PS337G:
Prerequisites
Meeting Times, Location, & Course Delivery Details
Contact Information
Upon successful completion of this course…
1. The student will be able to analyze attitudes, perspectives, and assumptions toward food and food
politics.
2. The student will be able to explain why some experts consider the modern food system unsustainable.
3. The student will be able to explain why some experts consider the global political economy of food to be
unjust.
4. The student will be able to describe and critically evaluate alternative approaches to the current food
system
5. The student will be able to evaluate their role in the food system.
Readings (please bring assigned books to class)
Lester R. Brown (2012). Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity.
Patel, Raj (2012) Stuffed and Starved: the Hidden Battle for the World Food System.
Additional readings assigned. (This will constitute a significant amount of reading.)
Course Requirements
1) Three exams will be given.
2) Students will be graded on multiple Writing Assignments. Unannounced WAs will be given throughout the semester. Most WAs will be given at the beginning of class, but can be given at other times as well. They can cover the assignment for the day and the material assigned for and/or covered during the prior class. There will be no make-up Writing Assignments given for late or absent students.
3) Students will give one presentation. (It will count as two Writing Assignments, with respect to your grade.) Details will be handed out in class.
4) Students will participate in a Roundtable Discussion/Debate on the future of agriculture. Details will be handed out in class.
5) Attendance and engagement are essential. Students will be graded on the degree to which they contribute to a positive learning environment, including meaningful class engagement and class attendance. In addition, students should arrive at class on time.
“Eating is an agricultural act.” ― Wendell Berry
“Cheap food is an elaborate ‘buy now, pay later’ scheme.” ― Wayne Roberts
“‘It’s this whole American thing about having cheap food. It’s a fallacy. That guy thinks his food is cheap, but you and I are subsidizing that cheap food by paying for the social and ecological issues that are occurring in that community. Not to mention the animals,…The farmer should always get a decent reward for having given decent treatment to the animals. They need that in order to stay interested in raising animals well and to keep another generation on the farm. Meat and the lives of animals should be treated with much more regard. People should be prepared to pay more and not think of meat as an everyday, throw-away food.’” ― Peter Singer, The Ethics of What We Eat
“Soil becomes stuff that holds your plant upright while you pour oil on it.” ― Bill McKibben
“In other words, that thing we call modernity, the liberation from family, from community, and, at base, from the soil.” ― Bill McKibben
“For most of human history, people have been directly involved in the production of their food.” ― Fred Bahnson
“…eating is the daily enactment of our dependence on other people, the land and ultimately God. Every time we take a bite, we bear witness to a bewildering array of relationships that connect us to earthworms, raspberry shoots, water, sunshine, farmers, cooks and friends.” ― Fred Bahnson
“When we as people view this vastly complex, diverse universe as some sort of cerebral science experiment, we lose our functional moorings. This magical, marvelous food on our plate, this sustenance we absorb, has a story to tell. It has a journey. It leaves a footprint. It leaves a legacy. To eat with reckless abandon, without conscience, without knowledge; folks this ain’t normal.” ― Joel Salatin
“With every bite, we are either healing or hurting our neighbors, the soil, and ultimately the world.” ― Joel Salatin
“Eating with the fullest pleasure - pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance - is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend. ― Wendell Berry, “The Pleasures of Eating”
“We can't plead ignorance, only indifference. Those alive today are the generations that came to know better. We have the burden and the opportunity of living in the moment when the critique of factory farming broke into the popular consciousness. We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?” ― Jonathan Safran Foer
Course Overview
This course is designed to introduce the student to the global politics of food. We will begin with an examination of our core philosophical and religious beliefs toward agriculture and food. Next we will consider the criticism that the modern food system is unsustainable. The third section will examine the global political economy of the food system and the degree to which it is just. Next, we will consider some alternative futures for the food system. Throughout the course students will consider their respective place in the food system, that is, how it affects them and visa-versa. Several guest speakers will address our class. The course will culminate in a roundtable debate/discussion which examines the future of the global food system.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course students be able to:
1) reflect on and analyze their attitudes, perspectives, and assumptions toward food and food politics;
2) explain why some experts consider the modern food system unsustainable;
3) explain why some experts consider the global political economy of food to be unjust;
4) describe and critically evaluate alternative approaches to the current food system;
5) critically evaluate their role in the food system.
