So let me tell you a story.
Last semester I was planning my spring course. I wanted it to be about Dirt. (You only get three guesses as to why.)
At the same time I was having conversations with people here at Georgia Tech about how I was dreaming of a pie in the sky, food studies program, here. In a meeting where I shared such wishes, the topic of my spring course came up. To the point of, ‘if food studies and rhetoric is what you want to ultimately teach, why aren't you really doing it now?’
I didn’t have a good answer, so I switched topics (sorry students). I went from “The Rhetoric and Poetics of Dirt,” to “Food Literacy in Atlanta.”
As I was designing the course, a sound byte from teaching orientation stuck with me. Something like, “We want our teachers making brave choices in the classroom. Be brave. Be Bold. And then ask yourself if that is as brave as you can be.”
I tweeted this picture, with the course topic. I’m not going to say it went viral, but 99 likes is a big deal for me.
More importantly, some pretty rockstar scholars reached out to me, and offered many forms of academic kindness. #souphound doesn't name drop, but you can get the idea.
Other people asked for the reading list. I’ve been slow, but here we go! Here is the shell, basics, and reading list (kinda) of my class ENG 1102, “Food Literacy in Atlanta!” (Syllabus in full is still looking for a home).
Find me via email, here, or twitter if I can answer any questions!
darcy.mullen@lmc.gatech.edu
@farmswatson
(and my pup is found under #bookselfies with #souphound)
Description
In the past decade Atlanta has undergone phenomenal
changes in infrastructure, and food culture because of two things: being a
beta-hub in the tech industry, and tax credits that have cultivated a thriving
film industry. This influx of people, money, and innovation, restaurant culture
has seen tremendous growth. This Serve Learn Sustain (SLS) course encourages
students to learn the story of Atlanta through its food history. We move
through four units: “Resources,” “Mapping Recipes,” “Food Deserts/Swamps,” and “Food
Taxonomy and Lexicons.”
This course pairs with community engaged partners to
pursue SLS Big Ideas. Through an organizational logic of sustainability, and
community, we focus on the role of food systems thinking, and food justice, in
food literacy. This course hopes to draw together guest speakers from SLS
partners (such as Mario Cambardella, the Urban Agriculture Director for the
Office of Resilience in the City of Atlanta). Moreover, this course is
affiliated with the Poetry@Tech events, and those poets’ works (Aimee
Nezhukumatathil, Christopher Collins, Bruce McEverStuart, Dischell, David
Bottoms, and Tarfia Faizullah).
For these units, students will use a shared vocabulary
for discussing the written, oral, visual, electronic and nonverbal modes of
communication, by using a wide selection of sources, and community engaged
projects. This approach
(as emphasized in WOVENtext) gives us a framework for identifying and
practicing these skills as we interact with the course readings, and on campus
events. WOVENtext provides methods for analyzing our readings and course
materials. There will also be exploratory and multimodal work for each unit in
the course—inspired by the many different modalities reflected in the primary
and secondary readings. Last, but not least, students are encouraged to attend
Poetry@Tech readings, and community events.
Reading
& Work Schedule
Week 1 Introductions;
Common Video
-Review
syllabus on Canvas, Doodle Poll for office hours
-Introductions
(GaTech specific)
Assignment
Create an individual video (60-90 seconds)
in which you articulate a challenge relating to one of the WOVEN modes (written,
oral, visual, electronic, or nonverbal communication) specific to this
semester’s class projects. Assignment due as a youtube link uploaded to canvas.
Students are strongly advised to make use
of library resources (like the gadget library) and/or the four studios in the
communications building.
