LARTS 394 — Feeding a Global City: The Anthropology of NYC Food Systems

3 credits
Fall
Priya Chandrasekaran

Prerequisite: LARTS 112 If “you are what you eat,” the same can be said for the city. While the act of consuming food is a deeply personal experience, it’s far from individual. Food connects each of our everyday lives with the vast world of people, places, and tastes that comprise NYC. Food weaves through the city’s community gardens, social policies, networks of care and exchange, and demographic shifts. Food also provides a lens to see New York City as truly global. An everyday meal you enjoy is likely seasoned with histories of urban migration, international labor dynamics, and vast commodity chains. This course offers a multi-faceted way to investigate what’s beyond the circumference of your plates when you sit at the table. Our methods of investigation will include readings, film, urban ethnographic experiences, and journaling.