COURSE OUTLINE (subject to change)
Part I: Preliminary Reflections: The social construction of nature and eating
Week 1 (Jan. 13)
Introduction to the Course
Read Scott Russell Sanders, A Conservationist Manifesto (pdf)
Read Norman Wirzba, From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World (pp. 7, 18-19) (pdf)
Read James J. Farrell’s “Food for Thought” from The Nature of College (pdf)
Week 2 (Jan. 20)
MLK, Jr. Day (no class Jan. 20)
Read James J. Farrell’s “Food for Thought” from The Nature of College (pdf)
Read Patel Chapter 9 (pp. 259-286): “Chosen by Bunnies”: obesity; collective action; emphasis on place; affordability; CC
Part II: Food, Freedom & Flourishing: What do we want agriculture and food to look like?
Week 3 (Jan. 27)
Living in right relationship with the planet
Read Wendell Berry’s “A Place Known and Dreamed” from Remembering (pdf)
Read Norman Wirzba, From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World (pp. 17-18, 25-27) (pdf)
Read “Goodbye, U.S.D.A, Hello, Department of Food and Well-Being.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/opinion/usda-agriculture-secretary-biden.html
Read “Applying Quaker Thought to Food” https://www.friendsjournal.org/applying-quaker-thought-food/
Part III: The Food System Is Broken: Resource Scarcity
Week 4 (Feb. 3)
Demand Challenges
Read Brown Preface
Watch: Jonathan Foley: “The other inconvenient truth.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1US4jjWtua8&feature=youtu.be (watch to 11:38 mark)
Presentation: Food: _________________________
Read Brown Chapter 1: Food: The Weak Link (Supply, demand, conflict)
Presentation: Population Growth: _________________________
Read Brown Chapter 2: The Ecology of Population Growth
Presentation: Food Chain: _________________________
Read Brown Chapter 3: Moving Up the Food Chain
Presentation: Food vs. Fuel: _________________________
Read Brown Chapter 4: Food or Fuel?
Week 5 (Feb. 10)
Supply Challenges
Presentation: Soils: _________________________
Read Brown Chapter 5: Eroding Soils Darkening Our Future
Presentation: Water: _________________________
Read Brown Chapter 6: Peak Water and Food Security
Presentation: Grain Yields: _________________________
Read Brown Chapter 7: Grain Yields Starting to Plateau
Presentation: Global Warming: _________________________
Read Brown Chapter 8: Rising Temperatures, Rising Food Prices
Week 6 (Feb. 17)
Exam I (Tentatively Feb. 18)
Part IV: The Food System Is Broken: The International Political Economy
Read Patel “Introduction”
Week 7 (Feb. 24)
Read Patel Chapter 2: “A Rural Autopsy”
Read Patel Chapter 3: “You Have Become Mexican”
Week 8 (March 3)
Read Patel Chapter 3: “You Have Become Mexican”
Week 9 (March 10)
Spring Break
(Select an agricultural actor/player for Global Food Summit. Summit focus how to overcome food shortages in future)
Week 10 (March 17)
Read Patel Chapter 4: “‘Just a Cry for Bread’”
Read Patel Chapter 5: “The Customer is Our Enemy: Introduction to Food System Business”
Exam II
Week 11 (March 24)
Read Patel Chapter 6 “Better Living Through Chemistry”
Readings TBA
Part V: Food: Alternative Futures to Feed the World Sustainably
Week 12 (March 31)
Read Clapp Chapter 6: “Justice and Sustainability in the World Food Economy”
Video: Kiss the Ground
Week 13 (April 7)
Presentation: Industrial agriculture is the solution?: ________________________
Scientific articles
Presentation: Small farms are the solution?: ________________________
Scientific articles
Kimbrell Chapter 1: Industrial ag will feed the world
Kimbrell Chapter 4: Industrial ag is efficient
Presentation: Jonathan Foley--there is no silver bullet: ________________________
Jonathan Foley: The other inconvenient truth (start at 11:38)
Presentation: True Cost Accounting: ________________________
Read Norman Wirzba, From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World (pp. 126-129) advocating for true cost accounting; Kimbrell Chapter 3: Industrial food is cheap
Week 14 (April 14)
Presentation: Bioengineering ____________________
“Bioengineering: GMOs, Fake Meat, and 3D Pizzas” in Robert Saik’s book Food 5.0.
