ENS289 Food, sustainability and alternative food networks

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2018
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Dr. Michael Daniel Keech (lecturer)
RNDr. Naděžda Vlašín Johanisová, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Veronika Išová
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Tue 10. 4. 13:30–15:00 U32, Wed 11. 4. 9:45–11:15 U42, Thu 12. 4. 17:00–18:30 U32, Fri 13. 4. 8:00–9:30 U53
Prerequisites
The course will be taught in English and it is therefore essential that students selecting this course feel comfortable participating in lectures, discussions and classroom exercises in English. The tutor will make every effort that classes are clearly delivered. During the final session, verbal group (ie. not individual) presentations are expected from students. These will be assessed by the tutor.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 22 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/22, only registered: 0/22, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/22
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 9 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Daniel Keech, Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, UK.

MODULE CONTENT - An Introduction to Discourses and Practices in Sustainable Food and Food Secuirty
This module starts by providing an overview of the place of food within (mainly Western/European/UK) society, including how the supply of (sustainable) food has been conceptualised and problematised within the literature. The reasons behind the growing significance of, and debates about, 'food security' as an issue are then considered, as well as an examination of the competing interpretations of how it should best be achieved. This includes considering concepts such as food sovereignty and food rights, and the relationship between them and food security. Global food networks, in the form of supermarkets, are then briefly outlined, including issues of food safety, trade liberalisation and private regulation, before both the theory and practice of food system localisation are examined in some detail. The module also explores what a sustainable diet might involve, including issues such as the implications of eating a meat-based diet as opposed to a more vegetarian-based diet, and the reduction of waste. Throughout the module, students will be expected to keep a food diary, which will form part of the assessment.
Learning outcomes
The course is a short introduction to a complex and dynamic subject matter. Learning outcomes include:
1. Review and outline the context of food within European societies and the key theoretical and policy developments associated with the supply of food;
2. Demonstrate an awareness of the changing nature of global and local agro-food systems and the factors implicit in these processes, including an appreciation of their complexity and inter-connectedness;
3. Show a clear understanding the key issues associated with the notion of a sustainable food and diet, and their implications for food policy since the end of the Second World War;
4. Critically evaluate and assess the issues involved in the debates about food security and sustainability;
5. Exhibit research and communication skills through the planning, in a small group, the design and execution of a short piece of independent inquiry connecting food sustainability, society and personal eating habitats.
Syllabus
  • 1. Sustainable food and food security - introductions, an overview of the course, explanation of the assessment
  • 2. Concepts and narratives around sustainable food
  • 3. Quality, re-connection and re-organisation - Community Supported Agriculture and Farmers' Markets in the UK
  • 4. Cities as spaces of food citizenship - Bristol, Bamberg, Ghent, Riga
  • 5. Ecological entrepreneurship and the Third Sector - Conserving orchards in rural Germany
  • 6. Group presentations and assessment
Literature
    recommended literature
  • • Atkins, P. and Bowler, I. (2001) Food in society – Economy, Culture and Geography. London, Arnold.
  • BLYTHMAN, Joanna. Shopped : the shocking power of British supermarkets. New York: Harper Perennial, 2004, xviii, 382. ISBN 0007158041. info
  • • Carolan, M. (2011) The Real Cost of Cheap Food. London, Earthscan.
  • • Goodman, D. and Watts, M. (eds) (1997) Globalising food. Abingdon, Routledge.
  • • Goodman, D., DuPuis E. M., and Goodman M. (2011) Alternative food networks: knowledge, practice, and politics. Abingdon, Routledge.
  • LANG, Tim and Michael HEASMAN. Food wars : the global battle for minds, mouths, and markets. London: Earthscan, 2004, xvi, 365. ISBN 1853837024. info
  • • Lang, T., Barling, M. and Caraher, M. (2009). Food Policy: Integrating Health, Environment and Society. Oxford University Press.
  • • Lawrence, G., Lyons, K., Wallington, T. (2010). Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainability. Earthscan, London.
  • • Maye, D., Holloway, L. and Kneafsey, M. (eds) (2007) Alternative food geographies: presentation and practice. Elsevier.
  • SAGE, Colin. Environment and food. New York: Routledge, 2011, xv, 320. ISBN 9780415363129. info
  • • Edward-Jones et al. (2008) Testing the assertion that ‘local food is best’: the challenges of an evidence-based approach. Trends in Food Science & Technology. Vol. 19, pp. 265-274.
  • • Lang, T. (2010) Crisis? What crisis? The normality of the current food crisis. Journal of Agrarian Chang, 10(1), 87-97
  • • Kneafsey, M., E. Dowler, H. Lambie-Mumford, A. Inman and R. Collier (2013) Consumers and food security: Uncertain or empowered? Journal of Rural Studies 29 101–112
  • • Muller, B. (2007) Food Miles or Poverty Eradication? The moral duty to eat African strawberries at Christmas. Oxford Energy and Environment Comment, Oxford: OIES.
  • • Seyfang, G. (2006) Ecological Citizienship and Sustainable Consumption: Examining local organic food networks. Journal of Rural Studies 22(4), 383-395.
  • • Smith, J. and Jehlicka, P (2007). Stories around food, politics and change in Poland and the Czech Republic. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 32(3) 395–410
  • • Tomlinson, I. (2013) Doubling food production to feed the 9 billion: A critical perspective on a key discourse of food security in the uk. Journal of Rural Studies 29 pp. 81-90
  • JEHLIČKA, Petr and Petr DANĚK. Rendering the Actually Existing Sharing Economy Visible: Home-Grown Food and the Pleasure of Sharing. Sociologia ruralis. Hoboken, NJ USA: Wiley, 2017, vol. 57, No 3, p. 274-296. ISSN 0038-0199. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soru.12160. URL info
  • Koopmans M, Keech D, Sovova L, and Reed M (2017) Urban agriculture and place-making: Narratives about place and space in Ghent, Brno and Bristol. Moravian Geographical Reports 25(3), 154-165. Open access link: http://www.geonika.cz/mgr.html
Teaching methods
Lectures, case studies, class exercises and discussions, presentations
Assessment methods
(i) Students need to attend all the classes in the course. A register will be taken.
(ii) Students will need to complete and auto-ethnographic assignment. This will take the form of a food diary in which all food and drink purchases and consumption need to be recorded for the period of the course. In the final session, a 10 minute verbal presentation linked to the diary will be given in class by each student, with opportunities for questioning. Full instructions about how to keep the diary will be given in the first session.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
General note: Předmět určen primárně pro mateřské obory. Pro naplnění kapacity předmětu lze doplnit i studenty jiných oborů.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2018, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2018/ENS289