GEC3405 Course Outline (2025) GEC3405 TO EAT, OR NOT TO EAT? SOCIOLOGY OF FOOD Time and Location: Mo 1:30PM - 3:20PM TA__ 107 Instructor: Prof. Xueshi Li, lixueshi@cuhk.edu.cn Office Hours: Every Tuesday 19:00-20:00 ( Office Hour ) 1. Course Description What is food? What is the food system? Why should we care? How do we study the food system? Food is ‘hot’ at the present, as few topics elicit such fascination, dialogue, activism, or tension as food and agriculture. This course will begin studying food and society through a Microsociological perspective, “Food and Identity” , “Food and Spectacle” And it moves to larger scale to examine and food system which is dominant in the globe--- its design, function, dysfunction, and possibility. Then, it extends to topics related to China: the food system transaction and China’s food safety problem, to discuss food futures including AFNS, GMOS, and nanofood in globalization. This course is designed to embed students in the historical origins of the food system as well as to expose them to the major trends taking place, along with the primary concepts and theories used to explain food structure and social change. 2. Course Objectives By taking this course, students are expected to: 1. Learn the major sociological methods to study food. 2. Investigate the paths food takes from fields to table. 3. Explore the intersections of community, food, agriculture and the environment. 4. Critically examine food and society relation. 3. Reading Required Amy E. Guptill, Denise A. Copelton and Betsy Lucal. 2016 . Food & Society: Principles and Paradoxes, 2nd ed. Polity Recommended Miller, Jeff and Deutsch, Jonathan. 2009 Food Studies: An Introduction to Research Methods. New York: Berg. Glesne, C. 2011. Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction . Boston, MA: Pearson. 1 GEC3405 Course Outline (2025) 4. Assessment Scheme Component/ method % Attendance and Engagement Everyone is expected to be in attendance for each class. The attendance will constitute 25% of your total grade. Students who can’t attend classes for medical reasons should provide doctors 5 notes. Active participation in discussions will constitute another 5 % of your total grade. The classroom is a place where we can debate and exchange ideas. I will work to make the classroom as comfortable as possible, so that you will feel free to ask questions and engage in discussions. Your presence and active participation are essential for the learning experience of your classmates. 25 On-Class Quiz (2 in total=10%*2) 20 multiple-choice questions for each quiz: In total, the class quizzes will count for 20% of your overall grade. There will be 3 class quizzes in total, and only the top 2 will contribute to your overall quiz score. All quizzes will be given in the tutorials. 20 Group Presentation Group will be built and assigned by topics by lucky draw. All presentations will be given in the tutorials. Group coordinators will be assigned, recording the attendance and participation of the group members: The team leader will receive additional participation points. Regarding the presentation, if an individual's grade is higher than their group's grade, they will receive their individual grade. If an individual's grade is lower than their group's grade, they will receive their group grade Each group will have 20 (+/ - 2 min) minutes for their presentation, followed by a 10 - minute discussion. 25 Final Paper Your final paper is an essay (About 2000-2500 words in English; ±200- word is acceptable), in which you should choose a topic we have covered in the class and provide a critical evaluation of the readings. You also need to use one (or more) example(s) from the reading to illustrate your arguments. Your essays will be evaluated according to three criteria: (1) quality of the writing, (2) accurat e presentation of the reading material, and (3) incorporation of sociological concepts. You need to discuss the pote ntial academic sources learned in this course with the instructor in the OH section (5%) 30 2 GEC3405 Course Outline (2025) 5. Grade Descriptor Grade Overall Course A Outstanding performance on individual assignments and group presentation, excellent understanding of course content and well- organized critical writing on their final proposals. A- Substantial performance on individual assignments and group presentation, excellent understanding of course content and well- organized critical writing on their final proposals. B+ Good performance on all learning outcomes. B High performance on some learning outcomes, which compensate for less satisfactory performance on others. B - Satisfactory performance on more than 70% learning outcomes. C Fair performance on more than 60% of learning outcomes. D Barely satisfactory performance on minimum 50% of learning outcomes. F Unsatisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes, or failure to meet specified assessment requirements (e.g., fail to submit final paper). Plagiarism: CUHK has a policy of zero-tolerance for plagiarism or any other form of academic dishonesty. Students should refer to http://registry.cuhk.edu.cn/zh - hans/integrity and http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/ for the University policy. 