the political economy of food
FALL syllabus/schedule/readings
(online readings are constantly updated!)
all materials are provided for educational use only
week 1 September 8: introductory class
topic 1: production
Week 2 September 15
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the green revolution
required: Vandana Shiva, The Violence of the Green Revolution, 1992: Zed Books, London. excerpts.
week 3 Sept 22
scale & efficiency (is bigger better?)
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required: Cook Diet for a Dead Planet pages 79-152 and 217-229.
Marty Strange, Family Farming. 1989: University of Nebraska Press.
PC Kevin Morgan, Terry Marsden, and Jonathan Murdoch, "Geographies of Agri-Food" 53-88 in Worlds of Food. 2006: O
optional (online):
o Andrew Kimbrell, "Bigger But Not Better: Myth Number 5: Industrial Agriculture is Efficient" 01/04/2003
o USDA National Commission on Small Farms Report "A Time to Act" 1998. The Center for Rural Affairs
o Ben Lilliston & Niel Ritchie, "Freedom to Fail". Multinational Monitor 21.7/8 (July/August 2000)
o Michael Duffy, "Testimony illuminates issues of farm size, structure" excerpts from Testimony to Comm
o Peter M. Rosset, "The Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture In the Context of Glo
o Anuradha Mittal, Giving Away the Farm: The 2002 Farm Bill Food First Backgrounder Summer 2002.
o Devinder Sharma, "Farm Subsidies: The Report Card" Znet Commentary 27 November 2005.
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William Heffernan et. al., "Consolidation in the Food & Agriculture System", report to the National Farmers Unio
Patty Cantrell, Rhonda Perry & Paul Sturtz, excerpt from "Hog Wars: The Corporate Grab for Control of the Ho
Columbia MO.
fish & shrimp
· New Internationalist issue on fish, #325 (July 2000):
· Anouk Ride, "Fishy business".
· Meenakshi Raman, "Tree-hugging fishers".
· John Kurien, "Behind the label".
check out the Mangrove Action Project
Susan C. Stonich and Isabel De La Torre, "Farming Shrimp, Harvesting Hunger:The Costs and Benefits of the
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Week 4 September 29
organic
required: Cook, Diet for a Dead Planet pages 155-173
required: Peter Goering, et. al, From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture. 1993: Zed Books, London.
AND one from each section below:
synthetic pesticides and fertilizers
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Fields of Poison 2002: California Farmworkers and Pesticides, by California Rural Legal Assistance Foundatio
Failing Health: Pesticide Use in California Schools, by California Public Interest Research Group Charitable Tr
Toxics on Tap: Pesticides in California Drinking Water Sources, by California Public Interest Research Group C
Bhopal Survivors Protest Dow's Presence at the World Summit on Sustainable DevelopmentSource: Internatio
organic laws & certification organizations:
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The USDA National Organic Program website (the new federal standards, established 2000)
California Certified Organic Farmers, with standards established in 1973.
Oregon Tilth, established 1974
Organic Consumers Association
organic goes corporate:
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Phil Howard, "Who Owns What?" June 2004
Michael Pollan, "Behind the Organic-Industrial Complex" New York Times 5.1.01
RAFI/ETC, "Who Owns Organic? The Global Status, Prospects, and Challenges of a Changing Organic Marke
Melanie Warner, "What Is Organic? Powerful Players Want a Say". New York Times 1 Nov 2005.
PC Kevin Morgan, Terry Marsden, and Jonathan Murdoch, "California: The Parallel Worlds of Rival Agri-food Paradigm
critiques of organic
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Aimee Shreck, "Social Sustainability, Farm Labor, and Organic Agriculture" 2005
Frederick Kirschenmann (Past President of the Organic Trade Association) The Organic Food Industry:
Where We've Been, Where We Are, and Where We're Going (no date)
Carlos S Basilio, ORGANIC AGRICULTURE: MORE FARMS, LESS HUNGER, September 2000 .
