Professor Cecilia Novero (Department of Germanic and Slavic Lang. And Lit.)
Office: Burrowes
Bldg, South Wing, # 406
Email: cin1@psu.edu; office phone: 863-2138; home
phone: 355-2121
Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:15– 5:30 pm, in
Hosler Bldg # 218
(Hosler is located on Burrowes Road at Pollock Road)
Office Hours: Thursday, 3-4 pm and by appointment
Course Description:
Welcome to this class!
In this course you will encounter a variety of modern and contemporary texts, from film to literature, which deal with food. Mostly, we will look at how and why food appears in these texts. We are accustomed to eating everyday, we are familiar with the drudgery of grocery shopping, with the pleasures of recurrent feasts and banquets in social occasions, such as, for instance, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas and birthday parties. We are so used to commercials, magazines and advertisements that we do not realize they are addressed precisely to us. So, do we ever stop to think about the cultural importance—namely the cultural meaning—of our food habits and rituals? This course will help you identify some of the reasons why food becomes a human way to communicate within and between different social, ethnic and gendered groups. Thus we will base our study on the thorough analysis of literary, cinematic, aesthetic and popular texts that deal with our most regular activity “second-hand” so to speak. These texts re-present for us the world of food.
After which, we will also engage directly in some fieldwork: for instance, you will have to use your creativity and participate in one activity of your choice that involves, for example, interviewing a food-expert (chef, head of food department store, student at the culinary school at PSU, nutritionist), volunteer in a cafeteria, restaurant, food catering business or at the community food bank in State College. Also, you could work for a day at the Farmers’ market or in a farm. By the end of this course, you will know how to better understand these activities, how they relate to each other and to the cultural world. You will learn how to enjoy or be critical of those books and films where eating scenes constantly appear and that up to this moment you have probably perceived only in distraction. You may also want to indulge in your diet as usual or change it radically, become a vegetarian, a chef or a gourmet.
Tasks:
We examine:
· How certain philosophers and artists disrupt the common order implicit in diets.
· How in certain literary depictions or fantasies the figures of "eating" convey personal and cultural anxieties of invasion and/or destruction: being devoured, being consumed, positive or negative conceptions of loss of the self.
· What role eating plays in the construction/de-construction of gender
· The kind of power relations that are involved in the culture of food, for instance within the family (eating disorders, father’s authority) and in society at large (the question of hunger)
· Finally, how the recent Slow Food Movement has organized its agenda around the resistance to a global nutritional culture.
End-Goals:
· Develop
analytic skills, how to synthesize and integrate information and ideas, how to
think creatively and for yourself, and how to be open to new ideas.
· Develop
an informed appreciation of other cultures, as well as an informed concern
about contemporary social issues.
· Learn
techniques and methods to gain new knowledge in this subject.
· Improve
reading and writing skills
· Develop
an appreciation of the liberal arts.
Course
Format:
This class will be mostly run as a seminar. Every once in a while I may decide to lecture, if I see that you may need some extra help to understand and prepare certain texts. In general, the informal atmosphere of this course will provide a comfortable forum for exchanging ideas. We will base our discussions on the weekly topic and reading/viewing assignments. We will set up group activities in order to be more effective in answering questions related to the issues raised in the readings or films. This way you will also learn from each other. You will be responsible for your own learning, which will depend mostly on your curiosity and active participation.
Requirements
and Grading:
The primary goal of this course is to teach you methods to read a variety of cultural texts in a critical way so that you have a strategy of reading and develop your own personal ideas that you can use during your college learning experience. The reading materials and assignments outlined in the syllabus are designed to enhance these activities.
· REQUIREMENTS
AT A GLANCE:
1.
ATTENDANCE:
Attendance is required. I will not take attendance regularly. I will check
it randomly, about 10-15 times in the course of the semester. You may skip up
to two unexcused classes. If you
provide me with a doctor’s slip and/or a coach’s one, you may skip
up to another three classes maximum, for a total of 5 absences during
the entire semester. Please be
advised that skipping class will affect your performance and participation
grade.
Try to avoid
being late for class!!!
2.
READING:
For every meeting
there will be reading assignments and / or activities related to the topics of
discussion. You are responsible for coming prepared for class. Occasionally
short additional materials may be distributed in class
3.
WRITING:
·
You will record in a journal 5 entries no longer than a
page in which you think critically about the following:
1) How your diet relates to your family upbringing (do you reproduce your parents’ way of organizing the day, thus the same meal schedule? Do certain foods remind you of your childhood? Do you remember instances when your parents or at school you were forced to eat food you disliked?)
