Chatham University
Proposal for a New Course
Undergraduate Programs Committee/Graduate Programs Committee/Continuing Education Governing
Council/School of Sustainability Council
Person making the proposal:
Date:
Department/Program:
Alice Julier/Nadine Lehrer
9/25/2013
Food Studies
Proposed course title:
(maximum twenty-five
characters, including spaces)
Chocolate: Politics and Pleasure
Formal catalogue description:
(50 word limit: present tense,
third person objective, either all
sentence fragments or all
complete sentences but not a
combination):
This course will explore chocolate as a global product including
history and culture, agriculture (growing trees, processing beans),
direct/fair trade, labor and justice, health, chocolate production,
sales, marketing, and sustainability. Experiential components include
chocolate making, tempering; culinary practices, and site visits to
chocolate manufacturers, culminating in the design and marketing of
a sustainable chocolate product.
Course level and number:
(must be assigned by Registrar before the course proposal
is submitted)
Term in which proposed course will be offered:
Frequency and proposed scheduling of new course:
(one time only, annually, every other year, summer,
evening and weekend)
Prerequisites: none
(if any)
6XX
Spring 2014
Every other year
Required for major: Yes
Credits to be offered:
Grade option (A,A-,B+,B,B-,C+,C,F,P,NG,I,W,UW):
Enrollment limit:
3
Category most
applicable to this
new course
(Programs) to be
served:
letter
20
Traditional, as generally offered in corresponding departments in other colleges
Relatively new, now being widely established
Not yet offered in many (or any) other colleges
Course rationale: (Why
is this course needed?)
If an undergraduate
course, how does the
proposed course fit into
the liberal arts
curriculum of the
University? How does it
interface with the
general education
requirements?
Form #2B
No
This course adds to the sequencing of integrated courses that go from
politics to production and fit multiple concentration area electives. It
enhances those offerings by creating one with international/global
components. In future years, we hope to offer the class with more travel
and experiential learning.
It does not.
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012
If the proposed course is added, will
another course be dropped? If so,
state the name(s) and number(s) of
the course(s) to be eliminated and the
effect of its (their) removal upon the
department’s or program’s
curriculum. Complete a proposal to
delete the effected course
no
If the course will be cross-listed, provide both course numbers:
Has this course been proposed or passed at the
undergraduate/graduate level?
Yes, Undergraduate
Yes, Graduate
Will this course count toward fulfillment of an
undergraduate general education requirement?
Yes
No
Evaluation:
(If this course is proposed as a 400/500
level course, please explain the
requirement that will distinguish this
course as a graduate course)
Assessment:
Explain how the learning outcomes for
the course match the programmatic
learning outcomes for the
major/program and attach a revised
curriculum matrix showing how the
course impacts the curriculum.
No
If so, which requirement?
Evaluation will be based on the integration of scholarship and
practical application. Students will be expected to read and
write on a graduate level. They will also be expected to
engage in growing and cooking skills development as well as
professional development during the travel portions of class.
Class learning objectives will touch on the following Food
Systems program goals:
Experiential learning: Graduates will form a direct relationship
with the subject matter by participating in a wide variety of
practical and applied situations. Mastery of technique, while
significant in its own right, will connected back to intellectual
growth by evaluating its benefit to specific communities and
by incorporating the experience into project outcomes.
Technical competence in food production: Students will gain
basic experience in growing, producing, and cooking food.
From soil testing to knife skills, graduates will grasp the specific
material competencies related to agriculture and cooking.
Comprehensive awareness of sustainability: Graduates will be
versed in the complexities of defining and enacting sustainable
practices related to food production and consumption. Using
a systems analysis, they will be able to map the relationships
between environment, social life, and sustenance.
Attach evidences of planning:






Program Director Name:
Brief outline or syllabus of the course
Suggested texts, reading list, or bibliography
Methods to be used in evaluating student achievement
Problems foreseen in proposed course staffing
Will additional library resources be required or are current
holdings adequate?
Other problems or comments
Program Director Signature:
Date:
Alice Julier
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012
Dean Name:
Dean Signature:
Date:
David Hassenzahl
Curriculum Committee Action:
Date:
Submit form to appropriate Dean’s Office with updated catalog copy (course description and
program/major requirements) attached
Date referred for Catalog Copy:
FST 6xx
Chocolate: Politics and Pleasure
Instructors: Nadine Lehrer and Sally Frey
Contact Information: nlehrer@chatham.edu, 412-365-1637 sfrey@chatham.edu
Office hours: TBD
Course Description: This course will explore chocolate as a global product including history and culture,
agriculture (growing trees, processing beans), direct/fair trade, labor and justice, health, chocolate
production, sales, marketing, and sustainability. Experiential components include chocolate making,
tempering; culinary practices, and site visits to chocolate manufacturers, culminating in the design and
marketing of a sustainable chocolate product.
This course is a 14-week course but will have independent work for some portion of those weeks.
Students must be willing to participate in two field site trips that will be scheduled prior to registration
dates. These trips will likely be travel based: lab fees will cover some portion of the trip (meals, some of
the travel), but students will be expected to cover cost of lodging and most of the travel. Participation in
the trips is a required component of the course and cannot be made up.
Student Learning Outcomes By the end of this course, students will be able to:


Form #2B
Gain an understanding of the historical and cultural uses of cacao and chocolate.
Develop hands-on skills in the production of cacao and chocolate
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012



Understand the chemistry of chocolate and the construction of taste.
Analyze the global impact of chocolate production, from sustainable agriculture to the politics of
fair and direct trade
Assess the marketing and media discourse of chocolate as luxury and necessity
Food Studies Program Goals:

Interdisciplinary breadth: Graduates will have the ability to articulate and integrate knowledge
and skills across and within a variety of disciplines, particularly as these skills relate to the
historical and contemporary organization of food provision and consumption.

Experiential learning: Graduates will form a direct relationship with the subject matter – the
production of food – by participating in a wide variety of practical and applied situations.
Mastery of technique, while significant in its own right, will connected back to intellectual
growth by evaluating its benefit to specific communities and by incorporating the experience
into project outcomes.

Comprehensive awareness of sustainability: Graduates will be versed in the complexities of
defining and enacting sustainable practices related to food production and consumption. Using
a systems analysis, they will be able to map the relationships between environment, social life,
and sustenance.
Course Requirements
Participation and field experience
25%
Short papers
25%
Product analysis project
25%
Final project report
25%
Grade Scale
Your total points will be assigned a letter grade based on the following scale:
Form #2B
A
=
100 - 94
A-
=
93 - 90
B+
=
89 - 87
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012
B
=
86 - 84
B-
=
83 - 80
F
=
79 - 0
Please note that the graduate school requires a grade of B- or higher for the course to count towards
your degree completion. See Chatham Course Catalogue for more information.
Overview
Chocolate is now consumed as a sweet in many parts of the world. Most of the cacao from which it is
produced is grown in Africa, but chocolate began as a spicy, savory food cultivated by Maya in what is
now Belize and neighboring Mexico and Guatemala. Part of this course is an introduction to the
geography of chocolate, beginning with the historic diffusion of its cultivation and consumption. After
examining contemporary social and environmental aspects of cacao production and chocolate trade, we
will also explore the changing patterns of consumption today in America and the meanings that people
attach to their use of chocolate. There will also be an opportunity to understand the botany and
chemistry, the agricultural and culinary embodiments of chocolate.
Tentative Schedule
Week One --- History and culture
Vail, Gabrielle. 2009. Cacao Use in Yucatán Among the Pre-Hispanic Maya. Chapter 1 in Chocolate:
History, Culture, and Heritage. Louis Evan Grivetti and Howard-Yana Shapiro, eds. New York:
John Wiley & Sons.
Young, Allen M.
1994 “The Cultivation of Cacao Past and Present.” (Ch. 2, p. 14-47) and “Nature in the
Cacao: Mysteries of Pollination” (Ch. 5, p. 107-154) In: The Chocolate Tree: A Natural History of
Cacao. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. [ISBN: 1-56098-357-4]
Dreiss, Meredith L. and Greenhill, Sharon E. Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods. Tucson, AZ: The
University of Arizona Press, 2008.
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012
McNeil, Cameron L. Chocolate in Mesoamerica. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2006.
Course materials website: http://whp.uoregon.edu/mesoinstitute/?page_id=759
Week Two --- History and culture
Coe, Sophie, and Michael Coe The True History of Chocolate (new edition, 2013)
Norton, Marcy. Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic
World. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008.
Week Three --- Overview of Politics and Controversies (visit to Phipps)
Off, Carol. 2006. Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet. New York: The
New Press.
Satre, L. J. Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics, and the Ethics of Business 2005
Bittersweet Notes: Carla Martin’s research on chocolate, culture, and politics
http://bittersweetnotes.com
Week Four --- Agriculture
Berry, Sara S.
1974 “The Concept of Innovation and the History of Cocoa Farming in Western Nigeria”
Journal of African History XV (1):83-95
Rohan, T.A. Processing of Raw Cocoa for the Market. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, 1963.
West, John A. “A Brief History and Botany of Cacao.” Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the
World. Ed. Nelson Foster, and Linda S. Cordell. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 1992.
Walter Baker & Co. Limited. Cacao and Chocolate: A Short History of Their Production and Use.