Michael Pollan, "How Organic Is Corporate/Industrial Organic?". New York Times Magazine May 13 2001. [19]
Bill Duesing, "Is Organic Enough?" Winter 1995-96 issue of The Natural Farmer, the quarterly newspaper of Th
Andy Rowell, "Organicised Crime". The Ecologist 31.1 (Feb 2001): 32-36. [4]
cuba goes organic
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Peter Rosset & Medea Benjamin, The Greening of the Revolution: Cuba's Experiment with Organic Agriculture
Hugh Warwick, "Cuba's Organic Revolution". Summer 2001
Peter M. Rosset, "Cuba: A Successful Case Study of Sustainable Agriculture" Chapter 12, pp. 203-213, in: Hu
Fred Magdoff, John Bellamy Foster and Frederick H. Buttel (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000).
Peter Rosset, "Cuba's Agricultural Revolution: A Return to Oxen and Organics", World Resources 2000-2001.
exam 1 posted october 6, due october 24 5 pm
Week 5 October 6
"alternative" production
required: the two below + one from each of the following sections
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Edward Goldsmith interviews Mudiyanse Tennekoon, "Traditional Agriculture in Sri Lanka", The Ecologist, 198
Nicanor Perlas, "Detoxifying the Green Revolution": A Success Story From the Philippines"
Agroecology
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Miguel A. Altieri, (Division of Insect Biology University of California, Berkeley) Modern Agriculture: Ecological im
Miguel A. Altieri, Agroecology: principles and strategies for designing sustainable farming systems.
Miguel A. Altieri & Clara Ines Nicholls Applying agroecological concepts to the development of Ecologically Pe
Miguel A. Altieri, Multifunctional Dimensions of Ecologically-based Agriculture in Latin America
Miguel A. Altieri, The Potential of Agroecology to Combat Hunger in the Developing World
Biointensive:
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Ecology Action, introduction to biointensive growing
Biodynamic
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Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association, Introduction to Biodynamics
ATTRA, Biodynamic Farming & Compost Preparation, Alternative Farming Systems Guide
Permaculture
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Margaret Rainbow Web, "Re-earthing the Cities". Permaculture International Journal 72 (Sept-Nov 1999): 8-11
Bill Mollison, "Introduction to Permaculture" Pamphlet I in the Permaculture Design Course Series
o on utube: It's a bit hokey at times (made in 1989), but the series The Permaculture Co
is a great introduction to permaculture. You can now watch it on YouTube. It's a little
pt 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUr4uPe9WBk
pt 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g2mmqqEn08&mode=related&search=
pt 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye90FxJmuw0&mode=related&search=
pt 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlPZKggxZ0E&mode=related&search=
pt 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPokZm_z9zM&mode=related&search=
pt 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bda8TbW9MrQ&mode=related&search=
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ATTRA, Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts & Resources
Bill Mollison, interview, Seeds of Change #25. February 2002
Masuoko Fukuoka, One Straw Revolution (1975). for interviews with fukuoka and articles about his methods, s
Mae-Wan Ho, "One Bird, ten thousand treasures". Third World Resurgence 110/111: 2-4. [3]
agroforester.com, The Overstory #50: Animal Tractor Systems
Plants for a Future
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf
fallen fruit
participatory wiki on plants
urban strategies:City Repair, Art/Urban Repair "city repair"in chicago
Wild/other
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Wild Rice in Minnesota
Augustin Thyssen, Traditional Pig Farming The Ecologist 22/5/2002
check out the Sustainable Farming Connection website (lots of tech info for farmers)
Alternative Farming Systems Information Center website
recommended film: Global Gardener (Permaculture)
October 13 No Classes
Week 6 October 20
biotechnology
required: explore on your own: read at least 5 articles from below
what is it?
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Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly "Biotech: The Basics" in 4 parts: Part I/Issue 716,
Part II/Issue 717,
Part III/Issue 718,
Part IV/Issue 719. February-March, 2001.
Consumers for Education about Genetic Engineering,"Thirteen Myths about Genetic Engineering"
biopiracy: Someshwar Singh,"Rampant Biopiracy of South's Biodiversity". Third World Network.
industry's side of the biotech story http://www.whybiotech.com
Peter Montague, "Trouble in the Garden" Third World Resurgence 114/115: 38-40. [3]
Joseph Vogel's book, The Biodiversity Cartel
EU-U.S. Biotechnology Consultative Forum, December, 2000: "There is a lack of substantial scientific data and
personal interpretations disguised as scientifically validated statements."
what do farmers think about it?