2)
How your diet relates to your own identity
(gender, ethnicity, class, e.g., what food do you eat that you think best
marks your own tastes? Are there ways in which you assert yourself by determining
when, how and what to eat? What has changed in your diet since you have left
your family?)
3)
How you go about your grocery shopping (where do you shop,
how do you spend your money on food, do you think about your health or the
environment, what are your concerns?)
4) What you know about the history of the food you eat, whether it is what you buy or whether it is related to your taste for specific ethnic restaurants (do you know where and how this food is eaten, who harvests it, how it is exported, what it stands for in its original culture, etc.?)
5) What you have learnt from our visit to Tait Farm OR from the speaker who visited our class.
· You will write one 2-page report (due week 13, Nov. 21) on your fieldwork. In the report you will write a short story/account of what you have learnt about the field you have engaged in.
· You will prepare a set of 8 questions for one of the texts/films to be discussed in class. You will distribute these questions to the others in class and will help me lead the discussion. I will collect your questions and grade them as well as your contribution to the discussion as part of your participation grade.
· You will write an analysis of one of the novels assigned. I will provide you with a set of questions you will want to answer in your analysis.
3.
ORAL COMPONENT:
· You will: help me lead discussion for one session
· You will give a concise and informed presentation about your fieldwork to the rest of the class at one of the sessions of the last 2 weeks of classes
THERE IS NO MIDTERM OR FINAL EXAM/PAPER IN THIS CLASS. Assessment will be based on the work you do consistently during the semester. Each assignment specified in the syllabus will be graded. No make-ups and extra-credit are allowed. Occasionally there may be a QUIZ based on the reading assignments.
· GRADING SCALE:
Attendance: 20 %
Attendance involves also 2 scheduled visits to my office hours in the course of the semester. One meeting will be about your fieldwork. The other about any questions you may have. If you miss more classes than it is allowed (see above) your FINAL grade will be dropped accordingly (minimum a letter-grade)
Participation: 30%
Participation will be evaluated according to the following:
· 10 points for your active involvement during class time (asking questions, suggesting interpretations of films or other texts assigned; quizzes)
· 10 points for helping me lead one discussion session, which you will have prepared by typing down your questions.
· 10 points for your final presentation based on your fieldwork
Assignments: 50%
This grade breaks down as follows:
· 15 points for journal entries
· 20 points for novel or film report
· 15 points for written fieldwork narrative
Course
Materials:
At the end of the syllabus you will find a list of the books ordered at the Penn State Bookstore. You SHOULD WAIT before purchasing all the books, unless you want to own them regardless of whether we use them or not in class. This syllabus is tentative and may be changed if I believe it needs adjustments. This means that we may decide along the way to skip one or more books. Thus, please keep in mind that not all texts may be discussed in class. In case the books were not available, you may want to check with other bookstores in town. Also, remember that most of these texts are available through www.amazon.com.
Some photocopies will be distributed in class. Occasionally you may be asked to photocopy yourself a text from the library. Normally I will try to avoid this procedure, unless it becomes necessary (e.g., some ordered texts are out of print, they have not arrived etc.).
Furthermore, there are no reserves set up for this class. [[Please ask in class if you do not know what reserves are]] However, I encourage you to use the library (Pattee and Paterno in particular) and familiarize yourself with the multiple ways in which you can find material related to our course in the library holdings or at other libraries. Make an appointment with a librarian as soon as possible. They are friendly and helpful.
As far as the films are concerned, screenings will take place in class and the videos are available through the Music and Media Library on the Second Floor of Pattee. Please make sure NOT TO CHECK OUT THE FILMS, watch them in the library and return them promptly. We all want to have access to them!!! Be kind!
Policies:
Academic Integrity Statement: Penn State defines academic integrity as the pursuit
of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner. All
students should act with personal integrity, respect other students’
dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in
which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts (Faculty Senate
Policy 49-20). Dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated in this
course. Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating,
plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, facilitating acts of
academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations,
submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the
instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students.
Students who are found to be dishonest will receive academic sanctions and will
be reported to the University’s Judicial Affairs office for possible
further disciplinary sanction.
Disability Statement: The Pennsylvania State University encourages qualified
people with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities and is
committed to the policy that all people shall have equal access to programs,
facilities, and admissions without regard to personal characteristics not
related to ability, performance, or qualifications as determined by University
policy or by state or federal authorities. If you anticipate needing any
type of accommodation in this course or have questions about physical access,
please tell the instructor as soon as possible.
(Please note that this syllabus is tentative and it is subject to change)
INTRODUCTION – What is your favorite food?
