COURSE DETAIL
Eating is a natural necessity for almost all human beings. Food, however, does more than just help humans survive and grow. It can become a political tool, a marker of social class and gender, and a mirror of significant cultural differences. On a more individual scale, it can be related to personal identity, habits, and health. As the perspective in this course is sociological and semiotical, the course looks at food both as a source of embodied experience, and as a language that can be decoded. It is a symbolic system that reflects the everyday habits of humans, norms of societies, as well as deeper, internalized meanings. Food thus becomes a lens through which the course analyzes different cultures in a new light. The course asks questions such as: What is the place of origin of our food? How did our food get to us? How does food configure and change relations among people? During comparisons and practical workshops, the course traces the histories of some of the most significant meals of the Czech Republic (and former Austro-Hungarian empire). Their transformations help the course to understand the social changes that took place in Central Europe from a different perspective. Questions such as gender relations, families, political economy, health (obesity, anorexia, bio food), ecology, and the nation-state are discussed. Students read academic articles that react on these questions in various national and ethnic contexts. The course includes workshops where students try to cook a Central European meal and discuss it with a Czech chef, as well a field trip to the local Beer Brewery to learn about the process of beer making and the cultural aspect of its local consumption.