Food and Culture
Code: 103248 ECTS Credits: 3| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2501925 Food Science and Technology | OB | 2 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Alice Marie-Sophie van den Bogaert
- Email:
- alicemarie.vandenbogaert@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Objectives and Contextualisation
- To know the basic foundations of Social and Cultural Anthropology.
- To know the basic fundamentals of Food Anthropology.
- To know the methods and research techniques characteristic of the Anthropology of food.
- To know the different conditions of human food.
- To know the sociocultural bases of the eating behavior of human beings.
- To Know and understand the diversity of cultures and food systems.
- To know the processes of change and adaptation of human eating behavior.
- To understand the factors involved in different situations in the current social and cultural context related to eating behavior.
- Identify and analyze the different axes of power involved in the planetary food distribution
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Faced with the challenges facing different societies, in 2015 the United Nations (UN) set 17 goals for sustainable development (SDGs), which are broken down into 169 goals. The SDGs address issues affecting different areas, from poverty eradication to the preservation of marine life. These are the goals that must be achieved by the year 2030, and that challenge the whole of society.
The SDGs included in this subject are as follows:
SDG 1: Ending Poverty
ODS 2: Zero hunger
SDG 3: Good Health and well-being
SDG 5: Gender equality
SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth
SDG 10: Reducing inequalities
SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities
SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production
SDG 13: Climate action
SDG 14: Life below water
SDG 15: Life on Land
SDG 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
Competences
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Analyse, summarise, resolve problems and make professional decisions.
- Communicate effectively with both professional and non-professional audiences, orally and in writing, in the first language and/or in English.
- Develop individual learning strategies and planning and organisation skills.
- Display knowledge of the history and anthropology of nutrition and the underlying psychological and sociological causes of dietary behaviour.
- Search for, manage and interpret information from different sources.
- Show sensitivity to environmental, sanitary and social issues.
- Stay abreast of new knowledge, adapt to new situations and develop creativity.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Take the initiative and display an entrepreneurial spirit.
Learning Outcomes
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Analyse, summarise, resolve problems and make professional decisions.
- Communicate effectively with both professional and non-professional audiences, orally and in writing, in the first language and/or in English.
- Develop individual learning strategies and planning and organisation skills.
- Identify the cultural causes of food preferences and aversions.
- Know the time periods and places that correspond to the various dietary cultures.
- Relate the availability of food resources and successive technological advances to the various dietary patterns.
- Search for, manage and interpret information from different sources.
- Show sensitivity to environmental, sanitary and social issues.
- Stay abreast of new knowledge, adapt to new situations and develop creativity
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Take the initiative and display an entrepreneurial spirit.
Content
Topic 1. Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology: Techniques of ethnography, culture, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, constructions of the Otherness.
Topic 2. Adaptation strategies and survival methods: hunting - harvesting, horticulture, agriculture, pastoralism.
Item 3. Food cultures.
Item 4. Cultural criteria of food selection: edibility, disgust, taboo.
Item 5. Food and social categories: gender, class, age, capacities.
Topic 6: Food, global economy and national policies.
Methodology
The methodology of the course will be organized into different types of sessions. Specifically:
- Master classes on the theoretical content of the course, at which different audiovisual media (ppt, multimedia material…) will be used.
- Reflexion activities (at full group and/or small groups) on case studies related to the course’s agenda.
- Reflection activities (at full group and/or small groups) on basic readings related to the course’s agenda.
The dynamics of the course will be participatory and the reflexive and critical implication of the students are expected.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Analysis of documents and audiovisual materials | 8 | 0.32 | 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 6, 12, 7 |
| Lectures | 17 | 0.68 | 8, 3, 4, 5, 10, 6, 7 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorial and monitoring of individual or group work | 2 | 0.08 | 2, 9, 4, 12 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Information research, reading, viewing | 20 | 0.8 | 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 6, 12, 7 |
| Personal study and works production | 24 | 0.96 | 8, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
Assessment
The evaluation of the subject will be continued and will be carried out from three different modules:
Module 1: Individual examination on the contents treated in the course [35%].
