Unit information: Food: Social, Animal, Ecological in 2023/24

Unit name	Food: Social, Animal, Ecological
Unit code	GEOG30040
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Blake
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	GEOG20005 State, Economy and Society in Geographical Perspective OR GEOG20015 Geographies of Nature and Environment OR GEOG20024 Geographies of Colonialism and Coloniality
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School of Geographical Sciences
Faculty	Faculty of Science

Unit Information

Geographies of food are considered through long-run and contemporary shifts in agriculture and food practices; through shifting power-relations in food systems; through technology and governance and through debates about conceptualizing food system powers, interests and activities. More-than-human and animal geographies help to understand the relationships between people, food, farming and the environment and the co-construction of human/animal/environment, as well as the moral and ethical debates such as welfare, livelihoods, health and ecological damage. Drawing on political economy and political ecology, debates on food security, planetary boundaries and food justice are considered, including resistance and alternatives to the current food system.

The aims of this unit are to help students develop critical appreciations:

• of the historical and contemporary production of foods, food systems, eating patterns, landscapes, trade and consumers;
• of ways in which diverse (inter-)disciplinary perspectives have been brought to bear in debates on foods and eating in diverse geographical contexts;
• of the importance of substantive, grounded investigation;
• of contemporary human geographical engagement (including the ontological and epistemological issues raised by that engagement) with the non-human;
• of the place of that engagement within the development of the discipline.

Your learning on this unit

On completion of this Unit students should be able to:

• describe the geographically distributed nature of food production and consumption, food cultures, and food systems in relation to ecology/environmental factors and socio-cultural factors in food production, eating patterns and food choices
• discuss the situated-ness of contemporary understandings of the physiological and cultural meanings of foods, eating, and hunger in the past and today
• analyse facets of eating practices and knowledges, with reference to substantive and conceptual literature on trajectories in food systems.
• appraise geographical engagements with anthropological and other research on food and eating, including ontological and epistemological issues raised.

The following transferable skills are developed in this Unit:

• Critical interpretative thinking
• Evidence-based argument
• Analytical skills
• Written and verbal communication
• Team working

These objectives shape both the form and emphases of the course structure, component lectures, and assessments. They are discussed in the opening lecture, in each block of the course, and through the stress on recent and current debates within each of the specific topics covered (both in lectures and via the course website).

How you will learn

The unit will be taught through a combination of:

• lectures
• online resources
• synchronous group workshops, seminars, tutorials and/or office hours
• asynchronous individual activities and guided reading for students to work through at their own pace

How you will be assessed

Assessment is comprised of both formative and summative components, based on engagement with seminars and literature during the term and a larger assignment at the end.

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

Annotated bibliography and presentation (30%)

2,500 word essay (70%)

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. GEOG30040).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.