food related industries.
The third
community service opportunity involves working on Tuesdays and/or
Thursdays
from 1-2 with an English class of ninth graders taught by Ms. Lynn
Johnson at
Sayre High School in an Urban Nutrition Initiative project that seeks
to promote
health awareness with a special focus on the media and the impact of
commercials on nutritional health. You will be working with the
students to
analyze food and beverage commercials as well as on developing their
own
story-board “commercials” for healthy food. You will also attend weekly
planning sessions with Kaveri Arora (kaveria@sas.upenn.edu), who
will be
coordinating this project. Ms. Johnson
will also be available for consultations about how to work most
effectively
with her students. This community service project will be especially
useful for
students interested in analyzing the impact of media and marketing on
food
choice, nutrition, and the obesity epidemic. For more information about
the
Urban Nutrition Initiative, consult their web site at
http://urbannutrition.org.
FarmEcology is
an effort initiated by students who took this course last year to work
with
Penn Dining Services and Aramark to introduce more locally grown food
on
campus. You will be working with them on a campus-wide education
campaign to
increase student interest in the nutritional and environmental benefits
of
local food. These efforts will include sponsoring a Local Foods Spring
Dinner
at one of the dining halls and the development of a fundraising
calendar that
highlights local foods and recipes, as well as maintaining and
expanding the
local food “farm stand” in Houston Market and the appearance of local
foods in
the Penn dining halls on a regular basis.
For more information, contact Emma Kirwan (evkirwan@sas.upenn.edu) or
see the
FarmEcology web site: http://snacks.dining.upenn.edu/farmecology/links.htm.
Participation in this community service project will represent an
important
opportunity to analyze the environmental and social values associated
with
“local” and “organic” food, the potential for “marketing” these values
to your
peers, and the institutional opportunities and constraints for
impacting “food
politics” represented by the purchasing and marketing power of a large
institution like Penn.
For those of you
who are already engaged in community service, it is often quite
possible to
relate this activity to “the politics of food”; and you are welcome to
discuss
this option with the instructor. You may also wish to pursue other
options for
community service; and again, you are welcome to do so in consultation
with the
instructor. For example, local soup kitchens and food cupboards will
give you a
chance to work with the people and needs currently served by emergency
food
institutions. (For information and
schedule for University City Hospitality Coalition serving meals
on/near Penn
campus see http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~soupkit/.) Greensgrow is an urban farm, farmers’
market, and community supported agriculture project in Kensington. Jobs with Justice and the Union of Food
and Commercial Workers are engaged in national and local organizing
efforts
to focus attention on how Wal-Mart is leading to a “race to the bottom”
in
terms of wages and benefits that have a big impact on workers and
farmers in
food related industries. The Student/Farmworker Alliance is a
national
group, working with the Coalition of Immokalee workers, a
grassroots organization
of immigrant farmworkers, to extend the gains made in their Taco Bell
boycott
victory to McDonalds, Burger King and Subway in an effort to use the
enormous
purchasing power of fast food industries to improve wages and working
conditions for farmworkers. (www.sfalliance.org
or www.ciw-online.org)
Many volunteer
activities with children
Requirements
·
Participation in a community
service project
·
At least 50-100 pages of weekly
reading
·
One 3-5 page discussion paper
on your family or
campus “food ways”
·
One 5-7 page midterm paper that
states the
argument/question to be explored in your final paper and evidence you
will look
at
·
Final paper, 15-20 pages. Can
be either a
research paper on a topic of your choosing in consultation with the
instructor,
or a “discussion paper,” using course readings to make a significant
argument
with regard to the politics of food.
·
3-5 page analysis of community
service
·
Presentation (with a partner)
of issues raised
by readings for one class in the semester with emphasis on underlying
debates
·
2 short reflections on class
readings to be
posted on class blackboard or emailed to instructor
·
2 short reflections on
community service or food
related events and experiences to be posted on class blackboard or
emailed to
instructor. (These reflections will not
be individually graded but will count towards the class participation
component
of your grade.)
Students will have the option of receiving an additional
independent study credit (PSCI or HSOC 199), if they commit to at
least
four hours a week on their community service work, a journal to be
submitted
weekly on black board or by email, and a relevant research paper or
multi-media
project. Examples of possible final
projects include, but not limited to: an evaluation of the project;
research on
an issue important to the community organization you are working with;
research
on “best practices” in other states and cities with regard to a related
issue;
a proposal for a campaign or public policy initiative that might better
address
this issue; other options, as discussed with the instructor.