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Farmers' Declaration on Genetic Engineering in Agriculture, at National Family Farms Coalition
"Farmers say ‘no’ to genetic engineering" Third World Resurgence 114/115: 36-37. [2]
some examples
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ETC GROUP, Genetic Pollution in Mexico's Center of Maize Diversity Food First Backgrounder Spring 2002.
Vandana Shiva, "The Basmati Battle and its Implications for Biopiracy and TRIPS" September 10, 2001.
"Biopiracy, TRIPs, and the Patenting of Asia’s Rice Bowl, a collective NGO situationer on IPRs on rice." May 1
Florianne Koechlin, "The ‘Golden Rice’ -- a big illusion?". Third World Resurgence 114/115: 33-35. [3]
Mae-Wan Ho, "The CaMV promotor story". Third World Resurgence 114/115: 30-35. [5]
regulations & policy
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Lim Li Lin and Lim Li Ching, "Biosafety Protocol just Beginning" Third World Network 114/115: 6-10. [4]
Peter T. Saunders, "Use and Abuse of the Precautionary Principle". Third World Network. 8.21.2000
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Mae-Wan Ho, "The End of Bad Science and Beginning Again with Life". Lecture for Conference on "The Limit
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"Suppressed EC study shows GE crops will be costly for all" Third World Network 5.16.2002
what are people doing about it?
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Northeast Resistance Against Genetic Engineering (NeRAGE)
Nighttime Gardening
Martin Khor, "A worldwide fight against biopiracy and patents on life"
http://www.monsantosucks.com
http://www.corporations-suck.com/reports/monsanto.shtml
see the Sacramento Bee series, 2004.
Third World Network biotech pages
topic 2 : economics
Week 7 October 27
international economics
required: Cook Diet for a Dead Planet pages 229-242 AND any four articles below
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"The Myth-- Scarcity: The Reality-- There IS enough food" and "World Hunger: 12 Myths" Frances Moore Lapp
Raj Patel with Alexa Delwiche, The Profits of Famine: Southern Africa's Long Decade of Hunger
Food First Backgrounder, Fall 2002 Volume 8, no. 4
Richard Milton, Hung out to Dry: Disastrous World Bank intervention in Yemen Date Published: 22/11/2001
David Bacon, "Still Hungry" in Z Magazine. 10.1 (January 1997): 28-31. [4]
Michel Chossudovsky, "Sowing the Seeds of Famine in Ethiopia". The Ecologist September 2001.
IMF/World Bank basic intro
June 2005 G8 debt relief briefing from Jubilee Research
Njoki Njoroge Njehû, Testimony before Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade of the Hous
Development Bank and African Development Fund, April 25, 2001 .
Stuart Hodkinson, "Oh No they didn't! Bono and Geldoff: 'We Saved Africa'" 26 October, 2005. UK Independen
Martin Khor, "Bailing out Countries or or Foreign Banks" Third World Economics No.176, 1-15 January 1998.
Essential Action on IMF/WB & AIDS crisis "The AIDS Famine"
Des McGillicuddy & Carol Dorgan, "Hunger, Debt, and Structural Adjustment", The Debt and Development Coa
RADIO: Food for Thought and Food for People: Lori Wallach & Anuradha Mittal Go to A-Infos to download a br
promoting GMO foods in the name of poverty-eradication. However, 72% of countries that report malnutrition a
Third....
Greenpeace, "Food Aid: US Attempts to force GMO aid on Africa". 3 September, 2002.
Aaron Goldzimer, "Worse Than the World Bank? Export Credit Agencies--The Secret Engine of Globalization"
Peter Robbins, "A short history of African trade: Early trade and colonialism" International Institute of Tropical A
Peter Robbins, "Review of the Impact of Globalization on the agricultural sectors and rural communities of ACP
Peter Robbins, "Markets for Tropical Products", part 1 of Tropical Commodities and their Markets: A Guide and
Martin Khor, BIODIVERSITY CONVENTION BRIEFINGS No. 2 "FAO Asian Chief Calls for Move Away from G
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Martin Khor, "Debate on Feeding the World" May 2000
recommended film: Life & Debt
exam 2 posted November 3, due nov 14 at 5 pm
Week 8 November 3
free trade
required: explore on your own: read at least 5 articles from below
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Martin Khor, "Macroeconomic policies that affect the South's agriculture", Third World Resurgence No. 100/10
Bhagirath Lal Das, "The "Big Bang" in agriculture in the WTO". Third World Economics, 16-31 January 1998
Lori Wallach, "The WTO’s Slow Motion Coup Against Democracy: An Interview with Lori Wallach". Multinationa
Muddassir Rizvi, "Corporate Farming Comes to Pakistan: The Harvest of Globalization & Business Influence".