Dorchester, Mass: The Barta Press, 1917.
Week Five -- No regular class --FIELD TRIP – Hershey PA; John Kira’s, Philadelphia.
Joel Glenn Brenner, 1999. “Chocolate Town, U.S.A.” Pp. 103-129 (Ch. 9) in: The Emperors of Chocolate:
Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars. NY: Random House.
McMahon, J Built on Chocolate: The Story of the Hershey Chocolate Company 1998
Week Six --- Chemistry – production, taste, and processes
Chemistry of chocolate: https://engfac.cooper.edu/rsavizky/223
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012
Whymper, R. Cacao and Chocolate: Their Chemistry and Manufacture. Philadelphia, PN: P. Blakiston’s
Son & Co., 1912.
Afoakwa, Emmanuel Chocolate Science and Technology
Susan J. Terrio, Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate
Week Seven --- No regular class – assignment work on group project designing a sustainable chocolate
product
Week Eight --- Markets, brands, taste, and sales --- class held at Mon Aimee Chocolate, the Strip
District. Visit from branding expert.
Albright, Barbara, 1997. “Trends in Chocolate” In, Chocolate: Food of the Gods. Alex Szogyi, ed. Pp. 137144. Westport, CT: Greenwood. (Ch. 14).
Week Nine --- No regular class – considerations about consumption
McIntosh, William Alex, Karen S. Kubena, and Wendell A. Landmann, 1997. “Chocolate and Loneliness
among the Elderly” In, Chocolate: Food of the Gods. Alex Szogyi, ed. Pp. 3-10. Westport, CT:
Greenwood. (Ch. 1).
Starr, Larry M. and Elana Rose Starr, 1997. “Locus of Control and Chocolate Perceptions” In, Chocolate:
Food of the Gods. Alex Szogyi, ed. Pp. 11-17. Westport, CT: Greenwood. (Ch. 2)
Week Ten --- No regular class
Guyer, Jane I.
1980 “Food, Cocoa, and the Division of Labour by Sex in Two West African Societies”
Comparative Studies in Society and History 22:355-73.
Swift, Richard, 1998. “The Cocoa Chain” New Internationalist, August. Pp. 7-11, 15-21, 26-29.
Thomas, Oliver Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Chocolate Industry 2011
Week Eleven --- No regular class --- FIELD TRIP to TAZA chocolate, Boston MA
Week Twelve ---Fair, direct, and other forms of trade – global justice issues in chocolate production
(Readings TBD)
Stop Chocolate Slavery: http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/index.html
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012
Nichols, A. Fair Trade: Market-Driven Ethical Consumption
Week Thirteen -- Product development and analysis workshop
Week Fourteen --- Wrap up
Additional Reading
Gage, Thomas. “Writings on Chocolate.” Thomas Gage’s Travels in the New World. Ed. E.S. Thompson.
Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958.
Link : http://staffwww.fullcoll.edu/amande/gage.pdf
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meetings. To obtain the fullest benefit from their courses, students must participate fully. This implies
attending regularly, engaging in course activity, completing work on time, and making up work missed
because of an emergency absence. It is the student’s responsibility to let the course instructor know
within the drop-add period if he or she will have to miss class for religious reasons, athletics, or other.
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which states in part: “Honor is that principle by which we at Chatham form our code of living, working,
and studying together. The standards of honor at Chatham require that all students act with intellectual
independence, personal integrity, honesty in all relationships, and consideration for the rights and well
being of others.” Information about the Honor Code is available in the Student Handbook.
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and/or information by illicit means in meeting any academic requirements, including examinations.
Plagiarism is defined as the use, without proper acknowledgement, of the ideas, phrases, sentences, or
larger units of discourse from another writer or speaker.
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no individual is discriminated against on the basis of her/his disability. Students with disabilities, as
defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and who need special academic
accommodations, should notify the assistant dean of the PACE Center as soon as possible. The PACE
Center will work with students and the course instructor to coordinate and monitor the provision of
reasonable academic accommodations.
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012
Non-Registered Students Policy: In accordance with University policy, only officially registered students
may attend this class and all other classes offered at the University after the drop/add period. Please
confer with your academic advisor if you need assistance with the registration process or you need
additional information.
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2012