Spring 2008 Food Courses

The following courses are being offered at Penn during the Spring 2008 semester. If you enjoyed The Omnivore's Dilemma and associated topics, these courses are sure to be of interest.

Be sure to consult PennInTouch, department web sites and the course registrar for the most up to date course registration information.

• Critical Writing Seminars
  
• Freshman Seminars
• Benjamin Franklin Scholars Courses
• Non-Seminar Courses

CRITICAL WRITING SEMINARS

The Concept of Fat
ANTH 009 301 | TR | 10:30 - 12:00 | Kauer

Fulfills the Writing Requirement
This course examines various meanings of and approaches to “development” in the contemporary world. It will be guided by three questions: 1) what is “development”? 2) what are the “pros” and “cons” of development? 3) what are the mechanisms for development (i.e. who is empowered to “enact” it?)? A central concern will be the complex interrelationships between “development,” on the one hand, and “civilization,” “(post)colonialism,” “modernization” and “globalization” on the other. Other issues will include: different perspectives on development within the world system; appraising the changing measures of development and underdevelopment; the role of the main public and private development agencies; the cultural construction of “well being,” including perceptions of underdevelopment; development as consumerism; local resistance or acquiescence to development; future/alternative development scenarios. Although the course will consider general issues, the focus will be on South Asia.

The Body Toxic
CHEM 009 301 | TR | 4:30-6:00 | Roberts

Fulfills the Writing Requirement
In this course, we will examine the complex and sometimes antagonistic relationship between the environment and the molecular sciences. Advances in biochemistry, toxicology, and endocrinology, along with refinements in analytical techniques and technologies, have allowed us to view ourselves in new ways. How will discovering within our bodies the same synthetic chemicals that we find in the air, water, and soil change the ways we view relationships between the artificial and the natural, the laboratory and the environment? To stimulate our own writing on these issues, we will draw upon readings that range from primary sources to more personal explorations and stories. Students will write several short position papers, as well as try their hand at analysis, description, and narrative.

Are You What You Eat?
ENGL 009 324 | TR 5:00 - 6:30 | Banerjee

Fulfills the Writing Requirement
We all love to eat. Food, however, is about more than just satisfying our appetite. It allows an insight into our national and social identities, into perceptions of who we are and what we do everyday. With food as our focus, this seminar will ask you to write several essays designed to help you articulate your ideas and explore some of the conventions of writing for different audiences. Readings and discussions will help develop your analytical skills, while position papers, descriptive essays, and personal narratives will give you experience in writing for various goals and purposes. Our approach will be collaborative, incorporating multiple drafts and revisions, peer-review sessions, and student-teacher conferences.

The Art of Eating
ENGL 125 302 | MW | 2:00 - 3:30 | Devaney Jr

Fulfills the Writing Requirement
Prerequisite(s): Must be sophomore or above, or permission of instructor upon submission of writing portfolio.
This course is designed to help you become a more effective and graceful writer, using food and the art of eating as our focus. Food is about more than just eating, it is about appetite, taste, emotion, conversation, and culture. The art of eating is a class designed to educate your palates and sensibilities via writing. Our two central texts are: American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes and The Gastronomical Me, by M.F.K. Fisher. Last, you will also have the opportunity to take field trips and discover Philadelphia through its food.

FRESHMAN SEMINARS

Desire and Demand: Culture and Consumption in the Global Marketplace
ANTH 086.301 | Monday | 2:00 - 5:00 | Diggs-Thompson

Does consumption shape culture or does culture shape consumption? Does the archaic term “errand running” now fall under the heading of “power shopping”? As even the most mundane purchase becomes socially symbolic and culturally meaningful we can now persuasively argue that the concept of “need” has been transformed. Selling electronics, music, food, clothes and accessories: who are the players behind the crafting of some of these markets to be elaborately seductive shopping spaces? When successful selling must account for differences in age, gender, ethnicity, language and even religion, how is demand created and how are diverse populations “sold”? From New Delhi to New York, we ask the question: has the process of globalization also homogenized consumption? Is shopping really pop culture and exactly how has this pastime become inextricably bound to issues of self-image, social status and identity? By analyzing a variety of physical and virtual shopping venues in different countries this seminar examines the process of shopping in the global marketplace. How have issues of culture, consumption, marketing, and global capitalism become intertwined around the world?

