Unit ANTHROPOLOGY OF ALIMENTATION
- Course
- Economics and culture of human nutrition
- Study-unit Code
- 80011106
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Alexander Koensler
- Teachers
-
- Alexander Koensler
- Hours
- 54 ore - Alexander Koensler
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2020
- Offered
- 2022/23
- Learning activities
- Affine/integrativa
- Area
- Attività formative affini o integrative
- Academic discipline
- M-DEA/01
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- The general aim of the module is to present theoretical frameworks suitable for a critical reading of the various food regimes, including those related to agribusiness and agri-ecology. In an anthropological perspective, it will be highlighted how nutrition is an active and performative tool for defining and transforming individual and / or collective identities.
- Reference texts
- 1
Koensler, A. e P. Meloni (2019), Antropologia dell'alimentazione. Produzione, consumo, movimenti sociali. Roma: Carocci.
2 Un libro a scelta tra i seguenti:
a. Lai, F. (2017), Antropologia del cibo nella fiction. Bologna: Patron Editore.
b. Leogrande, A. (2016) Uomini e caporali. Viaggio tra i nuovi schiavi nelle campagne del Sud. Milano: Feltrinelli (soltanto dal cap. I. fino al cap. XII) - Educational objectives
- The main knowledge that students will acquire will be:
- knowledge of food anthropology as a tool for a critical reading of the specifics, differences and evolution in the relationship between man and food in contemporary society and the forms of their valorisation;
- the ability to identify and comment on the social and cultural aspects of food, to recognize;
- interpretation of the relationship between the territory and the agri-food productions;
- curiosity for food cultures different from ours and sensitivity and attention to the cultural, ethical and social needs that condition and characterize the food demand.
- knowledge of approaches and methods;
The main skills that allow to apply the acquired knowledge will be:
- ability to formulate the problem of research and to adopt effective and innovative methodological choices;
- ability to analyze data and reflect on the issues addressed. - Prerequisites
- no
- Teaching methods
- The course is organized as follows:
frontal lessons; meetings with stakeholders; discussion groups; vision of audiovisual ethnographic materials as an integration of lectures. - Other information
- Attendance is not mandatory but strongly recommended. During the course further bibliographic information will be provided along with further information for attending students. Further information can be found on the Unistudium platform of the course, to which students must register.
- Learning verification modality
- Verbal examination. Attending students will be able to substitute in part the final verbal examination with a written essay to be agreed with the teacher.
In case a student intends to anticipate his/her exam in a year preceding the one it is scheduled in his/her curriculum, it is recommended to anticipate as well the attendance of the lessons and to schedule the exam in the first useful session after the lessons have been concluded. - Extended program
- The general aim of the course is to provide theoretical frameworks suitable for a critical reading of the various contemporary food regimes.
In an anthropological perspective, it will be highlighted how nutrition constitutes an active and performative tool for the constitution of individual and collective identities. The forms with which different socio-cultural spaces related to the food supply chains intertwine with each other: perspectives and new risks linked to global agribusiness; policies for the enhancement of territorial specificities; the cultural implications of the financialization of food chains; the critical reading of the "peasant turn" of altermondialist activism; forms of mobilization and activism by networks of small producers and peasants.
Furthermore, critical tools will be provided for the interpretation of the specifics, differences and evolution in the relationship between man and food in contemporary society and the forms of their valorisation; the social and cultural aspects of food; of the recognition of the relationship between the territory and the agri-food productions. Particular importance will be given to critical reading, from a socio-political perspective, of the various contemporary food regimes, including those linked to global agribusiness and those inspired by agro-ecology and short supply chains.