Shahid Husain, "Farmers to be Hit by WTO Agreement" Daily Times, Pakistan November 24, 2002.
Lucinda Sikes at the 21st Annual National Food Policy Conference "The Impact of Harmonization on U.S. Food
Global Trade Watch "Executive Summary NAFTA's Broken Promises: Fast Track to Unsafe Food" Fall 1997
Patrick Barkham, "The banana wars explained" The Guardian Friday March 5, 1999
"Civil Society Groups Reject the WTO Agriculture Draft", February 24, 2003
Walden Bello, "Why Reform of the WTO is the Wrong Agenda" January 2000.
Harry Cleaver's introduction to Zapatistas! Documents of the New Mexican Revolution, New York: Autonomed
Plan Colombia, see the Mobilization on Colombia and a report from SOAWatch
Linus Atarah, "Playing Chicken: Ghana vs. the IMF" CorpWatch June 14th, 2005
TRIPS
o "Intellectual property rights, TRIPS Agreement and the CBD", TWN Statement to the 2nd meeting of th
o Carlos Correa, "Review of the Trips Agreement", Third World Network.
o Chakravarthi Raghavan, "Andean pact’s new IPR regime shaped in US interests?" Geneva, 8 Oct 200
Privatization of Water
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Maude Barlow & Tony Clarke, "Who Owns Water?", 2 September 2002 The Nation.
Maude Barlow, "Don't Swallow Their Water Grab: Clauses Put Forth at the Last Minute in Qatar Could
Published on Friday, November 30, 2001 in the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Daniel Zoll, "Soaking the Poor: S.F.'s Bechtel wants the Bolivian people to pay for its bad water investm
Patrick McCully (audio) on dams
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Gabriel Kolko, "Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction". Le Monde Diplomatique. Oct 2006. or here
Martin Khor, "All Doha talks suspended at WTO".." 25 July, 2006 other breaking wto news from Third World Ne
Celine Tan, "Norway to cancel 'illegitimate debt' of 5 countries". 3 October, 2006.
argentina vs. imf "goodbye & good riddance" & building alternatives: recuperated factories,
venezuela: national social organization and regional anti-neoliberal cooperation/ALBA
bolivian social movements
international finance and instruments such as the progressive tobin tax (this link definitely works if you cut and
the international peasant movement, La Vía Campesina
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recommended film: This is What Free Trade Looks Like
week 9 November 10
alternative trade
required: C. Clare Hinrichs & Thomas A. Lyson, ed., Remaking the North American Food System. 2007: U
fair trade
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Josée Johnston, "Consuming Social Justice". Arena Magazine 51 (March 2001): 42-47.
Aimee Shreck, "Resistance, distribution, and Power in the Fair Trade Banana Initiative" Agriculture & Human V
James O'Nions, "Fairtrade & Global Justice". 22 April 06. Red Pepper reposted on ZNet.
organizations: TransFair USA, Equal Exchange, The Human Bean Company
in 2002, Oxfam separated itself from the anti-globalization movement, issuing this report through their Make Tr
working on....) and Walden Bello's critique
zapatista coffee: http://www.caferebelion.com/hbmain.html
food sovereignty: NGO/CSO Forum for food sovereignty, "Food Sovereignty: A Right for all" 14 june, 200
multifunctional agriculture: Brad DeVries, "Multifunctional Agriculture in the International Context: A Re
Colin Hines, Localization: A Global Manifesto. 2000.
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policy for local food
Amory Starr, et. al., "Overview of the Local Food Movement" (second section only) in "Sustaining Local Agric
Colorado", Agriculture & Human Values.
Community Supported Agriculture
Jack Kloppenburg, Jr., John Hendrickson and G. W. Stevenson, "Coming Into the Foodshed" Agriculture and H
Soil Association, "Developing Local Food Economies: Soil Association Policy Recommendations" 2/7/03
City of Toronto, Department of Public Health, Food Policy Council, "The way to a city's heart is through its stom
Cardiff University's Local food Works
Christopher D. Cook & John Rodgers, "Community Food Security: A Growing Movement" and here's the webs
"Weaving the Food Web: Community Food Security in California" California Community Food Security Network
Maya Tauber and Andy Fisher, "A Guide to Community Food Projects", 2002.
