The Rise of the Modern Food System (Level 7)

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 7
• Convenor and tutor: Jason Edwards
• Assessment: a 3000-word essay (90%) and learning log (10%)

This module examines key questions about the rise of the modern global food system. It considers central debates about the origins of agricultural production, the legacy of colonialism and imperialism for the food system, the impact of food on the development of capitalism, the state’s role in the regulation of food production and consumption, and the limits of a ‘cultural’ as opposed to a ‘political’ approach to the question of food and social relations. It also brings into question the very idea of a ‘food system’. The module is cross-disciplinary, incorporating approaches and ideas from political theory, history, sociology, cultural studies, and public policy into the syllabus.

Indicative module syllabus

• The Columbian Exchange
• The State and Food
• Food, War and the State System
• Capitalism and the Food System
• Industrial Food
• Food Nationalism
• Food, Politics and Culture
• Biopolitics and the Consuming Body
• Food, the Human and the Post-Human

By the end of this module, you will:

• understand and be able to evaluate the main theoretical debates about the character of the modern food system
• have a critical understanding of key subjects in the historical and political sociology of food production and consumption
• be able to critically analyse key questions about the rise of the modern food system, including the question of the nature of a ‘food system’
• have a critical understanding of how various disciplinary approaches drawn from the social sciences and humanities contribute towards the understanding of food production and consumption
• have gained skills of analysis and critique that can be transferred to further study in the social sciences and humanities.