Grading: For PS/HSOC 135-301 your research paper or
final exam will count for 40% of your grade; your class participation
(including the overall quality of your reflection responses on reading
and
community service work) for 20%; your first discussion paper 10%, your
community service analysis 10%, your midterm 20%.
Extra credit for students who post post articles, links or
summaries of food politics related issues from newspapers/web sites on
Class
Blackboard.
For PS/HSOC199, 40% of your grade
will be based on your final project; 40% on your journal and
reflections on
your work and 20% on reports from project supervisors.
Readings
Required books:
Hassia R. Diner, Hungering for America: Italian, Irish,
& Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration (2001);
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1981 [1906]), bantam
edition;
Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation (2001);
James L. Watson, ed. Golden Arches East;
Janet Poppendieck, Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and
the End of
Entitlement (1998);
Kelly Brownell, Food
Fight, 2004
Susan Linn, Consuming Kids: Protecting our Children from
the Onslaught of Marketing and Advertising
Steve Striffler, Chicken: the Dangerous Transformation
of America’s Favorite Food, 2005.
These books have been ordered at House of Our Own
bookstore, 3920 Spruce
St., 215-222-1576.
All other readings will be included in a course packet
which can be obtained at Campus Copy Center, 3907 Walnut St.,
215-386-6410.
Recommended books include Holly Hughes, Best Food
Writing, 2005; Ruth Reichl, Tender at the Bone (1998);
Ruth Ozeki, My
Year of Meats and All Over Creation (2003); Walter Willett,
Eat,
Drink, and Be Healthy (2001); Marion Nestle, Food Politics,
2002;
Kenwyn K. Smith, Manna in the Wilderness of Aids: Ten Lessons in
Abundance
(2002), Bill Lambrecht, Dinner at the New Gene Café (2001);
Andrew
Kimbrel, The Fatal Harvest Reader (2002);
Tim Lang and Michael Heasman: Food
Wars: The Global Battle for Mouths, Minds and Markets (2004)
Examples of Relevant Web
Sites
Food First, http://www.foodfirst.org; Bread
for the
World, http://www.bread.org; Food
Research
Action Center, http://www.frac.org.;
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, http://iatp.org;
Rural Defenders and Family Farm Coalition, www.familyfarmer.org; U. S
Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, http://www.ers.gov; http://www.ers.gov/briefing/foodnutritionassistance/
, Slow Food Movement, www.slowfood.com; marketing to children, www.consumingkids.com.;
Center for
Science in the Public Interest, www.cspinet.org;
Center for Informed Eating has newsletter with much up-to-date
information on
conferences/research, etc. on Big Food, http://www.informedeating.org
COURSE CALENDAR
Week 1 Jan 9 PRESENTATION
OF COMMUNITY SERVICE SITES;
INTRODUCTION TO COURSE THEMES AND REQUIREMENTS
Make sure to notify
instructor,
if taking independent study option by 1/13/06
Jan 16 MARTIN LUTHER KING
HOLIDAY
Week
2 Jan 23 THE POLITICS OF FOOD AND
THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE, 1900 I: Class, gender, ethnicity and food
consumption, 1820-1920
Reading: Hasia Diner, Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, &
Jewish
Foodways in the Age of Migration (intro, conclusion, and chapters of
your
choice);
Week 3 Jan
30 THE POLITICS OF FOOD AND THE IMMIGRANT
EXPERIENCE, 1900 II: Labor, industry and
food safety
Readings: Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906), Chapters 3, 5, 8,
9, 12-15,
29, 31
Week 4, Feb. 6
THE POLITICS OF FAST
FOOD/GLOBAL FOOD, 2000: Production,
marketing and consumption of fast food in the U.S. and East Asia
Readings: Eric Schlosser, FAST FOOD NATION, Introduction and chapters
1-2,
Steve Striffler, CHICKEN, Introduction and chapters 1-2
James L. Watson, ed., GOLDEN
ARCHES EAST (intro, afterword and chapters of your choice)
** FIRST DISCUSSION PAPER
DUE ( 3-5 page analysis of some
