Prospectus

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Food for Thought: Spicy Topics in Food Studies

Course
2024-2025

Admission requirements

This course is available for students of the Honours College Humanities Lab.
Students in the first year of their bachelor’s programme who achieve good academic results and are very motivated, may apply for a place in Humanities Lab.

Description

If all goes well, we can eat what we want all day long. But very often, things do not go well: we want to eat, but we do not have access to food, or not enough, either because we do not have the financial means or because the food is simply not available. But even if there is food in abundance, there are all kinds of constraints that prevent us from eating whatever we want, for instance our health or personal preferences – you might want to skip a meal when there is haggis or Brussels sprouts on the table, or something you’re unfamiliar with, like ajapsandali. (Or conversely: precisely because you don’t know ajapsandali, you want to taste it!) Very often our beliefs and convictions restrict us from eating certain foodstuff, sometimes always, sometimes occasionally. These beliefs may be of a religious or ethical nature, such as respect for animal life or a sustainable environment; as we all know, the latter in particular is the subject of much scientific research.

In this course, we will examine current trends and issues in the field of food studies, both in a local and global context. We will explore topics such food, identity and culture, and food, globalization and politics. We will also analyze our diet in human evolution and pay a visit to a library with a large collection of cookbooks. Last but not least this course addresses food sustainability and the environment.

Course objectives

Knowledge and insight:

This course provides students in-depth knowledge of current trends and issues in the field of food studies, both from a local and global perspective. They will gain insight into various topics related to food identity, food culture and food sustainability through readings, discussions, and research. They will also gain a better understanding of the impact of globalization and politics on food systems.

Skills:

  • Researching: analysing; generating solutions; project-based working; digital skills

  • Collaborating: oral communication; written communication; presenting; societal awareness

  • Reflecting: independent learning; resilience

Timetable

The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Humanities Lab courses are usually scheduled on Friday afternoon from 13.30 to 17h.

Mode of instruction

  • Seminar

Assessment method

Assessment

  • In-class participation: 30%

  • Group presentation combined with individual reflection paper: 20%

  • Individual presentation: 10%

  • Final project: 40%

Weighing

As shown above.

Attendance

Attendance is compulsory for all meetings (lectures, seminars, excursions, etc.). If you are unable to attend, notify the lecturer (listed in the information bar on the right) in advance. Being absent may result in lower grades or exclusion from the course.

Resit

Only the final project can be retaken.

Inspection and feedback

How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.

Reading list

The readings will be made available in the syllabus.

Registration

Students participating in this module will be enrolled in MyStudymap by the Education Administration Office of Humanities Lab. Students can register for the Humanities Lab modules about two to three weeks before the start of the module through an online form. On this form students indicate the modules in order of their preference. The coordinators assign students to a module based on their preference and bachelor’s programme, in order to create a diverse group of students and equal amount of students per module. Usually students get assigned to the module of their first or second choice. More information and the link to the form will be provided by Umail.

Contact

  • For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.

  • For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga

Remarks

This course is part of the Humanities Lab programme, visit the website for more information.
Visit the Honours Academy website for more information about the Honours College.