# Food, Culture & Politics

Food stall on Huimin Jie (Muslim Street), Xi’an, China. (Image courtesy of Heather Paxson.)

### Instructor(s)

Prof. Heather Paxson

### MIT Course Number

21A.155

### As Taught In

Fall 2019

### Level

Undergraduate

###

Some Description
Instructor(s) | Prof.
As Taught In | Spring 2002
Course Number | 2.24
Level | Undergraduate/Graduate
Features | Lecture Notes, Student Work

## Course Description

## Course Features

- Assignments: written with examples

## Course Description

This course explores connections between what we eat and who we are through cross-cultural study of how personal and collective identities, social relations, and economic inequalities are formed and maintained via practices of food production, preparation, and consumption. Discussions are organized around critical discussion of what makes "good" food good (tasty, healthy, authentic, ethical, etc.), and draw on anthropological studies as well as recent writing and films on the politics of food and agriculture. A primary goal of the course is to provide students with conceptual tools to understand and evaluate food systems at local and global levels. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication is provided.

## Other Versions

## Other OCW Versions

Archived versions:

- 21A.265 Food and Culture (Spring 2011)

## Related Content

## Course Collections

See related courses in the following collections:

### Find Courses by Topic

- Anthropology > Cultural Anthropology
- Anthropology > Social Anthropology

Heather Paxson. 21A.155 Food, Culture & Politics. Fall 2019. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

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