Folklore and Folklife - Courses - Spring 2005 - FOLK 603 640: Food, Culture & Society

For more information about Folklore and Folklife,at UPenn, contact Professor Dan Ben-Amos at dbamos@sas.upenn.edu.

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FOLK 603 640: Food, Culture & Society
Janet Theophano
Seminar: Wednesday 6:00-8:40 p.m.
Cross-listed with: ANTH601, REL603
Contact: Janet.theophano@verizon.net

Behind a simple proverb like "You are what you eat" lies a great deal of food for thought. Human beings have always elaborated on the biological necessity of eating, and this course will explore the myriad ways in which people work, think, and communicate with food. The course will survey the major approaches from folklore, anthropology and related fields toward the role of food, cookery, feasting and fasting in culture. Among the topics to be addressed are gender roles and differences in foodways, the significance of food in historical transformations, the transmission of foodways in writing and publishing, the relationship of foodways to ethnicity and region, the intimate relationship between food and religion, and foodways in the global market place. Short exercises and a term project will provide students with opportunities to research and write about foodways from different angles.

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