HEN617 Sustainable Food and Food Security

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2015
Extent and Intensity
0/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Dan Keech (lecturer), RNDr. Naděžda Vlašín Johanisová, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Veronika Chvátalová, PhD (assistant)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: RNDr. Naděžda Vlašín Johanisová, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Tue 21. 4. 17:00–18:30 M117, Wed 22. 4. 8:00–9:30 U41, 9:45–11:15 Aula, Thu 23. 4. 8:00–9:30 U42, Fri 24. 4. 8:00–9:30 M117, 9:45–11:15 U35
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 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/25, only registered: 0/25, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
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.
Syllabus
  • 1. area: Exploring the range of current discourses and practices that frame debates about food security and sustainability in society, specifically at the global and local scales;
  • 2. area: Critically examining a range of social science methodologies and concepts which have been used to understand the role of food in terms of health, environmental, social, ethical and economic dimensions;
  • 3. area Using auto-ethnographic study to determine your own understanding of the conflicts within food security and sustainability to support arguments for particular practices
Literature
    recommended literature
  • CASTELLS, Manuel. Networks of outrage and hope : social movements in the Internet Age. Cambridge [UK]: Polity Press, 2012, 306 s. ISBN 9780745662855. info
  • GIDDENS, Anthony. Modernity and self-identity : self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991, [vii], 256. ISBN 0-7456-0889-2. info
  • The end of capitalism (as we knew it)a feminist critique of political economy. Edited by J. K. Gibson-Graham. 1st University of Minnesota. London: University of Minnesota Press, 2006, xliv, 299. ISBN 9780816648054. info
  • JACKSON, Tim. Prosperity without growth : economics for a finite planet. 1st pub. Abingdon: Earthscan, 2009, xii, 276. ISBN 9781849713238. info
  • Smith, B. (2008) Developing Sustainable Food Supply Chains. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for Biological Sciences. 363, pp. 849-861.
  • Guthman, J., Morris, A. and Allen, P (2006) Squaring Farm Security in Two Types of Alternative Food Institutions. Rural Sociology Vol 71, No 4, pp. 662-684
  • Schnell, S (2007) Food with a farmer’s face: CSA in the United States. Geographical Review Vol 97 Iss 4, pp.550-564.
  • Murdoch & Miele (1999) Back to Nature. Sociologia Ruralis Vol. 39, Iss. 4, pp. 465-83.
  • Beckert, J. (2002) Transl. Harshav, B. Beyond the Market: The Social Foundations of Economic Efficiency. Princeton University Press.
  • Fligstein, N. (2001) Social Skill and the Theory of Fields. Sociological Theory, Vol. 19, pp.105-125.
Teaching methods
Lectures, case studies, class 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 last offered.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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