FLK 379: Foodways

Spring 2012 Course Schedule

 *Please note that I reserve the right to make changes to the course, schedule, and/or readings at any time.  Changes will be announced in advance in class.

1/27 Class 1

Introduction to course.

• Elizabeth Adler, “Creative Eating: The Oreo Syndrome.” From Western Folklore 40. 7 pp. [packet]

2/3 Class 2

Introduction to Foodways Scholarship

• Warren Belasco, “Why Study Food?” From Food: The Key Concepts. 13 pp. [packet]
• Shortridge and Shortridge, “Introduction: Food and American Culture,” pp. 1-18.
• Sarah E. Newton, “The Jell-O Syndrome: Investigating Popular Culture/Foodways.” From Western Folklore 51. 18 pp. [packet]

2/10 Class 3

Identity

• Warren Belasco, “Identity: Are We What We Eat?” From Food: The Key Concepts. 19 pp. [packet]
• Donna Gabbaccia, “What Do We Eat?” and “Who Are We?” From We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Foods and the Making of Americans. 17 pp. [packet]
• Janet Theophano, “I Gave Him a Cake: An Interpretation of Two Italian-American Weddings.” From Creative Ethnicity: Symbols and Strategies of Contemporary Ethnic Life. 10 pp. [packet]

*Write a brief summary (one paragraph or so) on a personal “comfort food.” (Or, if you prefer, a “discomfort food.”) What emotions and/or memories do you associate with this food and why? Be prepared to discuss your example with the class and hand in.

2/17 Class 4

Region

• Wilbur Zelinsky, “You Are Where You Eat,” pp. 243-250.
• George Lewis, “The Maine Lobster as Regional Icon: Competing Images over Time and Social Class,” pp. 65-73.
• Timothy Lloyd, “The Cincinnati Chili Culinary Complex,” pp. 45-56.
• James Kelly, “Loco Moco: A Folk Dish in the Making,” pp. 39-44.

2/24 Class 5

Ethnicity

• Kaplan, Hoover, and Moore, “Introduction: On Ethnic Foodways,” 121-134.
• Tuchman and Levine, “New York Jews and Chinese Food: The Social Construction of an Ethnic Pattern,” pp. 163-184.

• C. Paige Gutierrez, “Cajuns and Crawfish,” pp. 139-144.
• Lockwood & Lockwood, “Pasties in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.” From Creative Ethnicity: Symbols and Strategies of Contemporary Ethnic Life. 14 pp. [packet]

Food Sharings #1

3/2 Class 6

Religion

• Sharon Sherman, “The Passover Seder: Ritual Dynamics, Foodways, and Family Folklore.” From Food in the U.S.A. 11 pp. [packet]
• Eliot Singer, “Conversion Through Foodways Enculturation: The Meaning of Eating in an American Hindu Sect.” From Ethnic and Regional Foodways in the United States. 15 pp. [packet]

Food diaries due. Be prepared to discuss with class.

Catch up, review for midterm.

3/9 SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS

3/16 Class 7

MIDTERM EXAM

3/23 Class 8

Race, Class, & Gender

*Bring to class a cooking or home magazine containing photo advertisements.

• Freeman and Merskin, “Having it His Way: The Construction of Masculinity in Fast-Food TV Advertising.” From Food for Thought: Essays on Eating and Culture. 13 pp. [packet]
• Katherine Parkin, “Campbell's Soup and the Long Shelf Life of Traditional Gender Roles.” From Kitchen Culture in America: Popular Representations of Food, Gender, and Race. 13 pp. [packet]
• Psyche Williams-Forson, “More than Just the 'Big Piece of Chicken.' The Power of Race, Class, and Food in American Consciousness.” From Food and Culture: A Reader. 12 pp. [packet]

Project topic due.

3/30 Class 9

Drinking

• Stephen Frenkel, “A Pound of Kenya, Please or a Single Short Skinny Mocha,” pp. 57-64.
• Diane Kirkby, “‘Beer, Glorious Beer’: Gender Politics and Australian Popular Culture.” From The Journal of Popular Culture, Fall 2003, Vol. 37, Issue 2. 13 pp. [packet]
• Kathy Fackelmann, “Pacific Cocktail: The History, Chemistry, and Botany of the Mind-Altering Kava Plant.” From Science News, Vol. 141, No. 26 (Jun. 27, 1992). 2 pp. [packet]
• William Grimes, “The Drink That Makes the Derby Run.” From The New York Times, April 30, 1997. 2 pp. [packet]
• Carolyn Mooney, “Learning the Spirit Behind the Japanese Tea Ceremony.” From The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 27, 1996. 3 pp. [packet]

Food sharings #2

4/6 Class 10

Corn!

*Bring to class a personal snack or drink--something labeled with nutrition content.

• Michael Pollan, Chapters 1 & 2 of The Omnivore's Dilemma. 41 pp. [packet]

Film: King Corn

Project overview due.

4/13 Class 11

Industry

• Nathanael Johnson, “The Revolution Will Not Be Pasteurized: Inside the Raw Milk Underground.” From Harper's, April 2008. 8 pp. [packet]
• Nathanael Johnson, “Swine of the Times: The Making of the Modern Pig.” From Harper's, May 2006. 10 pp. [packet]

• Eric Schlosser, “The Chain Never Stops.” From Mother Jones, Vol. 26, Issue 4. 13 pp. [packet]

Film: Food, Inc.

4/20 Class 12

Field Trip. Visit/read website: Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese

4/27 Class 13

Discuss trip to Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese.

Rough drafts due.

*Students will pair up to review drafts, plus meet with me one-on-one to discuss projects and grades.

5/4 Class 14

Final projects due.

Project presentations.

Review for final.

5/11 Class 15

FINAL EXAM

Same time, same place.