aspect of the
"foodways" of your family or your meals while at college. Explore one
or more of the factors that have shaped or changed what, where, and how
you
eat: ethnicity; religion/philosophical commitments; gender/family
roles;
nutrition/health concerns; money; taste; time and schedules;
neighborhood and
geography; family/community values and traditions; media influences;
technology; etc)
Week 5, Feb. 13
FAST FOOD/GLOBAL FOOD, 2000: Labor,
industry, and food safety
Readings: Eric Schlosser, Fast
Food Nation (2002), Chapters, 3,7,8,9, Afterword
Steve Striffler, Chicken:
The
Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food (2005),
chapters 5, 6,
7
Week 6, Feb. 20 FAST
FOOD/GLOBAL
FOOD, 2000I: Farms and farmers, crops and animals
Readings: Wendell Berry, “Six
Agricultural Fallacies,” from Home Economics (1985) (bulk
pack); Blake
Hurst, “Up on the Farm,” The Wilson Quarterly, Summer, 2003
(bulk pack);
Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire (2001), 185-248 (bulk
pack);
Michael Pollen, “Power Steer,” NYT, March 31, 2002 (bulk pack)
Schlosser, Fast Food Nation,
chapters 5-6
Striffler, Chicken, chapters
3-4
MIDTERM DUE (Argument/question you will explore in final
paper;
evidence you will examine)
Week 7, Feb. 27 THE POLITICS OF
HUNGER IN THE U.S: Government and grass roots policies and programs
Readings: Janet Poppendieck, SWEET CHARITY? EMERGENCY
FOOD AND THE END OF
ENTITLEMENT, Introduction, chapters 1-3 7, and conclusion; George
McGovern, The
Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time (2001), 11-45;
69-82 (bulk pack)
March 6 SPRING BREAK
Week 8, March 13 THE POLITICS
OF
AGRICULTURE IN THE US: Government policies and programs, research,
interest
groups, and social movements.
Readings: Robert Paarlberg and
Don
Paarlberg, “Agricultural Policy in the Twentieth Century,” Agricultural
History, Spring, 2000, 136-161 (packet); Mary Summers, “From the
Heartland to
Seattle: The Family Farm Movement of the 1980’s and the Legacy of
Agrarian State Building,” in
Countryside in the Age of the Modern State, Stock and Johnston, eds.,
2001,
304-326 (bulk pack); Michael Pollan, “The (Agri)Cultural Contradictions
of
Obesity, NYT, Oct. 12, 2003 (bulk pack);
Kurt Eichenwald, “Redesigning Nature: Hard Lessons
Learned;
Biotechnology Food: From the Lab to a Debacle,” New York Times, Jan.
25, 2001
(packet)
Week 9, March 20 THE OBESITY
EPIDEMIC: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES
Readings: Kelley Brownell and
Katherine Battle Horgen, Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food
Industry,
Americans’ Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It, Chapters
1-9.
Week 10, March 27 FOOD INDUSTRIES,
MARKETING, REGULATION, CONSUMER ACTION AND REACTIONS
Readings:
Susan Linn, Consuming Kids: Protecting Our Children from the
Onslaught of
Marketing and Advertising (2005),
Introduction and chapters 1-3, 5-6, 9-12; Schlosser, Fast Food
Nation,
chapter 10; Striffler, Chicken, chapter 8; Brownell and
Horgen, Food
Fight, chapters 10-11
**COMMUNITY SERVICE ANALYSIS
DUE (3-5
pages)
Week 11, April 3 GLOBAL AND LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS
Readings: Harriett Friedmann, “Remaking ‘Traditions’: How We Eat, What
We Eat
and the Changing Political Economy of Food,” in Deborah Barndt, ed.,
Women
Working the NAFTA Food Chain (1999), 36-60 (bulk pack); Jeffrey
Pilcher,
“Industrial Tortillas and Folkloric Pepsi,” in Warren Belasco and
Philip
Scranton, Food Nations, 222-239 (bulk pack)
**FIRST
DRAFT OF FINAL PAPERS DUE
Week 12, April 10 FOOD WARS: Conflicting
paradigms for our food future
Readings: Tim Lang and Michael
Heasman: The Global Battle for Mouths, Minds and Markets
(2004), 1-46
(bulk pack) PRESENTATION OF RESEARH PROJECTS
Week 13, April 17 LAST
CLASS/DISCUSSION OF COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS
MAY 1: ALL FINAL PAPERS AND PROJECTS DUE
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