-Readings
from our composition text
-Read this (short) essay, “Food Swamps Are the New Food
Deserts”:
Week 2
-First
Week Videos Due
-Essays
from Wendell Berry* (* means “on course management system”)
-Selection
from Rural Literacies*
-Familiarize yourself with the following website:
-Presentation and
Tasking: Guest Speaker Mario Cambardella (Urban Ag /
Mayoral office)
Week 3 Resource
Infographic
-Visit From Resource
Librarian
-Selection from The Archaeology and History of the Native
Georgia
Tribes*
-Infographic assigned
-
Readings from our composition text
-Selection From The Cooking Gene*
Week 4
-Selection
from On The Rim of The Caribbean*
-In
Class Workshop
-Readings from our composition text
-Infographic Due
-Project 1 Assigned
Week 5 Project 1: Recipe
Map
-Selections from
Aimee Nezhukumatathil*
-Readings
from our composition text
Week 6 (Skype
with Julia Turshen)
-Selections from Bruce McEver*
-Q
& A lesson/prep for talk with Julia Turshen
-Feed The Resistance (p 1-51)
-In Class Workshop
-Skype Q & A with Julia Turshen!
-Feed
The Resistance (p 52-105)
-In Class Workshop
-Readings from our composition text
Week 7 Project 2: Food
Deserts
-Project 1 Due
-Selections from Christopher Collins*
-Project 2 Assigned
-Readings from our composition text
-Selection from Spaces of Global Capitalism*
-Workshop in Class
Th 2/22 Poetry@tech event 7:30 PM Kress Auditorium https://poetry.gatech.edu/
-“Pedagogy of The Oppressed”*
-Feed
The Resistance (p 108-143)
Week 8
-Selections from Atlanta Rising*
-Selection from White Flight*
-Workshop
in Class
Week 9
-Workshop in Class
-Presentations
to, and Assessment by Mario Cambardella
-Proposal/action plan for this week’s
revisions (based on
feedback from 3/7)
Week 10 Revisions / Project
3: Food Lexicon Podcast
-Visit from Charlie Bennet (date subject
to change)
-Selections from The Age of Wire and String (“Food”)*
-Project
3 Assigned
-Workshop
Week 11 No Classes
(spring break)
Week 12 Project 3:
Food Lexicon Podcast
-Introduce
“Gravy” (From the Southern Foodways Alliance)
- In class workshop
-Readings from our composition text
-White
Papers/Food Alliance documents* -Readings from our composition
text
Week 13
-Selections from Tarfia
Faizullah*
-In Class Workshop
-Revisions
of Project 2 Due: Presentations in Class
Week 14
-Selections
from David Bottoms*
-In Class Workshop
-Selections from
Stuart Dischell*
-In Class Workshop
Th 4/12 Poetry@tech event 7:30 Kress Auditorium
-Project 3: Lexicon
Due
Week 15 Portfolio/Revisions
-in
class work on portfolios
Week 16
-play
apples to apples (I have a method)
Description of Projects
Create an
individual video (60-90 seconds) in which you articulate a challenge relating
to one of the WOVEN modes (written, oral, visual, electronic, or nonverbal
communication) specific to this semester’s class projects.
Resource
Infographic
1: Recipe
Map
Students will work
in small groups (determined by instructor) to create a map of an
Atlanta-specific food or drink. Groups will submit a
proposal for approval, create the multimodal artifact, write a statement
of contribution, and
present the artifact to the class.
2: Food
Deserts in Atlanta
Students will work
in groups to create a multimodal solution to either food deserts or food swaps
in Atlanta. Groups will submit a proposal for approval, create the multimodal
artifact, and write individual reflections. Ultimately, these projects will be presented
to the class and Mario Cambardella (the Urban Ag Director of the Mayoral
office). Mr. Cambardella will be present to provide feedback on presentations,
with which students can use for the final draft of their artifacts.
3: Lexicon (Podcast)
Students will work
in small groups (determined by instructor) to create podcasts in response to currently
existing food lexicons in Atlanta. Groups will submit a proposal for approval,
create the multimodal artifact, write both a statement of contribution and an
artist’s statement. The combined lexicons will come together as whole class
project.
That's all, folks! #souphound says to go wiggle, because it's Friday and we should always wiggle.