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SCHOLARS

Environmental Health Assessment
ENVS 406.301 and HSOC 406.301| TR | 1:30 - 3:00 | Pepino

An academically-based community service and CWiC course.
This ABCS course will explore a wide variety of water and air health risks that are present in the environment that have the potential to produce significant human health impacts. Both biological and toxic agents will be researched by the students to determine points of exposures, and how these agents produce deleterious effects to an often unsuspecting population. Emerging topics, such as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in water supplies, pathogens toxic metals in our food water supplies, household molds and antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, will comprise some of the most relevant topics that will be explored. The community-based component of the course will require students to work with community organizations to assess a significant environmental health issue(s) in West Philadelphia and to develop practical, cost-effective solution(s) to meet community needs while mitigating impacts to an at-risk population.

Corporate Responsibility and Ethics
PPE 210 | MW | 10:30 - 12:00 noon | Dunfee

This course explores business responsibility from rival theoretical and managerial perspectives. Its focus includes theories of ethics and their application to case studies in business. Topics include moral issues in advertising and sales; hiring and promotion; financial management; corporate pollution; product safety; and decision-making across borders and cultures.

NON-SEMINAR COURSES

Fat and Society
ANTH 152-301 | Tuesday | 1:30 - 4:30 | Kauer

This course is designed to approach a topic of great interest and relevance to people-both men and women--living in the US today.The readings and concepts of fat: physiology, anatomy, body image, body, weight, macro nutrient, "fatty" foods, ideas about low fat and non-fat, and the morality of fat and thin. Using critical thinking skills from anthropology, students and instructor will explore meanings of fat: their origin, their effects on individuals, and on society.  In particular, we will examine ideas taken for granted by society (especially the biomedical culture, as it extends into the community) about the relations between food, fatness, happiness, health and morality.  Course material draws broadly from the social sciences and humanities and deals with the biological, biomedical, and socio-cultural aspects of fat in our culture. In saying "fat", we are also implicitly saying "thin", and this course is designed to delve into the varied discourse on fat/thin, on body/body image, health, and beauty.

Food and Feasting
ANTH 248-001 | TR | 12:00 - 1:30 | Moore

Food satisfies human needs on many levels.  Anth 248 explores the importance of food in human experience, starting with the nutritional and ecological aspects of food choice and going on to focus on to the social and ritual significance of foods and feasts.  Particular attention will be paid to the way that archaeologists and biological anthropologists find out about food use in the past.  Contemporary observations about the central significance of eating as a social activity will be linked to the development of cuisines, economies, and civilizations in ancient times.  The course will use lectures, discussions, films, food tastings, and fieldwork to explore the course themes. An optional community service component will be outlined the first week of class.

Nutritional Anthropology
ANTH 359-401 | Wednesday | 2:00 - 5:00 | Johnston

Human nutrition and nutritional status within context of anthropology, health, and disease.  Particular emphasis on nutritional problems and the development of strategies to describe, analyze, and solve them.  Students will participate in the Urban Nutrition Initiative, an academically based community service project in local area schools.

Health Communication
COMM 237-001 | TR | 10:30 - 12:00 | Jacobsohn

An examination of the influence of public health communication on health behavior.  The course will consider: intervention programs addressing behaviors related to cancer, cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, drug use, obesity and others; theories of health behavior change; issues in the design of effective health communication programs; concerns about the portrayal of health and medicine on mass media.

Corporate Responsibility and Ethics
PPE 210-401 | MW | 10:30 - 12:00 noon | Robertson
Several other sections offered - please consult course timetable

This course explores business responsibility from rival theoretical and managerial perspectives. Its focus includes theories of ethics and their application to case studies in business. Topics include moral issues in advertising and sales; hiring and promotion; financial management; corporate pollution; product safety; and decision-making across borders and cultures.