Course Description
The social, political, and environmental history of food production and consumption in America since the colonial era. Topics include the "beef trust," class/gender/race in rural landscapes, hunters and poachers, the "chicken of tomorrow," convenience and fast foods, the Green Revolution, and genetically modified foods.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Students are required to write a 20- to 30-page scholarly essay
based on research and interpretation of primary documents and
secondary literature. Students will select a topic that will
allow them to make an original contribution to the field of
agricultural history, environmental history, or food history. To
facilitate feedback between student and professor, the student
will complete a research prospectus, an annotated bibliography, a
preliminary outline, and a rough draft before submitting a final
draft. Students will not be expected to take examinations, but
will be expected to attend lectures, participate in discussions,
and complete all other writing assignments as regular members of
the course.
Athena Title
FOOD & POWER
Prerequisite
HIST 2111 or HIST 2112
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will improve their skills in reading, writing, and discussing complex ideas at an advanced level. Good writing is learned in part by reading the work of good writers, so students will do a significant amount of reading (100 to 200 pages per week). In the process, students will learn to analyze and interpret both primary and secondary historical documents as well as contemporary journalistic pieces. Good writing is also learned through critiquing others' writing, being critiqued, and revising one's writing, so students will have multiple opportunities for writing, critiquing, and revising short, medium, and long essays.
Topical Outline
Part I: The Fruits of Nature 1. Food and History 2. Consuming Food, Consuming Colonies 3. Cultivating the American Garden 4. California Land of Sunshine, Land of Empire 5. Hunting Subsistence or Sport? 6. Conservation and "Crimes against Nature" Part II: Feeding the City 1. Market Gardening, or, Why New Jersey Is Called the "Garden State" 2. Food and Identity in Industrial America 3. Beef - Why Is It for Dinner? 4. Industrial Steers and the Modern Beef Empire 5. Writing 101 6. "Woman Slaps Butcher with Beefsteak" 7. "Putting the Babies above the Bordens" 8. How Frozen Orange Juice Became America's Breakfast Drink 9. Convenience Foods and "Modern-Day Living" Part III: Industrial Landscapes at Home and Abroad 1. "Every Farm a Factory" 2. The "Chicken of Tomorrow" 3. Class in the Countryside 4. The Politics of Industrial Health 5. The Green Revolution: Exporting the Industrial Ideal 6. Food Power in the Global Economy 7. Biotechnology and the New Food Regime 8. Organic Foods and the Supermarket Pastoral 9. Wal-Mart vs. Whole Foods
Syllabus