Presentation: Precision Agriculture ________________
“Precision Agriculture: Sensors, Robots, and Data-Lots of Data” in Robert Saik’s book Food 5.0.
Presentation: Data Collection: ________________
“Data Collection: Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Algorithms” in Robert Saik’s book Food 5.0.
Presentation: The Role of Women: _________________
Vandana Shiva: “Development, Ecology and Women” in Staying Alive & “Science, Nature and Gender” in Staying Alive (https://ia800301.us.archive.org/7/items/StayingAlive-English-VandanaShiva/Vandana-shiva-stayingAlive.pdf)
Women in Agriculture: Oxfam’s empowering women: https://www.oxfam.org/en/empowering-women-farmers-end-hunger-and-poverty; The FAO’s “The gender gap in land rights” (http://www.fao.org/3/I8796EN/i8796en.pdf)
Week 15 (April 21)
Exam III
Roundtable Prep
Week 16 (April 28)
Roundtable Prep
Roundtable (May 1)
Final Exam Period Wednesday, May 6 @ 10:15 a.m. -12:15 p.m.
***Please Note***
1. See the current Student Handbook for the college’s Academic Integrity policies as they pertain to examinations, plagiarism, classroom behavior, and the process for handling academic misconduct charges. Academic misconduct (including plagiarism) will not be tolerated!!! Academic misconduct will lead to an F for the assignment and possibly the class. When taking tests you will be penalized for violating test-taking principles (all notes out of sight, keep your eyes on your own paper, cover your answers). Do not wear hats during tests.
2. Please mute and put away all cell phones and any other electronic devices during class. If you need to receive or send a message during class, please tell me prior to class.
3. Be courteous when someone is talking—only one person talking at a time. No side conversations. No personal attacks.
4. There will be no make-up quizzes for late or absent students, unless there are multiple, long-term excused absences. If you unexpectedly miss an exam, contact me immediately!!!
5. If you’re concerned about your grade or any other class-related issue, see me sooner rather than later. Don't wait!!!
6. You are responsible for what you miss in class (including changes in the syllabus). If you miss a class-related event, it is your responsibility to make it up (to the extent that it is possible).
7. Try to avoid scheduling appointments (e.g., doctor’s appts., family trips) during class time.
8. Take notes.
9. Save quizzes, papers, etc. in case there is a dispute over your grade.
10. Please do not begin gathering your materials until you have been dismissed!
11. See the current Student Handbook for the college Attendance Policy especially as it pertains to excused absences.
12. A minimum of two hours out-of-class student work is expected for each hour of in-class time.
13. An “A” is defined as outstanding. To receive an “A” in this class you must perform at an “outstanding” level throughout the semester.
14. Talk to me prior to class if you need to use a laptop or cell phone in class.
15. In order to maintain your eligibility for financial aid, you must earn a cumulative GPA of 2.0. You also must successfully complete 2/3 (67%) of the classes for which you are registered after the first week of school. Dropping a class could put you at risk of not meeting the 67% criteria. If you wish to drop a class, please see your instructor or advisor for help calculating your status.
16. If you have a documented disability that requires accommodations, contact Amber Walters, the Accessibility and Disability Services Director in Robinson Communication Center Room 111 or 937-481-2444 or accessibility@wilmington.edu
17. Contact me prior to class if you need to attend via Zoom. You will need to explain the necessity of your request. Please have your video on when you Zoom.
Point Structure Grade Structure
Exam 1 = 10% A=93-100; A-=90-92 (outstanding)
Exam 2 = 15% B+=87-89; B=83-86; B-=80-82
Exam 3 = 15% C+=77-79; C=73-76; C-=70-72
Writing Assignments/Presentation = 30% D+=67-69; D=63-66; F=62 or less
Roundtable Discussion/Debate = 20%
Participation/Engagement = 10%
Instructor Course Policies
Institutional and Program-Level Policies
All exams will follow the Final Exam Schedule. Students scheduled to take three or more final examinations on one day may request to arrange their examination schedule, so no more than two exams occur on one day.
