AMST 1160 - Learning Where You Live: Americans Encountering Race, Culture, and Community through Food

(CU-CEL)

Spring. 2 credits. S/U grades only.

S. Samuels.

This course explores both the joyful and the dark sides of eating and traces how “taste” informs the various ways in which we ingest the world, specifically “racial and cultural otherness.” We will explore the various connections, both abstractly and materially, between food, race, culture and politics. We will consider how the meeting of food, word, and image (in novels, poems, and television) inform large social categories. This course approaches food through a comparative racial-ethnic framework, including works from Asian American, African American, and Latino cultural producers. Students will engage in group discussions, considering food and putting it in conversation with literature, art, current events, imperialism, and history. Students will also have the opportunity to engage in tastings, hands-on food preparation, and community dinner.