| CODE | TTC1407 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Sociology and Anthropology of Food | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 6 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will explore the history and anthropology of food. Foodways is primarily the study of beliefs and behavior surrounding food production, distribution and consumption. The study-unit is bound to rely heavily on historical factors, but will also look at relatively recent food-related events especially at the way foodways shapes memory, gender, rituals and identity. This study-unit also offers a critical examination of the political, economic,social and environmental influences on the food culture of Europe and the Mediterranean. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to generate a better understanding of both the physiological and psychological significance of food through time. This exercise is primarily intended to highlight how humans have used food as a 'voice'. Communication, beliefs and behaviour surround food with a set of unwritten rules. These generate interesting ways of how different cultures employ food as another means to communicate their identity. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Evaluate the principles of foodways; - Investigate and evaluate the concepts of European and Mediterranean foodways and how these are interpreted by modern society; - Analyze the cultural meaning of food and how this influences what we eat; - Describe the interaction between socialisation, culture and food; - Comprehend the methods used in anthropological fieldwork and writing by conducting a study on food, culture, and a specific case-study on Malta or elsewhere. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Compare and contrast foodways patterns through time; - Demonstrate the ability to explore how foodways can be a medium to explore current beliefs and behaviour about food culture; - Show proficiency in explaining the cause and effect of important political, economic and social events on food systems and customs; - Demonstrate an understanding of the role of food as another medium employed to discuss important anthropological topics such as ritual, exchange, identity and memory. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - J. L. Flandrin - M. Montanari (eds.), Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present, Columbia University Press 1999. - Belasco, W - Scranton, P. (eds.), Food Nations, New York, Routledge, 2002. - P. Scholliers (ed.), Food, Drink and Identity. Cooking, Eating and Drinking in Europe Since the Middle Ages (Oxford, Berg, 2001). - F. Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism 15th – 18th century: vol.i The Structures of everyday life. London, 1981. Kenneth Gambin - Noel Buttigieg, Storja tal-Kultura ta` l-Ikel f' Malta, PIN Publications, 2003.* (Available) - C. Cassar, 'Nutrition in a central Mediterranean island community: Malta in medieval and early modern times', Rivista di Antropologia, Vol. 76, 153-62. - Counihan, Carole. 1999. The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning and Power. NY: Routledge. - Counihan, Carole & Penny Van Esterik, eds. 1997 (2nd ed 2008). Food and Culture: A Reader. NY: Routledge. |
||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||||
| LECTURER/S | |||||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||||