(FILM CLIP)
Jeremy Mac Clancy (Introduction and The Call of the Wild in Course Pack (CP))
DIET AND CIVILIZATION: Jeremy Mac
Clancy’s Taboo or not Taboo
(Ingo Schulze’s Dinner or Calvino’s Under the Jaguar Sun) [CP]
DIET AND CIVILIZATION:
Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo; Robert Walser’s Food and Basta
[CP]
DIET AND CIVILIZATION: Jeremy Mac Clancy’s Movable Feasts Robert Walser’s Dinner Party; Walter Benjamin’s One Way Street (“Augeas Self Service Restaurant”) [CP]
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: please turn in the first two entries of your journals!!!
MEMORY and NATIONAL IDENTITY: Timm’s NOVEL Curry Wurst [Bookstore]
MEMORY and NATIONAL IDENTITY:
Timm’s NOVEL Curry Wurst
IDENTITY: Passion: FILM [IN CLASS]
Like Water for Chocolate; Please read Rosalind Coward’s Female Desires [CP]
(Please note that I will be absent today, BUT the screening will take place anyway.)
IDENTITY: Discussion of Film and Coward’s article (First Session)
IDENTITY: Film Discussion continued around the topic of Love: Mac Clancy’s Squeeze my Lemon; Loving Spoonfuls [CP]
FOOD AND POWER: Sydney Mintz’s Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom [Bookstore]
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: Please turn in your journal entries, topics 3 and 4 above!
COOKS: Gunter Grass’s The
Wicked Cooks [Bookstore]
HUNGER: Thomas Mann’s
“The Hungry” [CP] and Clip from Chplin’s Gold Rush
IMPORTANT REMINDER: IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO ALREADY, PLEASE START READING ATWOOD’S NOVEL
HUNGER: 1st Visit to the Food Bank in State College
WOMEN and POWER: Read on-line the
article in the Journal Slow
at www.slowfood.com, issue #25, January 2002
by V. Shiva “Women as custodians of food”.
WOMEN and POWER: Please READ Susan Bordo excerpts from The Unbearable Weight [CP]
Be prepared to discuss the Video Killing Her Softly shown in class
WOMEN AND POWER: Atwood’s The
Edible Woman [Bookstore]
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: Please turn in your Book or Film Report
WOMEN AND POWER: Atwood’s The Edible Woman (conclusion)
SLOW FOOD: Please visit the website of Slow Food (www.slowfood.com). Read in particular their “manifesto” and Carlin Petrini’s article on transgenic foods online in Slow, issue 21, July-September 2001, “Care and Caution”. This article will help you ask questions to our guest speakers this week and the next.
1st Guest Speaker: Nutritionist will speak to us on either Slow Food or its opposite: Transgenic foods
SLOW FOOD: Read Mac Clancy’s The Whole Truth; Eating the Other; How to Worship Food [CP]
2nd Guest Speaker:
Representative of Slow Food in Philadelphia
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: Please turn in your 2-page fieldwork report
SHORT PRESENTATIONS on your FIELDWORK
PARTY AND SHORT PRESENTATIONS continued at my place in Bellefonte. We will meet at 254 N. Allegheny Str. Apt. 2 at 5 pm and we will DINE together. Each one of you is welcome to contribute a favorite dish.
CONCLUSION (Film clips and comments from/on your journals)
LAST WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: Please turn in your last two journal entries
0-8070-4629-9
Sydney W. Mintz
Beacon Press / Boston
TITLE: Tasting Food,
Tasting Freedom. Excursion into Eating, Culture and the Past,
1996 copyright, PLEASE ORDER
MOST RECENT EDITION (2001)
ISBN: 0805035877
Jeremy MacClancy
Publisher: Henry Holt (Paper)
Consuming Culture: Why You Eat What You Eat
Reprint edition (December
1994)
RECOMMENDED (suggestion)
ISBN: 0415137683
David Bell, Gill Valentine
(Contributor)
Publisher: Routledge
Consuming Geographies: We Are Where We Eat
Paperback: 256 pages ; 1
edition (September 1997)
ISBN: 081121297
Uwe Timm, Leila Vennewitz
(Translator)
Publisher: New Directions
The Invention of Curried Sausage
In-Print Editions: Paperback
(Reprint) (May 1995)
ISBN: 0156331500
Gunter Grass, Martin Esslin
(Translator)
Publisher: Harvest Books
Four Plays: Flood/ Mister,
Mister/ Only Ten Minutes to Buffalo/The Wicked Cooks Paperback: 304 pages (June 1968)
ISBN: 0385491069 Margaret
Eleanor Atwood
Publisher: Anchor Books
The Edible Woman
Jeanette Winterson, The
Passion, Paperback: 176
pages(September 1997) Grove Press