Requests for early or late exams are considered only under extreme circumstances. Prior to the exam period, the student must file a written request on the Early/Late Exam Form available in the Student One Stop Center, Academic Records, and on the WC portal. The form must be signed by the Instructor and the Academic Dean, approving the alternate exam time. This process must be completed prior to the scheduled exam period.
Out-of-class Work Expectation A minimum of 2 hours of out-of-class student work is expected for each hour of in-class time for traditional face-to-face courses. For online and hybrid courses, the combination of face-to-face time and out-of-class work should be equal to 3 hours per credit hour per week. |
Instructional Course Delivery |
Academic Integrity Policy The use of generative AI is prohibited except where expressly allowed in assignment instructions. |
Academic Misconduct - Examples [10/24]
ACADEMIC CODE OF CONDUCT
This policy is directly related to the first Testimony, which is part of the Student Code of Conduct. “I will practice personal and academic integrity.” The initial responsibility for dealing with academic misconduct lies with the individual faculty member in whose classroom or course of study the offense occurs. The responsibility includes determination of the consequences for the offense. The goal is for faculty to confront cheating and plagiarism, to teach ethical behavior, and to provide an appropriate consequence based on the nature of the incident. Faculty are encouraged to explicitly address academic misconduct and its consequences in the course syllabus.
EXAMPLES OF ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
A. Examination offenses include, but are not limited to, the following:
1.Taking unauthorized materials into or out of the examination room.
2.Leaving the examination room without authorization before completing an examination.
3.Talking in the examination room without authorization.
4.Discussing the examination outside the examination room during the course of the examination.
5.Attempting to observe the work of another student.
6.Taking an examination for another person or permitting someone else to do so.
7.Collaborating improperly by discussion, joint research, or joint effort in any way expressly prohibited by the instructor. This includes using a cell phone or other device to access information from another source or another student.
8.Improper knowledge of contents of an examination - No student shall knowingly acquire unauthorized knowledge of an examination or any part of an examination, or solicit, offer, or give information about any part of an examination.
B. Student work offenses include, but are not limited to, the following, which are expressly prohibited in the absence of prior written approval of the instructor or instructors involved:
1.Resubmission of work - Submitting work which has been previously submitted for credit.
2. Plagiarism - Submitting work done wholly or partly by another, including the unattributed copying of all or parts of a published work or internet document. Using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) sources to produce work (when not expressly permitted) is also a form of plagiarism. Some instances of plagiarism are the result of ignorance rather than dishonesty. When plagiarism is encountered, the instructor should be sure that the student knows proper procedures for attributing content.
3.Prohibited sources - Consulting material or persons contrary to the directions of the instructor.
4.Improper collaboration - Engaging in any discussion, joint research, or joint effort of any kind expressly prohibited by the instructor.
5.Deception - Misrepresenting the authenticity of sources, citations, or principles in any written work.
6. Sharing work – Students who share their work with others are responsible for how that work is used. For example, if a student shares a paper with another student to help him or her understand an assignment, and that student submits the work as their own, the author of the paper shares responsibility for the plagiarism committed by the other student.
D. Other misconduct - Engaging in any other improper conduct as specified by the instructor.
E. Lying – deliberately providing false information relevant to academic matters, such as misrepresenting the inability to take an examination because of illness.
F. Disruptive or disrespectful classroom behavior – causing a disturbance in the classroom, interrupting instruction, speaking rudely or threatening students or faculty.
Class Attendance Policy |
ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)
Students with Disabilities
In accordance with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973), Wilmington College provides access through reasonable accommodations to students with documented physical and psychological disabilities.
Students who wish to access Services need to meet with the Director of Accessibility and Disability Services and provide verification of their disability. To register with Accessibility and Disability Services, students submit an Application for Services. In addition, the student must provide the Disability Verification form accompanied by current disability documentation from a licensed professional. For more information, contact the Director of Accessibility and Disability Services at accessibility@wilmington.edu or 937.481.2444, 114 Robinson Communcation Center.