This course will examine our everyday food practices as a site of politics where culture, technology, history, and issues of ethics and justice intersect. Through a survey of academic, journalistic, and artistic works on food and eating, the course will explore a set of key analytical frameworks and conceptual tools in STS, such as the politics of technology, classification and identity, the reproduction of inequality, ethical and responsible innovation, and nature/culture boundaries. The topics covered include: the industrialization of agriculture; globalization and local foodways; food justice and ethics; new technologies in food practices (e.g., biotechnology, delivery apps); health and diet trends; and food and global challenges (e.g., climate change, COVID-STS 19). Through food as a window, the course intends to achieve two broad intellectual goals. First, students will explore various theoretical and methodological approaches in STS and related fields (e.g., anthropology, history, sociology). Second, students will develop a set of basic skills and tools for their own critical thinking and empirical research, and design and conduct independent research on a topic related to food.
4 units · Letter (ABCD/NP) · GER: WAY-SI
This course will examine our everyday food practices as a site of politics where culture, technology, history, and issues of ethics and justice intersect. Through a survey of academic, journalistic, and artistic works on food and eating, the course will explore a set of key analytical frameworks and conceptual tools in STS, such as the politics of technology, classification and identity, the reproduction of inequality, ethical and responsible innovation, and nature/culture boundaries. The topics covered include: the industrialization of agriculture; globalization and local foodways; food justice and ethics; new technologies in food practices (e.g., biotechnology, delivery apps); health and diet trends; and food and global challenges (e.g., climate change, COVID-19). Through food as a window, the course intends to achieve two broad intellectual goals. First, students will explore various theoretical and methodological approaches in STS and related fields (e.g., anthropology, history, sociology). Second, students will develop a set of basic skills and tools for their own critical thinking and empirical research, and design and conduct independent research on a topic related to food.
Offered in Autumn 2025 at Stanford University.