The specific type of exam (face-to-face, online, test, short question ...) will be adapted to the dynamics of the course. The teacher will inform the students well in advance.
At the beginning of the course, a document will be uploaded to the Moodle in which the specific date of the exam and the materials needed for its preparation will be explained.
Module 2: Individual reading synthesis work [30%].
At the beginning of the course, a document will be uploaded to the Moodle of the subject in which the instructions for completion, the evaluation criteria, as well as the format and date of delivery will be explained.
Module 3: Written group work [35%]. The students will be divided into groups of 4 people and will have to deliver a research paper on one of the topics proposed by the teacher.
At the beginning of the course, a document will be uploaded to the Moodle of the subject in which the instructions for completion, the evaluation criteria, as well as the format and date of delivery will be explained.
Procedure for reviewing grades
At the time of carrying out each evaluation activity, the teacher will inform the students through the Moodle about the procedure and the date of revision of the grades.
Conditions for "Not Evaluable"
A student will be considered non-assessable if he / she has participated in assessment activities that represent ≤ 30% of the final grade.
Conditions for reevaluation
- To be authorized to present to the reevaluation, the student has to have been evaluated previously in a group of activities that represent a minimum of two thirds of the final qualification of the course.
- Modules 1, 2 and 3 of the subject are reevaluable.
- The student will only be authorized to present to the reevaluation of the module 3 (group work) if he/she has really participated in the realization of the work from the beginnings.
- The student will have to present to the reevaluation if:
-
The final grade of the subject, calculated according to the weighting explained, is less than 5.
-
Regardless of the overall calculation, if any of the activities corresponding to modules 1, 2 or 3 are graded with less than 3.5.
Necessary conditions for passing the subject
- The evaluation of modules 1, 2 and 3 is compulsory. The student will not be authorized to pass the subject if he / she does not evaluate these modules.
- The subject will be considered passed when the final grade, calculated according to the weighting explained, is equal to or greater than 5.
- The final mark of the subject will be Failed if, regardless of the final calculation, the mark of any of the modules 1, 2 or 3 obtained after the recovery is inferior to 3,5.
Other general evaluation considerations
- In the Moodle of the subject will be available from the beginning of the course the necessary information relative to the materials, conditions of realization, format, dates of delivery and criteria of evaluation of the evaluative activities collected in the modules 1, 2, and 3.
- Evidence of evaluation delivered after the deadline or that does not conform to the format standards that will appear in the Moodle of the subject will not be accepted.
- In the event that the tests cannot be carried out in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB virtual tools.
Homework, activities and class participation will be done through forums, wikis and / or discussion of exercises through Teams, etc. The teacher will ensure that the student can access it or offer alternative means, which are available to them.
Plagiarism considerations
- Each exercise must be the original result of the work of the student or group. You may not copy other sources (such as academic papers, publications, web pages, etc.) without properly citing the authorship. If you have any questions about plagiarism, see the Frequently Asked Questions document in the subject's Moodle.
- In the event that the student commits any irregularity that could lead to a significant variation in the qualification of an evaluation act, he / she will be qualified with 0 this evaluation act, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed. In the event of several irregularities in the assessment acts of the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0.
In the event that the tests cannot be carried out in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB virtual tools.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group research exercise | 35% | 1 | 0.04 | 1, 11, 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 6, 12, 7 |
| Individual exam | 35% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 11, 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 6, 7 |
| Individual exercise | 30% | 1 | 0.04 | 1, 11, 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 10, 6, 7 |
Bibliography
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DOUGLAS, Mary (1972). “Deciphering a Meal”. Daedalus, 101(1), p. 61–81.
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(juillet-septembre 1980), p. 227-238
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HARRIS, Marvin (2005). Vacas, cerdos, guerras, y brujas: los enigmas de la cultura. Alianza.
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Software
There is no especfic software for this course.