Course Syllabus

Semester & Location:

Spring 2023 - DIS Copenhagen

Type & Credits:

  Elective Course - 3 credits

Major Disciplines:

Anthropology, Environmental Studies, Food Politics

Prerequisite(s):

None.

Faculty Members:

Morten Hedegaard Larsen, current students use Canvas inbox

Time & Place:

Mondays & Thursdays, 14:50-16:10
Room N7-B13 (Nørregade 7). 

Description of Course

“Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are”.  Quite possibly the most famous words in the entire history of food-writing, that phrase, issued by 19th-century epicure, politician, lawyer, and gastronome, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, has never been truer than it is today. Food has always been closely linked to identity, both our individual identity and our collective identity. Food and its perceived values are both dividing and uniting forces and are deeply interwoven in the fabric of our societies and communities.  

In this course, we will look at the connection between what (and how) you eat and who you are or identify as. We will use examples from various food cultures globally, but will maintain a particular focus on the Danish/Nordic food culture, which has gone through immense changes over the last three decades powered by both national and global forces while still retaining many traditional features that makes it distinct or authentic. Especially, we will focus on how different Copenhagen communities and neighbourhoods - and associated spaces and places - use different foodscapes in order to distinguish themselves from others while building new commensalities. We will be exploring both the restaurant scene and everyday (private) food consumption and associated events; including aspects of food culture like communal eating, social food movements and get an understanding of how we as consumers are influenced by social/human mechanisms as much as price.

Eating is more than sustenance and enjoying the taste of it. Whether we buy food from a high-end market stall or a discount supermarket and eat it, we communicate meaning that creates identities, maintains social bonds, and sustains (sub)cultures. This makes eating not only a nutritional act but also a social and cultural act.- and even performative and mediatized if we so choose, raising a multitude of interesting questions like:
Why do highly educated urban women seem to prefer organic food? Why do people on low-incomes seemingly have a “preference” for unhealthy diets? How has the New Nordic gastronomic wave translated into mainstream consumption? Can a conventionally grown Spanish cucumber be considered authentic? How is a new food practice or trend established?

During our classes, we’ll make the subject come to life by talking to chefs, farmers, public health officials, artisans,  about what Danes eat, and what it reveals about their respective cultures.

In this course, you will get acquainted with the anthropological and sociological perspectives on the topic of food, both at micro-consumption level but also exploring the broader food system and its (social) power dynamics and important stakeholders that hold the key to a sustainable transformation of our food systems.
In between, we will go out and explore Copenhagen and sample food. 

Learning Objectives

The overall objective of the course is to enable students to understand the disparate social and cultural meanings of food. The course aims to endow them with a strong sense that food is more than what is served on a plate and provide them with a valuable toolkit filled with impressions, experiences, approaches, and concepts with which they would be able to better understand the practice of eating.  

By the end of the course, students should have:

  • developed a sense of the culinary cultures of Denmark and other countries and how these relate to broader cultures;
  • enhanced understanding of food culture in their home country and other countries after using Denmark as a case model
  • an understanding of how to analyze the role of food in forging an identity on an individual and collective levels;  
  • developed a sense of how to think critically about food as a reflection of social, political, and economic phenomena;
  • enhanced their understanding of the evolving role of gastronomy and the role of culture in reshaping a cultural identity;
  • greater knowledge of the fields of anthropology and sociology and how these disciplines approach the study of food 
  • the ability to use anthropological methods of inquiry to critically reflect on the role of food in culture in cultural practice;

 

Readings

There is no textbook for this course and most readings are found exclusively on Canvas.

Anthropological Theory

  • Ariel, A. (2012). The Hummus Wars. Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. 12. 34-42. 
  • Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  • Jönsson et. al (2021)What Is Commensality? A Critical Discussion of an Expanding Research Field
  • Geertz, C. (1973). Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture
  • Zukin, S. (2008) CONSUMING AUTHENTICITY, Cultural Studies, 22:5, 724-748
  • 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
  • Demant, J., & Jarvinen, M., Constructing maturity through alcohol experience-Focus group interviews with teenagers.

This is a selection of the course readings. The complete readings will be available on Canvas.

Field Studies

During the semester the two field studies will provide the possibility to explore and taste. The field studies are on:

  • Copenhagen Hospitality College (Valby)
  • Villa Kultur and Foodoir (Østerbro)

Guest Lectures

Jonatan Leer

Jonatan is one of the foremost experts on gender and food in Denmark and beyond. He will provide perspectives on gender and food in Denmark as well as insights into new dining experiences.

Expectations of the Students

I expect you to attend all class sessions unless prevented by an emergency. If you are not in class, you cannot participate. I expect you to complete all the assigned reading and come to class prepared to discuss it in depth. I expect you to turn in assignments on time.

Students are not allowed to use a laptop or smartphone in class. Considerations will, of course, be taken if you have special needs for a computer for note-taking. Please speak to the Office of Academic Support to request accommodations.

