This writing exercise is designed to explore our notions of food authenticity, identity, mobility and globalization- all ideas we have explored in this course through personal stories of food preparation and consumption set against the theories we have studied. How does globalization affect our food choices and our identity in terms of our tradition? To what extent do structures of political economy immigration and social change fuel our food choices? What is lost and what is gained? To that end please make sure you are familiar with key concepts and theories that we have read and discussed in the class before embarking on this assignment.

I would like this to be a summative self reflection exercise. At the end of the course I would like to know how your understanding of the links between food and selfhood/ identity issues has changed or not.

I would like you to explore various stages of food production and consumption as they link to you as a subject within political economy, globalization and consumption. What did you learn? How does food make you who you are? What processes are you engaging as you eat or cook or farm?

Please pick a topic that you have found has sparked your interest in this class. Any topic we have talked about, immigrant cuisine, fast food, grocery stores, farm to table, the ethics of food production, movement of food across national borders all can be topics to be researched. For example, a topic might be my Greek grandparents notion of food waste. Or the gendered notions of what is fit to eat for men and women in America versus China. I am leaving this sufficiently open-ended so one can research any topic of your choice. If you are uncertain what constitutes a viable topic please email me to discuss it. In the email please include a brief topic description. You do not have to discuss your topic with me.

Please research your topic in the class time provided. Please do not spend more time than the time allotted in the classroom next Thursday. J stor is a good selection of scholarly articles on food.

Finally please write a 7 page scholarly paper on your topic relating it to 2 readings on globalization that we discussed in the classroom.

Method to write the final paper.

Pick a topic that interests you and that speaks to what you have learnt in the class room.. Narrow it down to be suitable
Library/ internet research on your topic may include culinary traditions, globalization. etc. I will be happy to help suggesting journals for you to search. For anthropology searches JSTOR is useful.
Using 2 readings in the classroom as background, analyze your topic.
Write a 7 page paper on food and identity + 1 page title + 1 page MLA style bibliography. Please paginate and add your name on title page

For the final submission please note:

One 7 page research scholarly paper. In addition you MUST have a 1-2 page bibliography of sources in MLA style format. Please reference the internet if you are unsure of how to use MLA citations. Texts we have read in class are to be used as part of the bibliography.

When using in text citations please use following format (author, date, name of publication italicized, location, press) for example Srinivas, Tulasi 2007. Many Globalizations New York, Oxford University press. When using material form interview use in text citations. For example, “The collard greens were just part of our dinner. I don’t know why..we didn’t think on them too much” (“grandma making greens” interview February 3, 2008, El Paso, Texas)

I am available for questions over email. I suggest you think about this project and how to approach it and ask me any questions you may have before you begin.

THANK YOU. I Hope to have interesting papers to read.