This is intended for IUN students only, but many have other email addresses than

IUN.edu, so I have sent it to everyone on my list. My apologies if you are not an

IUN student, please just delete this.

Summer IUN courses in Food & Culture and Native Uses of Herbs

In response to the many inquiries about these three courses:

(note that some courses will close soon, while others may be cancelled unless more

students register soon)

1) Food & Culture lecture course. Are you a “foodie”? If not do youwant to be one?

A foodie is someone who is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about food and food

history in many ways, not just in eating itself. Are you interested in what foods

people of the world eat, how they eat them, what different foods symbolize to them?

The origins of different foods, and of behaviors like table manners? This course is

all of that and more. We read about food, taste some unusual foods in class, and try

to answer all of these questions. We watch videos about food in different cultures,

too. Take it as ANTH A200 or ANTH E400 or SOC S362. 3 to 6 pm, Tues & Thurs, Summer I.

Course description:

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. The course is a basic introduction to the

anthropological study of food and eating, culture, and society; this is aholistic

viewpoint that includes human culture (symbolic) and human biology (nutritional), and

includes all humans, past and present. Course will cover topics such as the

ethnicity of food choices, traditional foods, food taboos, behavior at the table.

Also covers the origin of domestic foods in different parts of the world,diet and

human evolution, etc etc. There are also optional one credit hour auxiliary courses

consisting of field trips to restaurants.

2) A210 Ethnic Food Field trips. One credit hour. This course is independent of the

Food & Culture lecture course; you can take either one, or both. In thisone we

actually have class in the restaurants. You must attend any four of the class

meetings at area ethnic restaurants; two written reports required. Students must

provide their own transportation and pay for meals; about $20 per visit.

You can come to any of the four restaurants that you choose; there are seven possible

restaurant visits every Friday afternoon in Summer I, plus a few on otherdays too,

and some in Chicago. Some of the trips involve visiting ethnic grocery stores too.

Anyone want to go to the Chicago Thai restaurant that serves fried bugs? Remember,

each trip is optional, and we will do basic Chinese, Mexican, Indian, etc., too. You

can take this A210 course for one or two credit hours. For 2 credit hours, attend

eight meetings and do four written reports. For more info email rmucci@iun.edu

Registration in the 'food & culture' lecture course is not required.

3) ANTH E221 (or WOST E221) One credit hour course. Native Uses of Herbsis a

two-day workshop on Native American herbs and medicine. The dates are the weekend of

July 14 & 15, and there are three spaces left. The workshop is offered again in the

fall. The workshops will be taught by Shawnee herbalist Patsy Clarke andheld at

Bittersweet Cultural Center (Patsy's home and herb farm) near Rochester, Indiana,

about 75 miles to the southeast of the IUN campus. You will spend two pleasant days

outdoors and indoors at a site dedicated to the preservation of native plants and

ancient customs, and be exposed to a worldview that is probably quite different from

your own; it is both informative about plants and an ethnographic experience. Patsy

will teach students to identify and process indigenous plants and understand their

traditional uses; emphasis is also placed on the role of this traditionalwomen's

knowledge in the culture of local tribes. Workshop includes information and

demonstrations of traditional uses of sacred plants, such as for smudging, sweating,

etc. as well as for traditional salves, tinctures, etc. Course is for historical and

cultural information only, and does not imply medicinal effectiveness of plants.

Patsy will lead us through several acres of her wooded property, identifying and

gathering herbs, and we probably will make some sort of lotion or salve from those

materials. She will tell us about the traditional uses of dozens of plants:

medicinal, food, and material. I have done this a couple of times beforeand it is a

unique experience.

Other features of this workshop: meet at IUN early Saturday morning & drive to site,

bonfire Saturday night, camping in your own tents or stay in the lodge (there are a

few cots, bring a sleeping bag and maybe an air mattress for cots or floor). Return

to IUN early Sunday evening. The meals that her cook provides can be vegetarian or

other special needs, let us know, but I do not know if they can do vegan.Your

tuition pays all the workshop costs except food and camping, so bring $50to give

Patsy for that. The bus transportation from IUN is financed by the IUN Anthropology

Club. Note that in the fall course, there is no bus and students have todrive to

the site themselves (I will try to help with carpooling). You will have to do some

sort of assignment afterwards to justify your grade and class credit, butI do not

know the details yet.

Required book:

The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook. by James A Duke.

Rodale press. ISBN 1-57954-184-4 This should be available in the IUN bookstore.

Optional books: (not available at the bookstore)

Either of these books will help with identifying plants and determining their

traditional uses; I have found them useful on the walks and in doing later research:

Hutchens, A. Handbook of Native American Herbs 1992 ISBN 0877736995

Foster S. & Duke J. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern North

America (Peterson Field Guides) 2nd Revised Edition, Jan 2000 ISBN 0395988144

If you want to leave with samples to make a portfolio of the plants you have

identified, you might consider bringing paper envelopes or plastic sandwich bags in

addition to a notebook. Wear layers of clothing with long pants and shoes and socks

to protect from plant life as we will be hiking a bit, but be able to layer off for

warm afternoons; and bring a cap to keep off the sun. Sun lotion and insect

repellent are good ideas, too.

More info on the Bittersweet Center and Patsy’s biography can be found at:

http://www.bittersweetnow.org/

If you are considering driving yourself, here are some directions:

Take US 30 east towards Plymouth; on US 30 you will cross US 35 and then Indiana 23,

and then look for the sign directing you to turn right for Culver and Culver Academy;

follow the sign by turning right onto Rose Road (it’s a country lane); (if you miss

the turn onto Rose Road, don’t panic, just stay on US 30 until you cometo Plymouth

and take Indiana 17 south to Culver – its about 15 minutes longer that way). On Rose

Road proceed south past the cows until it becomes Sycamore and then joinsIndiana 17.

Stay on 17 south past Culver. Last summer the bridge here was out, butif you

drove past the “bridge out” sign right up to the bridge, there were signs directing

you to the next bridge. (There was also a detour in Culver; when in doubt, ask for

directions.) About eight miles past Culver, watch for County Road 400N –I remember a

sign at the corner pointing east to Leiter’s Ford (it’s a place, not a car

dealership). Go east on county 400N for about a mile and watch for the Bittersweet

look for the “Caution Blind Driveway” sign on your right, it is exactly across the

road from Patsy’s. The phone # there is either 574-542-2506 or 574-542-4063. To get

a map, go to Google maps and type in: 8642 W County Road 400 N Rochester,IN 46975;

note it is about six miles to the northwest of Rochester.