PLHRT 2150 - Coffee, Cloves, and Chocolate: Plant Explorers and Thieves

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: PLBIO 2470 is recommended.

D. Rakow.

Few major food, medicinal, ornamental and industrial crops are native to North America. From coffee and tea, to rubber and quinine, this course explores the social, political, and economic factors associated with the movement of plants from their indigenous homes to the West, and the institutions most closely associated with those migrations.

Outcome 1: Articulate how the global movement of plants over the last five centuries has significant impacted the treatment of indigenous people; trans-migration of populations; medical practices; and eating habits; and plants we favor.

Outcome 2: Relate historic approaches regarding the breeding and movement of crops to current practices, and identify positive and negative aspects of each.

Outcome 3: Better appreciate all that’s involved in the trans-continental movement of crops from both economic and human scales.