ANTHROPOLOGY_A200/E400//SOCIOLOGY_S362 Food and Culture
What is ethnicity but the remembrance of good things to eat as a child?
You are what you eat; or maybe you are how you eat.
Winter 2005 Dr Bob Mucci, Instructor
Office: Lindenwood 231. Office Tel 219-980-6607 (voice mail also).Office hours: Tues & Thurs 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, and right at 5:30; other times and days by appointment. You are welcome to stop by my office at any time, I am here most days from morning until late, and I am usually happy to visit with you; even if I am very busy I can give you at least a few minutes for a quick question or visit. To leave a message or a paper at any time, go to the Sociology & Anthropology Main Office: Lindenwood 214 (tel 219-980-6789); my mailbox is there. Also go there if you can't find me during office hours, or otherwise need to see me; Mike, the secretary there, can tell you if, say, I've gone over to the Anthropology Resource Center in Marram 319.
You are encouraged to contact me by E-mail: Rmucci@IUN.edu
You may call me at home if needed: 773-929-0456.
The IUN Anthro home page is at http://www.iun.edu/~anthronw/
Required Readings:
The Cultural Feast, 2nd ed, 2003, by Bryant et al. The “textbook” for the course
Food and Culture: A Reader,1997, by Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik
How We Eat: Appetite, Culture, and the Psychology of Food, 2003, by Leon Rappoport
Good to Eat: Riddles of Food & Culture, 1985, by Marvin Harris
Much Depends on Dinner, 1986, by Margaret Visser
The Rituals of Dinner, 1991, by Margaret Visser
COURSE NUMBERS: There are three course numbers in this class; you can register for any one, but you can never get credit for more than one with the “Food and Culture” topic. Please note that all three course numbers are “topics” courses; IUN will give academic credit for each of these numbers twice each if you take it with different topics. So if you have already taken any one of the numbers twice already, then take this course with one of the other numbers. Also note that A200 and E400 carry A & S Group IIIB credit, but Soc S362 does not. A200 students must write a brief paper about a cuisine they are familiar with and compare it to the readings; E400 and S362 students must write a longer library research paper. There are no prerequisites for A200, but remember this is a sophomore level class, so there is much more reading and course content than a frosh level intro. Besides the willingness to do the extra work, the prerequisite for E400 and S362 is any one of these: one course in anthropology (recommended) or sociology, Junior standing, honors standing, or consent of the instructor. If you think you might want to change your registration from one number to another, you should do it before the end of the refund period, and you must do it before the end of the automatic ‘W’ period (see IUN timetable schedule of classes). It should cost no more than $30 to change as it is technically just a change of section, not a drop/add of a new course; see me if they accidently try to charge more.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: to provide a basic introduction to the anthropological study of food and eating, culture, and society; this is a holistic viewpoint that includes human culture (symbolic) and human biology (nutritional), and includes all humans, past and present.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: I expect that you will attend all of the lectures, read and study all the assigned readings, and relate the two via your class notes. The average student should spend SIX hours per week just studying for this course – not including your interview report. Because of the large amount of assigned reading, and the necessity of understanding each topic before proceeding to the next, there will be a 20 minute QUIZ at the beginning of class every Tuesday. Quizzes will emphasize the readings and lectures of the previous two or three weeks. (I suggest you read ahead in the books as well as review for the quizzes.) There will be twelve quizzes, I'll drop each student's lowest two and count their ten best. There are NO make-up quizzes; if you miss one, that's a zero and one that I will drop. (If you come to class late and miss a quiz for a valid reason, I may let you take that quiz later in the day.) Some quizzes may be take-home. Quiz questions tend to be a mix of essay, multiple choice, and short answer type. In general, we touch on nearly every food-related topic and controversy of interest to anthropologists; in an introductory course we cannot cover it all in depth, so be sure to get an overview of the cuisine and cultural characteristics of each group that we study as examples, as well as a solid understanding of basic anthropological concepts such as subsistence strategy, symbolic communication, nutritional needs, etc. Finally, as we come across new terms, look them up in the glossary and index of the books. Words such as "horticulture", "tribe" and "lineage" have exact meanings that we must agree on in order to communicate clearly!
Attendance: Since participation in the lectures, discussions, and audio/visual events is a part of what you are being given credit for, multiple unexcused absences will result in a lower score and hence a lower grade (miss Tuesdays and you will be getting zeros on those quizzes; miss Thursdays and you will bomb the following quiz; the real effect, however, is that you will do much worse on future quizzes and exams). College classes are tough! Students who fall behind tend to do poorly. Students who come to class regularly tend to do well in this course. I take attendance by noting who takes each quiz, and who picks up the graded one the next class; if you come in late and miss the quiz or don't get to pick up your old quiz, be sure to check in with me after class so that I don't mark you absent. In these small classes I will notice if you cut out early – that's an absence even if you took the quiz. Tell me if you are ill; call or email me if you must miss a class so that I can excuse you. NOTE: if you have a life crisis during the semester, call me right away so I can work with you regarding the class.
Grade Breakdown: A200: Report 20%, Best Ten Quizzes 40%, Final Exam 40%;
E400 & S362: Report 30%, Best Ten Quizzes 35%, Final Exam 35%.
The total scores are averaged by percentage and not by letter grades; the grades will be quite fair, but ultimately your grade is determined by how much you learn this semester, and the harder you work, the more you will learn. In general the break between A's and B's is at about 88%, the break between B's and C's at about 74%; you must get a 50% average on the combined quiz and final score to pass. Your attendance and participation in the classroom discussions can affect your grade by a few points either way, especially if you are on the borderline between grades.
PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE OF TOPICS, READINGS, AND EXAMS:
(REVISED SCHEDULE DUE OUT SOON)
Week One. The four fields of Anthropology; Nutrition, Environment, and Culture
READ in Cultural Feast: Chapter 1
READ in Much Depends on Dinner: Introduction: What shall we have for Dinner?
Week Two. First Quiz (on week one reading and lectures only) ....... Continued on next page