The primary aim of this course is to help you understand social inequality through the lens of food. Eating is one of the most basic of human activities, and yet sociologists, anthropologists, and biologists have observed great variability in patterns of both food production and consumption. Over time and across places, human societies address their nutritional needs in different ways and with varying success. In light of this variation, examining what people eat, how much they eat, where it comes from, and the meaning they attribute to it can shed great light on the processes that create and maintain inequality in social systems.

In general, the course provides a historical and comparative overview of what people eat and how this relates to other forms of inequality. We will explore how changes in production relate to other forms of inequality, and learn about the symbolic meanings of food, paying particular attention to how food may knit toghether members of ethnic and religious groups. Throughout the course, we will explicitly consider historical and cross-cultural comparisons in our quest to better understand the landscape of social inequality.

Key questions for the course include:

• To what extent do patterns of food consumption reflect existing inequalities, and to what extent to they shape the structure of social inequality?
• To what extent are food preferences the properties of individuals, and to what extent are they sociall structured?
• In what ways do food-related practices shape social boundaries?

We have received generous support for the international and experiential aspects of this course from the Office of Undergraduate Education.