Unit information: Historical and Cultural 3: Geographies of Food in 2011/12

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Unit name Historical and Cultural 3: Geographies of Food
Unit code GEOG35110
Credit points 20
Level of study H/6
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director Dr. Glennie
Open unit status Not open
Pre-requisites

All units in Geography year 2C Syllabus

Co-requisites

All units in Geography year 3C Syllabus

School/department School of Geographical Sciences
Faculty Faculty of Science

Description including Unit Aims

Recent years have seen dramatic growth in studies of food, agrarian change and environmental issues in Geography and in many other disciplines. Distinctive key themes of this unit, compared with much other work, are first, the consideration of food production (and agrarian change) and food consumption in relation to one another, and second, its focus on both historical and contemporary experiences. Though drawing chiefly on materials from western Europe, the course ranges much more widely at relevant points.

Framed by four introductory sessions and a concluding discussion, the unit comprises three thematic sections respectively focused on tensions and issues in food consumption; food as ecological and social intervention; and vulnerability and power in global food networks. Each of these sections involves four lectures and one discussion session, for which there is associated reading.

The unit includes an assessed essay project, introduced within the introductory sessions, in which candidates analyse temporal dimensions of their own food consumption practices.