Course Syllabus

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Food, Migration, and Belonging DIS Logo

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Semester & Location:

Fall 2025 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:

Elective Course - 3 credits

Major Disciplines:

Food studies, Sociology, Anthropology 

Faculty Members:

Teresa Imaya Bengtson (current students please use the Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:

Tuesdays 1:15-4:10PM

Classroom: 

 

Course Description:

 

“People eating similar food are trustworthy, good, familiar, and safe; but people eating unusual food give rise to feelings of distrust, suspicion and even disgust” (Scholliers, 2001).

 

Denmark is a fairly homogenous country with an increasingly popular ‘New Nordic” food scene characterized by local and often forgotten foods. At the same time, food in Denmark is also heavily influenced by more culturally diverse food practices stemming from immigration since the 1970s. This has sparked complex discussions at both the public level and around dinner tables in Denmark, about how food is used for integration and belonging (for example in school lunches) - but can also serve to alienate. With food as the jumping off point and the greater Copenhagen as our extended classroom, we will use our senses and analytical skills to explore relevant food and migration related cases. We will ask questions such as: how can food and food practices influence our sense of belonging – or serve to exclude? By the end of this course, you will gain a better understanding of the central themes within the intersection of food and migration (food and identity, ‘ethnic’ food, food injustices, bridging and othering, transnationalism, etc.) and of how food and eating can be a powerful political and cultural act. 

 

Course themes:

  • The Politics of Food
  • Food Injustices
  • Immigrant Integration and Food
  • ‘Authentic’ or ‘Ethnic Food’
  • Food and Cultural Identity
  • Retro Racism

 

 

Selected Readings:

  • Karrebæk, M., S. (2012) "What's in Your Lunch Box Today?": Health, Respectability, and Ethnicity in the Primary Classroom. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology , May 2012, Vol. 22, No. 1 (May 2012), pp. 1- 22
  • Lapina, L. (2018). 'Cultivating Integration'? Migrant Space-making in Urban Gardens. In L. Bull Christiansen, L. Paulsen Galal, & K. Hvenegaard-Lassen (Eds.), Cultural Encounters as Intervention Practices Routledge.
  • News Paper Article. Eating Multiculturalism - Peril magazine

 

Field Studies:

  • Visits to various restaurants both traditionally “Danish” and immigrant owned
  • Food markets (Torvehallerne and Nørrebro Bazar)
  • The Immigrant Integration Garden in Denmark
  • Send More Spices, NGO, Immigrant Integration Program
  • Traditional Danish chocolate making workshop

 

Approach to Teaching:

Food and migration are complex topics that are best met with an interdisciplinary approach and an open mind. In this class, we will challenge ourselves to think of cases from multiple perspectives and integrate embodied modes of learning.

 

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, you will:

  • Confidently apply theories about belonging, identity, cultural differences and similarities, food injustices, globalization, and transnationalism.
  • Understand how food plays a critical role in the production and reproduction of dominant and migrant cultures, identity, and communities.

 

Assignments:

  • Active Participation 25%
  • Reflection of Visit 30%
  • Ethnographic Description 45%

 

 

Grading

 

Assignment

Percent
Active Participation

25%

 

Reflection of Visit 

30%

 

Ethnographic Description

45%

Academic Regulations 

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org

 

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due