6. Office Hours Etiquette • Please make the appointment in advance at Meeting ID: 268 502 1614 ( mailard ) • You are HIGHLY encouraged to email the questions which you hope to solve of the office-hour appointment ONE DAY in advance to the instructors, which would make the meeting more productive and helpful. • Also, if you are going to cancel an appointment, please make sure that you do that at least five hours before the appointment so your classmates who may also need help can utilize the section. All office hours will be held online: based on past experience, most students prefer to record conversations during office hours, which is more feasible by meeting online. Please remember the office hours are aimed to help each student as much as possible, so please respect your rights, along with your responsibilities so all the students would get as much help as they need. You can find the notes of the consultation sections one business day after at 3 GEC3405 Course Outline (2025) 7. Course Plan LECTURE (1) Sociological Imagination of Food (2) Food and Identity (3) Nutrition and Health (4) Understanding the Food System (5) Food as Spectacle (6) Food, Body, and Gender (7) Branding and Marketing of Food Industry (8) Food and Globalization (9) Food Access: Surplus and Scarcity (10) Food and Social Change (11) Social Change and Food Issues in China (I) (12) Social Change and Food Issues in China (II) TUTORIAL: Research Methods of Studying Food (1) Ethnography is a research method by which social scientists study the world around them. Ethnography employs “thick description” (meaning, embedded in context) to describe, analyze, and interpret some phenomena of our social world. Its purpose is to provide a coherent representation of human action, that is, to draw a conclusion through interpretation based on descriptive data the researcher has observed in the course of their investigation. Data that is collected during fieldwork gives us a window into how people generate and interpret social behavior and how they use language to share meaning. (2) Content Analysis---film Analysis. We will explore how groups come into conflict with each other through the analysis of symbolism and text in one of two forms: television or print media. You will select which path you prefer and we will examine the claims making in media. We will examine what the claims are, how they are made, how desire is constructed and how race, gender and social class are used to ‘sell’ these images. This will require we look for what kinds of food s and/or agricultural practices being promoted and to whom? What they have to do with everyday eating, and assessing if one can eat well on the recommendations of media? (3) Case Study 4 GEC3405 Course Outline (2025) 8. Course Schedule Date Theoretical Lecture Tutorial Reading Materials Deadline 1.Sociological Imagination of Food Food & Society: Ch# 1 2.Food and Identity Food & Society: Ch# 2 FEB 10 3. Nutrition and Health TUTORIAL 1 (FEB 12) Food & Society: Ch# 4 FEB 17 4. Understanding the Food System FEB 24 5.Food as Spectacle TUTORIAL2 FEB26 Quiz 2 (cover L1-4) Food & Society: Ch# 3 Group presentation starts in this week MARCH 3 6. Food, Body, and Gender MARCH 10 7.Branding and Marketing of Food Industry 5 GEC3405 Course Outline (2025) MARCH17 8.Food and Globalization TUTORIAL 3 (MAR 19) MARCH24 9.Food Access: Surplus and Scarcity Food & Society: Ch# 5 MARCH 31 10. Food and Social Change TUTORIAL4 APRIL 2 Quiz 2 (cover L5- 9) Food & Society: Ch# 7 APRIL 7 11. Social Change and Food Issues in China (I) Food & Society: Ch# 8 APRIL 14 12.Social Change and Food Issues in China (II) TUTORIAL 5 APRIL 16 Food & Society: Ch# 9 APRIL 21 13.Food Futures (No lecture in this week: walk-in consultation instead). TUTORIAL 6 APRIL 23 Quiz 3(cover L10- 12) Group presentation ends in this week. GROUP ASSIGNMENT (25%) PPT DUE APRIL 27 Final paper (30%) DUE: MAY 7