All students are expected to have completed the course readings before class so that we can discuss the material at the right level. It is important to be well prepared for class because I may randomly select students to give key points on the readings for that day.

Students are expected to participate actively in all classes and field studies and be open-minded to their fellow student’s contributions to the class. The aim is to establish an environment where we can learn from each other as well as from the texts and cases we engage with, and you are expected to actively support this approach.

 

Approach to Teaching

The methods used to cover class materials include lectures, videos, discussions, individual and group presentations, guest lectures, and field trips. Periodically we will split up into smaller groups to review and analyze the material more thoroughly. The course will have several out-of-the-class-room sessions on location to experience the different facets of food first hand. Students are expected to be able to find and be at the external locations on time. The external locations will not be far from DIS's location and maps and addresses will be given in advance. Office hours are held after class or by appointment. 

 

Faculty

morten-1.jpg

Morten Hedegaard Larsen holds a PhD in Food Studies/Sociology (2016 Planning and Development, Aalborg University) and has published papers on food myths, agricultural experiences and social factors to explain obesity, for instance. Originally he holds a MA in Communication Studies from Roskilde University (2010). He wrote master thesis on the development of the Western Food Market. For the last five years Morten has held positions as assistant professor and post.doc at Aalborg University and Copenhagen University. There he acted as lecturer, coordinator and developer at the masters program Integrated Food Studies and taught courses on communication, staging and consumption of food, innovation and entrepreneurship, food concept design and sustainable food systems. In recent years he has also been involved in food innovation and food start-up research projects. Morten was, also, the first communications officer for the largest Danish food hall "TorvehallerneKBH". With DIS since 2021.

 

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on their ability to understand, discuss and communicate theories within Anthropology of Food as well as interpret them meaningfully. These skills will be the primary focuses in evaluations. Group work in class and in the field as well as the student's ability to contribute to a group effort will be taken into account for the grade.

Grading

Your grade consists of the following three elements:

1. Class engagement (25%). Engagement entails among others: active participation in class discussions, preparation for each class, reflection on readings and sessions, active participation in field studies, sharing and writing of journals in and outside of class.
Evaluation criteria (Ongoing):

  • Demonstrate having read carefully for each session
  • Participate actively in class discussions
  • Contribute with original perspectives from previous experience, courses
  • Doing assignments carefully and timely
  • Partaking constructively in field studies

4.  Anthropological Food "thick descriptions" of different Copenhagen neighborhoods and food Places/Spaces (35%) .
This demands that you go out and explore Copenhagen. Students are not required to buy expensive food goods, but through their meeting with the food offers in Denmark (hot dog stand, café latte, products in the supermarket), students are required to reflect on the cultural constellation of what they eat and consume.
Strong posts will not only describe those foods, practices and places, but analyze them, and the reflection itself will be evaluated for the quality of its insights, references to readings, interpretations, and writing. The analysis could, for instance, show-case the student's  ability to use the concept, Cultural/Economic Capital by Bourdieu,
You may include photos and drawings that you deem relevant to the assignment, but a reflection that is only images, or images with very short captions will not receive a high grade. 
The thick description should not exceed 2200 words.

4. Essay Food, Power and Social Structures (40%) Identify a relevant problemformulation topic of own choice but with focus on broader societal themes addressed in lectures and visits. For instance sustainable consumption (organic), historic developments (industrial food- sugar consumption), or the contexts for different diets for different users (unhealthy diets and gastro-nationalism). Please feel free to use your own background and knowledge outside of the course syllabus to make the essay even more interesting, but remember to include a minimum of two in-class texts as references (lectures/slides do not count).
The essay should not exceed 1500 words and pictures (including diagrams or models) are not allowed in this exercise.

Overall evaluation criteria for both written assignments:

  • Ability to select a relevant case/plave/space and describe your observations and situate it properly in context.
  • Analytical skills that goes beyond the mere descriptive level by connecting analytical points to other analytical points and produce a coherent reflection –particularly in the discussion.
  • Ability to relate your analytical example to class and to the literature from class and, if relevant, supplemented by literature you have found yourself (2-3 texts) or from othe relevant courses.
  • Clarity of style and coherence of argumentation.
Assignment

Percent

Class Engagement

25%

Essay Food, Power and Social Structures

40%

Anthropological Food "thick descriptions" of different Copenhagen neighborhoods and food Places/Spaces

35%

To be eligible for a passing grade in this class you must complete all of the assigned work.

Academic Regulations  

Use of Electronic Devices in the Classroom - Electronic devices such as laptop computers, mobile phones, tablet devices, etc. are NOT allowed in class. Please be sure that all cell phones are put away and are set to “off” prior to the beginning of the class or a meeting. However, in some specific cases, I may request you to use your computer or tablet for quick/ad-hoc research on the Internet. Any misuse of trust will be reflected in your engagement grade. Students who violate this policy can be requested to leave.

Please make sure to read the Academic RegulationsLinks to an external site. on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.orgLinks to an external site.

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due