E Global Food Cultures: Puebla and Mexico City, Mexico

Transcription

1 E Global Food Cultures: Puebla and Mexico City, Mexico New York University, Steinhardt School Department of Nutrition and Food Studies Spring 2017 Professor Gustavo Setrini Doctoral Student Assistant: Steven McCutcheon Rubio Course Description This graduate level course explores the food culture and food systems of the culturally and historically rich culinary landscape of Mexico. Students will be fully immersed in Mexican food practices through classroom instruction, guest lectures, and a wide variety of field trips to markets, local farms, restaurants, and production sites. We will analyze contemporary Mexican food ways as the endpoint of a historical process stretching from pre-colombian indigenous civilization, Spanish colonization, national independence and state-driven development, to neoliberal reform and contemporary social movements. The course will focus especially on corn (maize) as a symbolic and material axis around which the Mexican food system has evolved in these different periods. Course Objectives To better understand Mexican food and identity by examining the history of Mexico s agrifood system. To identify and understand the foods, spices, beverages, and preparatory techniques that constitute the rich and diverse Mexican cuisine. To examine and understand the complicated food system that includes local, regional, national and transnational components. To examine the implications of social and economic changes on contemporary diet and nutrition. To investigate the role that food plays in the construction of Mexican identity. Class Requirements and Evaluation Policy Class Participation (25%) Students are expected to attend and actively participate in all lectures and in-class exercises, discussions, debriefing sessions and field trips. Any conflict associated with religious holidays or personal obligations should be discussed with the professor; all other absences will be considered unexcused and will impact the final. In addition, students are expected to come to class/field trips on time to prevent disrupting the lecture and activities. Blog Project (75%) Students will be organized into pairs and assigned a specific topic from the syllabus (see below). Your assignment is to integrate the course readings, class discussion, and experiential learning (site visits, lectures, observation) into a 2-3 page reflection that will be published on a public course blog (using wordpress I will set this up). You are encouraged to incorporate photography and video from our course activities and your free-time exploration, as well as internet media into your blog posts. However, as a reminder, the people we encounter in Mexico are not just subjects to be studied, and their images are not ours to take without permission. Please be sensitive in this matter.

2 Grading: A C grade demonstrates adequate work or participation: a B grade demonstrates above average participation and work; an A grade demonstrates superior participation and mastery of the material via thoughtful synthesis and analysis. Grading Scale (out of a possible 100 points): =A; 92-90=A-, 89-87=B+; 86-83=B; 82-80= B- ; = C+; = C; =C-; =D+; 64-60=D; No=D-; 60 or below = F Required Readings All required readings will be on NYU classes. Please complete all the required readings before our arrival date. 1. Historical Intro Beezley, William, and Michael Meyer, eds The Oxford History of Mexico. 1 edition. New York: Oxford University Press. Intro and Section I (The Great Encounter). Pp Agriculture and Foodways in Pre-columbian Mesoamerica Gilbert, J. M. and T. J. Henderson, eds The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Anonymous. Popul Vuh. Pp Thompson, J. E. The Meaning of Maize for the Maya. Pp Staller, J. and M. Carrasco, eds Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica. New York, NY: Springer. "Introduction pp Morehart, C. (2017). Aztec Agricultural Strategies: Intensification, Landesque Capital, and the Sociopolitics of Production. The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. McClung de Tapia, E., & Yrizar, D Aztec Agricultural Production in a Historical Ecological Perspective. The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 3. Agriculture and Foodways in Colonial New Spain Earle, R The Body of the Conquistador: Food, Race, and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America Ch 4 Maize, Which is Their Wheat. Laudan and Pilcher Chiles, Chocolate, and Race in New Spain: Glancing Backward to Spain or Looking Forward to Mexico? Eighteenth-Century Life. Vol Pp Chevalier, F Land and Society in Colonial Mexico: The Great Hacienda. University of California Press. Intro; Ch 8; Summary. 2

