Cmty Dev & Apld Econ: US Food, Social Equity&Dev

Provides an introduction to gender, race, class, and ethnicity with particular emphasis on food, population, economic, and ecological issues in sustainable agriculture, food systems, and community development. The geographical focus emphasizes the United States.

Open to Degree and PACE students

Course Overview Every time we purchase and consume food, we are making decisions–whether we acknowledge it or not–about how we participate in food systems. How we participate in these systems is largely and often invisibly informed by how they are currently structured and their emphasis on “consumer choice” and corporate profits. In turn, our participation affects the lives of those who are employed in and often reliant upon the business of the production, processing, and distribution of our food. The lives of those who grow our vegetables, pick our fruit, and process our meat are directly impacted by the policy and practice of our food systems. Where this food goes, who it is marketed to, and who is able to purchase and consume it is determined by these same systems. Our participation embeds and implicates us in the policy orientations and social inequities that shape and define food landscapes in the U.S. The decisions we make and the available options from which we choose are not natural phenomena but rather the product of the society we live in. This includes our cultural and political paradigms in our understanding of the world, the social rules by which we learn to live, the laws we write, the policies we pass, and the legacies of our national history. Structural racism and injustice are defining attributes of our society and so are inherently embedded within our food systems. As a D1 course, the content of CDAE 1040 describes how and why structural racism shapes the US food system and the ways that this system contributes to (or, in some cases, seeks to address) structural racism and inequity. In particular, we will look at the impacts of racism and racialized violence on the US food system through historical events and their legacies, social and cultural norms, and legal and political institutions. Social issues are inextricably linked to food and how we interact with food systems in the United States. As an S1 course, CDAE 1040 uses a social science lens to explore how individuals, groups, and institutions affect and interact with each other. Through systematic investigation, we will generate explanatory frameworks for understanding human behavior, action, and social practices. We will examine past and present social problems; think critically about individual, local, regional, and global contexts; and learn how social scientists strive to improve societal well-being.

Our practice in this course will emphasize critical reflection, systems thinking, and interdisciplinary learning. This class will ask you to explore and interrogate your own perspectives and values in conversation with those introduced through the course materials. You are invited to be active collaborators in building the collective knowledge of this community. Through readings, lectures, discussions, and assignments, this course encourages students to: 1. Understand how structural racism manifests throughout the US food system (i.e., production, processing, distribution, and consumption); 2. Learn about primary historical events of racialized violence and trace their ongoing effects on the institutionalized racism within our current U.S. food system; 3. Analyze how U.S. food and agriculture laws and policies explicitly privilege some actors while disenfranchising and dispossessing others; 4. Articulate how the industrial food complex impacts both its workers and consumers with particular emphasis on racial disparities; and 5. Evaluate one’s own identity and social position within the U.S. food system.

Assignment Percentage of Final Grade Weekly quizzes 20% Assignments 30% Attendance 20% Participation 30%