I. ASCRC General Education Form (revised 3/19/14)
Use to propose new general education courses (except writing courses), to change or
renew existing gen ed courses and to remove designations for existing gen ed courses.
Note: One-time-only general education designation may be requested for experimental courses
(X91-previously X95), granted only for the semester taught. A NEW request must be
submitted for the course to receive subsequent general education status.
Group
II. Mathematics
VII: Social Sciences
(submit
III. Language
VIII: Ethics & Human Values
separate forms
III Exception: Symbolic Systems * IX: American & European
if requesting
IV: Expressive Arts
X: Indigenous & Global
x
more than one
V: Literary & Artistic Studies
XI: Natural Sciences
general
w/ lab  w/out lab 
education
VI: Historical & Cultural Studies
group
* Require a Symbolic Systems Request Form.
designation)
Dept/Program Anthropology
Course #
133
Course Title
Prerequisite
Food and Culture
none
Credits
3
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Date
Instructor
Garry Kerr
Phone / Email
Program Chair Doug MacDonald
Dean
Chris Comer
III. Type of request
New
One-time Only
Renew x
Change
Remove
Reason for Gen Ed inclusion, change or deletion
Course has been GE for years
Description of change
IV. Description and purpose of the general education course: General Education courses
must be introductory and foundational within the offering department or within the General
Education Group. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course
content to students’ future lives: See Preamble.
This course is an introductory and foundational lower division lecture course in the sub-area I
(Adaptation and Diversity) for Anthropology majors, and is also of general interest to a wide
array of students of all majors and years. The course routinely fills to 200 each spring.
V. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group.
Criteria:
Indigenous and/or global courses will
familiarize students with the values, histories,
and institutions of two or more societies
through the uses of comparative approaches.
Indigenous perspective courses address the
longstanding tenure of a particular people in a
particular geographical region, their histories,
cultures, and ways of living as well as their
interaction with other groups, indigenous and
non-indigenous.
Global perspective courses adopt a broad focus
with respect to time, place, and subject matter
and one that is transnational and/or multicultural/ethnic in nature. Whether the cultures
or societies under study are primarily historical
or contemporary, courses investigate significant
linkages or interactions that range across time
and space.

The course acquaints students with
diverse societies and cultures through
subsistence practices, culinary innovations
and food preferences and taboos relating
to the life cycle, ritual, and cultural and
religious values. Both indigenous
societies in the Americas, and globally, are
described in terms of food gathering,
domestication, preparation, and
consumption. A very broad focus is
provided by contrasting the origins of
human species, as hunter-gatherers, with
the origins of domestication of plants and
animals, through contemporary practices
familiar to students: vegetarianism,
debates over genetically modified foods,
industrial production of contemporary
food, etc. The course investigates the
underlying causes of contemporary
practices with a significant field-based
project in which students interview and
record diverse views from individuals
engaged in food production and
preparation.
VI. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning
goals.
1. Learning Goals:
Upon completion of a course in this group,
students will:

1. place human behavior and cultural
ideas into a wider (global/indigenous)
framework, and enhance their understanding
of the complex interdependence of nations
and societies and their physical environments;
2. demonstrate an awareness of the
diverse ways humans structure their social,
political, and cultural lives; and

3. analyze and compare the rights and
responsibilities of citizenship in the 21st century
including those of their own societies and
cultures.
This course significantly broadens students’
views on the diversity of human behavior
and ideas about food, with specific reference
to cultural analysis linked to economy,
social hierarchy, religion, and historical
interactions between societies. Students
must demonstrate their own comparative
awareness of the diverse ways humans
engage with food production, procurement
preparation, and consumption in the context
of their own lives, and in historical and
cross cultural perspective.
Through readings, classroom interactions,
and written field exercises, students both
question and discover both ethnocentric
biases and a broader ethical engagement
with their own societies practices, as well as
a greater appreciation for those very
different from their own.
2.
3.
VII. Assessment: How are the learning goals above measured? Please list at least one
assignment, activity or test question for each goal.
1. Students must do a field exercise of description and interviews, which they write a
descriptive summary and commentary on their findings (see attached syllabus) to reflect the
borader civic engagement of social and cultural practices regarding food in the U.S.
2. Students also read ethnological descriptions which are tested by objective short answer
exams.
3.
VIII. Justification: Normally, general education courses will not carry pre-requisites, will
carry at least 3 credits, and will be numbered at the 100-200 level. If the course has more than
one pre-requisite, carries fewer than three credits, or is upper division (numbered above the 200
level), provide rationale for exception(s).
No exceptions
IX. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form.  The syllabus
should clearly describe learning outcomes related to the above criteria and learning goals.
Attached.
Please note: Approved general education changes will take effect next fall.
General education instructors will be expected to provide sample assessment items and
corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.