Geography of Food |
Assignments -- each student must do the following: |
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1) Before coming to class, students will email a summary of two of the readings for each week, as assigned. Summaries are to be entered on-line (see 369 Reading Review form). Print off a copy to bring to class to assist you in discussion. These are due Tuesdays by 5:00. This represents 10 percent of the course grade. 2) Informed participation (not simply attendance) means coming to class prepared to meaningfully contribute, using your articles summaries, notes and the articles to help. It also means that you will participate in all food-related field trips, locally and to Minneapolis-St. Paul. This will include leading a class discussion .You are encouraged to keep a journal (3-ring binder) of your notes, readings, your responses & writings, and your projects. These represent 15 percent of the course. 3) Assignment #1: Most important food issues facing us? What are the most important food issues facing us here in Wisconsin/Minnesota/the USA today? From your perspective, what is the most important? Make an argument for why this is the most important, and present evidence that supports your argument. Expected length is 2-4 pages. How thoughtfully and well you do this will be reflected in your grade. As in all essays, you need to support your argument with evidence, develop your argument so that the essay is value-added and works toward a proper conclusion, and cite all sources. This represents 10 percent of the course. 4) Assignment #2: Where does your food come from? You know where your clothes come from, you know know where your appliances come from, but what do you know about where your food comes from? For this assignment, you are to write a 2-3 page essay on the origins of your food, where it has been, and the experience of trying to find out. Go through all of the food in your kitchen pantry and refrigerator and try to find out where it comes from. What are the ingredients and where do they come from? Check labels, go on the web, call consumer information 800 numbers on product labels, call your mom,etc. Keep track of what you do in the search for the origins of your food, and include a discussion of the ease/difficulty of dermining this. Create a nicely formatted and informative table of all the food stuffs you examined that lists the origins and any other informative information next to the food product. Do any patterns emerge in the origins? Are there any types of foodsstuffs, or brands, or anything else where the origins are more evident than others, or brands, or any. In your essay, in addition to the table, consider any other graphics that may be helpful, and be sure to include a reflection of the importance of knowing the origins of our food -- why is it (or why is not not) important to know the origins of what we eat, for example, to find them on package and product labels. Support your position. Include a map that represents your findings. As in all essays, you need to support your argument with evidence, develop your argument so that the essay is value-added and works toward a proper conclusion, cite all sources, and include a list of references. How thoughtfully and well you do this will be reflected in your grade. This represents 10 percent of the course. 5) Assignment #3: Food Issues of the day: The price of food -- conventional vs alternatives. Over the first two weeks of class, students will gather enough data to allow us the opportunity to make an informed assessment of the availability and cost of local food (alternative) versus food distributed through conventional food systems, i.e., super and convenience markets. In class, students will be assigned one from the following two food categories -- 1) vegetables and fruits, or 2) other foods (milk, mushrooms, meat, breads, etc.). Emphasis will not be on foods meant to be eaten on the premises or as carry out meals. Collectively, as a class, students will identify all locally and publicly accessible alternative sources of these foods and their locations by address (farmers markets, bakeries, butchers, co-ops, etc.). We will agree upon and identify all local conventional sources of foods. Next, for their own food categories, students will identify and record the specific food stuffs available through the alternative food sources, with specific emphasis on the Eau Claire Downtown Farmers Market. (In fact, start with the farmers market.) A chart for you to fill in has been made to help you record your findings -- click here and print off copies as needed). If you see something you do not recognize, ask the vendor. If you see two different kinds of eggplants, learn the difference and make a detailed note of it. Then, after your list of food stuffs and prices from alternative sources is complete, go to a conventional market, find the equivalent product, or nearest best equivalent, and record the price. For example, if there is an organic white eggplant at the alternative source, first look for an organic, white variety at the conventional. Only after you are unable to locate the exact same thing, look for the best equivalent. Consider also processed, frozen or canned versions. Once you have done this, make a table that effectively and clearly compares the prices and availability between the alternative products and the conventionally available ones. Finally, you are to write a concise and thoughtful 3-4 page paper on the qualitative differences between the alternative and conventional foods and food sources. Consider the foods themselves (what differences were there in the foods, their quality or variety), the way they were made available, the consumer-seller exchange, the price, the setting, the experience, the location, etc. Support your observations and any interpretations with evidence. Conclude with an assessment of the pros and cons of purchasing through alternative vs. conventional food retailers. Again, support your conclusions (for example, if you say something is "better," be specific in what you mean by "better" and what the criteria for "better" is.) You are to turn in your final table (Neatly formatted, with title and explanatory subtitle, and anything else necessary for the table to be self-explanatory), with your essay stapled on top. Stapled at the bottom are all of your raw field data -- please be sure to keep a copy of these for yourself. As in all essays, you need to support your argument with evidence, develop your argument so that the essay is value-added and works toward a proper conclusion, cites all sources, and includes a list of references. How thoughtfully and well you do this will be reflected in your grade. This represents 20 percent of the course. 6) Assignment #4: Book Review.You are to choose a recent book, published in the last 2-3 years, addressing the issue of food in the US/world, what is wrong with the current systems, and what kinds of things should be done to improve current practices and future prospects. You are to read the book thoroughly and write a full review (See Jon Goss's principles of book reviewing before you start and follow his advice). You should look at geography journals for their reviews of books, and can use one I have recently written, as examples (see Kaldjian 2009). You will be expected to include an indication of this book's contribution to geography, current food issues, and draw from at least two of the articles we have read (or another that you have found) to help support your review. Everybody will choose a different book, to be OK'd by me. Books will be chosen on a first come-first served basis (click here for books already approved). You will also give a short presentation of your book review, with a short, half page summary of your review to hand out to classmates. This represents 15 percent of the course. 7) Assignment #5: What Now? (TENTATIVE) A course presentation (details to be determined) in the last weeks of the semester and a final, written paper on how your perspectives on food changed as a result of taking this course, due at the time of the course final exam. This paper is to include a reflection on each of the field trips, the readings, class discussion and films, and how they contributed to your changing perspectives on food. It may also include a discussion on the geography of food and what it means to eat locally. Be sure to include, and maybe conclude with, a discussion of how you will take these changes into your future. These represent 20 percent of the course. |