St. Francis Xavier University
Department of Sociology
Sociology 364: Food and Society
Fall Semester: 2010-11
Dr. John Phyne
Annex 9C
Office Hours: Tuesday: 1 to 3 PM; Thursday: 10 AM to 12 Noon; Friday, 12 Noon to 2
PM, or by appointment.
Phone: 867-2313
E-mail: jphyne@stfx.ca
E-mail Policy: Please restrict your e-mails to necessary communications. This includes:
extended absences from class (more than one week) and family emergencies. I refuse to
use the e-mail to cover lectures from missed classes. My office hours or the phone should
be used to cover materials pertaining to the course. Refer to the information and
communications technology policy guideline on p. 7 of this syllabus.
Course Description
This course explores the linkages among food production, distribution and consumption
in the changing global political economy. Consideration is given to these issues within
the Global North and Global South. We will also consider the historical and
contemporary linkages between the Global North and South. These linkages are also
assessed through an examination of food quality (safety, ethics, the environment and
biotechnology) and food security.
The course is divided into five sections. The first section covers the social organisation
of local and global food production, distribution and consumption. Students are
introduced to the social and ecological consequences of global food production and
consumption patterns. We also deal with the implications of the ‘liberalisation’ of trade in
food products and what this means for food producers and consumers. The conceptual
apparatus introduced here is the basis for the consideration of material in the rest of the
course (one week).
Section Two emphasizes the social organisation of food production and consumption in
the Global North. Much of the period since the end of WWII was characterised by state
intervention and the maximization of production. Policies endeavoured to link production
to consumption. This is referred to as the Fordist food regime. Case studies of the Fordist
regime and the gradual decline of this regime include: The Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP) of the European Union (EU), the Canadian Wheat Board, and supply management
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in Canadian dairy production. We also will cover the roots of ‘permanent’ migrant labour
in Canada’s seasonal fruit and vegetable sectors, and the emergence of immigrant labour
in the restructured beef processing sector (two weeks).
Section Three emphasizes the social reorganization of agricultural production in
countries in the South and the linkages of this with Northern consumption practices. This
‘Post-Fordist’ period arguably began in the late 1970s, but accelerated in the 1990s. It
consists of a growing emphasis on ‘free markets’ in the sourcing of agricultural products.
This process was engineered by Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) in the revision of
lending practices from Northern to Southern countries, and is stressed in the recent policy
provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This growing liberalisation of trade
in food products coupled with the rise in agro-export industries in the South has resulted
in changing patterns in the relationships between producers and consumers. Food is now
sourced from a wider variety of places in the Global South. Here, we examine the
implications of trade liberalization and the rise of ‘buyer-driven’ food chains for export
agriculture in: Chile, South Africa, Burkina Faso and Zambia (four weeks).
Section Four deals with the growing debate over food quality. This includes concerns
over the ethical treatment of workers, food safety, the agricultural environment and
agricultural biotechnology. In the area of the ethical treatment of workers and food
safety, we will cover Susanne Friedberg’s, French Beans and Food Scares: Culture and
Commerce in an Anxious Age. Here she compares the ‘auditing’ of such concerns in the
buying practices of British (produce from Zambia) and French consumers (produce from
Burkina Faso). In terms of the environment, we will investigate the impact of fossil fuels
and global climate change on agricultural production. The final topic in this section is the
debate over the benefits of agricultural biotechnology – especially genetically modified
organisms (GMOs). Here, we review the contending sides of a debate over whether
GMOs provide benefits in the areas of health, environmental protection and food
availability (three weeks).
Section Five extends the discussion of food availability to the recent crisis over global
food security. In 2008, world food stocks used for hunger relief were at a 30 year low. In
this section of the course, we will draw upon articles in: Jennifer Clapp and Marc. J.
Cohen, eds. The Global Food Crisis: Governance Challenges and Opportunities to
examine the structural roots of the 2008 crisis and the mechanisms suggested by
academics and food policy-makers to deal with the long-term challenges posed by global
food security (three weeks)
Textbooks
Tony Weis, The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming. Black
Point, NS: Fernwood Publishing, 2007.
Susanne Friedberg, French Beans and Food Scares: Culture and Commerce in an
Anxious Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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Jennifer Clapp and Marc. J. Cohen, eds. The Global Food Crisis: Governance Challenges
and Opportunities. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2009.
Evaluation
Examination One: - Thursday, October 7 (20 per cent – two essays)
Examination Two: - Tuesday, November 9 (20 per cent – two essays)
Essay: Review of: Susanne Friedberg, French Beans and Food Scares: Culture and
Commerce in an Anxious Age – due in class, Tuesday, November 16 (25 per cent). The
guidelines for the review will be handed out in class on Tuesday, September 21.
Final: 35 per cent
Required Readings
Articles marked with an (*) are available on my homepage.
Section One: The Social and Ecological Dimensions of the Global Food Economy (one
week)
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Chapter 18:
Hemispheres Colliding, pp. 354-375 (on reserve).
Tony Weis, The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming, Chapter 1,
pp. 11-46.
Section Two: Fordist and Post Fordist Food Chains and the Global North (two weeks)
Tony Weis, The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming, Chapter 2,
pp. 47-88.
Adrian Measner, “Chapter 1: The Global Grain Trade and the Canadian Wheat Board.”