Check out the Community Alliance with Family Farmers
urban agriculture
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City Farmer website
William E. Rees,"Why Urban Agriculture?" 1997
"Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States:
Farming from the City Center to the Urban Fringe", Prepared by the Urban Agriculture Committee of the CFSC
community currency
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Amory Starr, "A market where you don't need money!: Creating currencies which serve communities", The Pos
Summer 1998: 6-7.
Thomas H. Greco, Jr. New Money for Healthy Communities (1994) the largest CC operation in the US: Ithaca
SAIIA, "The Worrisome State of the Microcredit Movement" October, 2006.
local markets
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Russell Sydney, A History of the Farmers' Market Movement in California. 2005.
John C. Cross, Ph.D., "Retailing in a neighborhood street market: A Tianguista family in Mexico City"
Jennifer Abel, "Extension's Role with Farmers' Markets: Working with Farmers, Consumers, and Communities"
Allison Brown, "Counting Farmers Markets" Geographical Review. 2001;91:655-74.
*** community supported agriculture ***
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“The History of Community Supported Agriculture, Part I: Community Farms in the 21st Century: Poised for An
Part II: CSA‘s World of Possibilities.” (2004) NewFarm.
“Eating for Your Community: A Report from the Founder of Community Supported Agriculture,” by Robyn Van
topic 3 : consumption
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Week 10 November 17
production/consumption (commodification & enclosure)
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required Bill Weinberg, War on the Land: Ecology and Politics in Central America. 1991: Zed Books, L
required: Simon Fairlie, Nicholas Hildyard, Larry Lohmann, Sarah Sexton, for The Ecologist, "Reclaimi
Future?: Reclaiming the Commons 1993: New Society, Philadelphia PA.
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optional online:
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required Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen & Maria Mies, The Subsistence Perspective 2000: Zed Books,
interview with Maria Mies
required (photocopies) Wendell Berry, "The Unsettling of America" 3-14 and "The Agricultural Crisis as
(1996) Sierra Club Books, San Francisco.
Maria Mies, "Women & Work in a Sustainable Society" conference (1995)
Karl Marx on enclosure, ch XXVI: "The Secret of Primitive Accumulation" AND ch XXVII "Expropriation
Vandana Shiva, "Population and the Question of Carrying Capacity". re/production April 2000.
James Petras, "The Rural Landless Workers Movement". Z Magazine March 2000: 32-36. [5]
James Petras, "You have to take action from below". ZNet, January 11, 2002.
Edward Goldsmith, " Unhygienic - or just small-scale?" The Ecologist Special Report June 2001
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Week 11 November 24
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food culture studies
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required (photocopies): Susan Bordo, "Anorexia Nervosa: Psychopathology as the Crystallization of Culture" in
required: Cook Diet for a Dead Planet pages 1-74 AND 174-216
John Varriano, "Fruits and Vegetables as Sexual Metaphor in Late Renaissance Rome" Gastronomica Fall 200
Anna M. Shih, "The Patented Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich: Food as Intellectual Property". Gastronomica
Carol Wilson, "Wedding Cake: A Slice of History". Gastronomica Spring 2005: 69-73.
Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, excerpt "The Bitter Truth About Fast Food"
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Marion Nestle, Food Politics, excerpt from introduction
Tim Lang, "The Challenge of Food Culture: Healing the Madness". The Schumacher Lectures on Food, Land,
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final exam posted december 1 due dec 15 at 5:30 pm
Week 12 December 1 :
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slow and local
PC: Corby Kummer, "The Movement" 16-30 in The Pleasures of Slow Food. 2008.
Leitch article
PC Kevin Morgan, Terry Marsden, and Jonathan Murdoch, "Localized Quality in Tuscany " 89-108 in Worlds of Food. 20
PC Kevin Morgan, Terry Marsden, and Jonathan Murdoch, "Beyond the Placeless Foodscape: Place, Power, and Provena
Week 13 December 8 :
land reform
MST book
NYT article on young farmers
PICK and download: Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform, edited by Peter Rosset, Raj Patel, and Michael Cou