COR 4420 FOOD, HEALTH, AND SOCIETY IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Food is good to eat, but as anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss has said, it is also “good to think!” The focus of this interdisciplinary capstone course is the cross-cultural study of food and health. The course is organized around one big question: Why do humans eat what we eat? In this course we explore this question using case studies and a variety of disciplinary lenses. Students will consider the ways that both concepts of “food” and “health” are culturally constructed and subject to various social influences. We draw upon diverse perspectives from anthropology, nutrition, psychology, poverty and social justice studies, women’s and gender studies, and global health. This course will serve as a capstone course for the Elon Core Curriculum. The Capstone Project will be an online academic portfolio that showcases students’ intellectual journey in the liberal arts along with and reflections on our BIG question, using various modes of inquiry, ethical reasoning, personal and social responsibility, and global citizenship. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third or fourth year of study.
Prerequisite
Open to students in the third or fourth year of study.
Course Types
Core Interdisciplinary Seminar; IGS: Global Studies, Global Development, Environment, and Health Area; IGS: Global Studies, Global Culture and Society Area