Food, Culture & Globalization: Sydney

Catalog description

This course will explore current transformations in the food systems and cultures of Sydney under conditions of globalization. Through lectures, readings and various activities, students will master established facts and concepts about contemporary urban food cultures and produce new knowledge about them. We will ask how produce, people and animals have interacted to make life possible in Sydney and its surrounding suburbs broadly. We question how those interactions have changed over time and the impact of changing modes of food production, distribution, and preparation on human health, knowledge systems, livelihoods, social relations, and the natural environment. We also consider the built environment and the kinds of systems that have been built to provide energy, portable water, provide clean air and process waste. Students taking this course are likely to be committed to an integration between theory and practice. This could include: how you translate your learning from the course into your everyday food practices; how your own choices can improve the food chain; practical tips in cultivation; campaigning through social movements and advocacy; setting up your own projects, impacting policy and government programs and many more.