In Terry Pugh and Darrell McLaughin, eds. Our Board, Our Business: Why Farmers
Support the Canadian Wheat Board, pp. 30-41 (on reserve).
Kerry Prebisch, “Local Produce, Foreign Labor: Labor Mobility Programs and Global
Trade Competitiveness in Canada”. Rural Sociology 72(3), September 2007: 418-449.*
Section Three: Post-Fordist Food Chains and the Global South (four weeks)
Tony Weis, The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming, Chapters 3
and 4, pp. 89-160.
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Andrietta Kritzinger, Stephanie Barrientos and Hester Rossouw, “Global Production and
Flexible Employment in South African Horticulture: Experiences of Contract Workers in
Fruit Exports”. Sociologia Ruralis 44(1), January 2004: 17-39. (on reserve).
John Phyne and Jorge Mansilla, “Forging Linkages in the Commodity Chain: The Case
of the Chilean Salmon Farming Industry”. Sociologia Ruralis 43(2), April 2003: 108127.*
Susanne Friedberg, French Beans and Food Scares: Culture and Commerce in an
Anxious Age. Chapters 1-4, pp. 3-125.
Section Four: The Debate over Food Quality: Ethics, the Environment and
Biotechnology (Three Weeks)
Susanne Friedberg, French Beans and Food Scares: Culture and Commerce in an
Anxious Age, Chapters 5-6 and Conclusion, pp. 127-222.
Tony Weis, “Chapter 11: Fossil Energy and the Biophysical Roots of the Food Crisis”. In
Jennifer Clapp and Marc. J. Cohen, eds. The Global Food Crisis: Governance Challenges
and Opportunities, pp.145-159.
Cristina Tirado, et al. “Chapter 10: The Impact of Climate Change on Nutrition”. In
Jennifer Clapp and Marc. J. Cohen, eds. The Global Food Crisis: Governance Challenges
and Opportunities, pp.129-144.
William A. Munro and Rachel E. Schurman, “Chapter 10: Chain (Re)Actions:
Comparing Activist Mobilization Against Biotechnology in Britain and the United
States”. In Jennifer Bair, ed. Frontiers of Commodity Chain Research. pp.207-227 (on
reserve).
Noah Zerbe, “Chapter 12: Setting the Global Dinner Table: Exploring the Limits of the
Marketization of Food Security”. In Jennifer Clapp and Marc. J. Cohen, eds. The Global
Food Crisis: Governance Challenges and Opportunities, pp. 161-175.
Section Five: The Food Crisis and Global Food Security (Three Weeks)
Jennifer Clapp and Marc. J. Cohen, eds. The Global Food Crisis: Governance Challenges
and Opportunities
The Causal Factors behind the Food Crisis
Anuradha Mittal, “ Chapter 2: The Blame Game: Understanding Structural Causes of the
Food Crisis”, pp. 13-28.
Jennifer Clapp, “Chapter 4: Responding to Food Price Volatility and Vulnerability:
Considering the Global Economic Context”, pp. 43-57.
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Immediate and Long-Term Governance Challenges
Raymond F. Hopkins, “Chapter 6: Responding to the 2008 ‘Food Crisis’: Lessons from
the Evolution of the Food Aid Regime”, pp. 79-93.
C. Stuart Clark, “Chapter 7: Preparing for an Uncertain Global Food Supply: A New
Food Assistance Convention”, pp. 95-104.
Frederic Mousseau, “Chapter 8: From Food Handouts to Integrated Food Policies”, pp.
105-112.
Gawain Kripke, “Chapter 9: Progress in Implementing US Local/Regional Procurement
of Food Aid”, pp. 113-126.
Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, “Chapter 16: Reorienting Local and Global Food Systems:
Institutional Challenges and Policy Options from the UN Agricultural Assessment”, pp.
217-235.
Alex McCalla, “Chapter 17: The Governance Challenges of Improving Global Food
Security”, pp.237-250.
Website
Bookmark www.fao.org. This is the website for the Food and Agricultural Organisation
(FAO). We will be referring to this site throughout the course.
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Technology and this Course
Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) pervade many aspects of our lives
and the classroom is no exception to this trend. Although I do not want to discourage the
appropriate use of ICT, I require that you abide by the following rules so such
technologies are not misused.
1. E-mail: Please restrict your e-mails to necessary communications. This includes:
extended absences from class (more than one week) and family emergencies. I
refuse to use e-mail to cover lectures from missed classes. My office hours or the
phone should be used to cover materials pertaining to the course. Unnecessary emails will remain unanswered.
2. Cell phones: Please turn off all cell phones before the commencement of class. If
you need to have your cell phone turned on, please let me know as soon as
possible.
3. Use of laptops for taking notes: Students are increasingly making use of laptops
for the taking of classroom notes. If you are one of these students, make sure that
you back up all of your material. I will not be providing students with copies of
my lecture notes under any circumstances, so if you choose to record your notes
by the use of a laptop computer, I suggest that you seek out a friend in the event
of equipment breakdown.
4. Surfing the net while in class: I consider the surfing of the internet while in class
to be a rude and disrespectful act. While I cannot stop you from doing so, I
strongly discourage you from engaging in this behaviour. If you want to surf the
internet, I suggest that you leave the classroom.
5. No audio taping or video taping of lectures: Under no circumstances are my
lectures to be audio taped or video taped. If you require assistance in the taking of
notes, I suggest that you seek the assistance of the Counseling Centre (867-2281).