3 4. The Porfiriato and The Mexican Revolution The Oxford History of Mexico. Ch Pp Wolf, E Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century. Ch 1: Mexico. Pp 3-50 Gilbert, J. M. and T. J. Henderson, eds The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Flores Magon, R. Land and Liberty. Pp Zapata, E. Plan of Ayala. Pp Land Reform and Nationalist Development Aguilar Camín, H. and L Meyer The Cardenista Utopia: In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution: Contemporary Mexican History, Pp Fox, Jonathan The Politics of Food in Mexico: State Power and Social Mobilization. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Chapters 3 and 4. Pp Aguilar Camín, H. and L Meyer The Mexican Miracle: In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution: Contemporary Mexican History, Pp Counter Reform and Neoliberalization Otero, G. Mexico s Double movement, neoliberal globalism, the state and civil society. In Mexico in Transition: Neoliberal Globalism, the State and Civil Society. Pp Perramond, E The Rise, Fall, and Reconfiguration of the Mexican Ejido. Geographical Review. Vol Pp Burnstein, J US-Mexico Agricultural Trade and Rural Poverty in Mexico. Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and Fundación Idea. The Oxford History of Mexico. Ch 19: The Time of the Technocrats and Deconstruction of the Revolution. Pp Evolving Food Retail Biles, J. (2006). Globalization of food retailing and the consequences of Wal-Martization in Mexico. Wal-Mart World: The World s Biggest Corporation in the Global Economy, Biles, J. J., Brehm, K., Enrico, A., Kiendl, C., Morgan, E., Teachout, A., & Vasquez, K. (2007). Globalization of food retailing and transformation of supply networks: consequences for small-scale agricultural producers in Southeastern Mexico. Journal of Latin American Geography, 6(2), Torres Salcido et al Food Distribution s Socio-Economic Relationships and Public Policy: Mexico City s Municipal Public Markets: Development in Practice: Vol 25, No 3. 3

4 8. Food, Nutrition and Public Health in the Neoliberal Era Pilcher, Jeffrey M Industrial Tortillas and Folkloric Pepsi: The Nutritional Consequences of Hybrid Cuisines in Mexico. In Food Nations: Selling Taste in Consumer Societies, edited by Warren (ed. and preface) Belasco and Philip (ed.) Scranton, New York, NY: Routledge. Rivera et al Epidemiological and nutritional transition in Mexico: rapid increase of noncommunicable chronic diseases and obesity. Public Health Nutrition. Vol 5-1A. Pp López-Olmedo, N. et al The Socioeconomic Disparities in Intakes and Purchases of Less- Healthy Foods and Beverages Have Changed over Time in Urban Mexico. The Journal of Nutrition. Volume 148, Issue 1. Pp Nestle, M. (2015). Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda [and Winning]. New York: Oxford UP.pp Agrifood Moblizations and Reactions to Neoliberalism Otero, G., ed Mexico in Transition: Neoliberal Globalism, the State and Civil Society. New York, NY. Ch 2: Rebellious cornfields: towards food and labour self-sufficiency. Ch 5: State corporatism and peasant organizations: towards new institutional arrangements Bowen, S. (2015). Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal, and the Politics of Production. Oakland: UC Press. Ch 6: Hipsters, Hope, and the Future of Artisanal Mezcal Mexico in Transition: Neoliberal Globalism, the State and Civil Society. Gerardo Otero, ed. New York, NY Ch 11: Survival strategies in neoliberal markets: peasant organizations and organic coffee in Chiapas 10. Tying it all Together (can be completed after trip) Fitting, E The Struggle for Maize: Campesinos, Workers, and Transgenic Corn in the Mexican Countryside. Durham: Duke University Press. 4

5 Course Schedule Friday, February 9. Pre-departure Meeting: Logistics and Introduction to Mexico Friday, February 23. Pre-departure Meeting: Pre-Colombian and Colonial Foodways Saturday, March 10 Students arrive to Mexico City by 12:00pm Welcome dinner - Cafe de Tacuba Sunday, March 11 Guest lecture: pre-columbian agrifood system Visit to the Mexican Anthropology Museum Street Food and San Juan Market Tour Monday, March 12 Transit to Puebla Guest Lecture: corn, farming, and land in Puebla Visit to campesino farm in an agrarian from community (ejido) Visit to tortilla factory Tuesday, March 13 Visit to Hacienda for demonstration and experience of transforming corn into tortillas. Wednesday, March 14 Visit to industrial pork farm and packing plant Thursday, March 15 Visit to an industrial tortilla factory Visit to a mechanized corn farm Friday, March 16 Leave Puebla and Return to Mexico City Panel of Anti-GMO Activists Panel on Food, Nutrition and Public Health Free time in Coyoacan Saturday, March 17 Guest Lecture: Contemporary peasant movements Farewell dinner Sunday, March 18 Students check out of housing after 12:00pm Friday, April 13 Post-Trip Meeting and Presentations of Blog Projects 5