Anthropology 327 - Archaeology of Food

Food pervades all aspects of people?s lives, from the most basic task of acquiring and consuming food to the intricate social meanings and political roles that we give to food in different social settings. Food is a requirement for life, yet it is always transformed by social meanings in specific cultural contexts. We will look at the theoretical and methodological tools that archaeologists use to study food and foodways in past societies from a global anthropological perspective. We will explore how studying food and foodways can inform us on the methods and techniques of food acquisition, preparation, consumption, and discard. We will also examine how the study of food gives us a window into economic, symbolic, historic, and political realities of past peoples. This course will focus on the social contexts in which specific food practices occur and the social and cultural meanings that are ascribed, created, and reproduced in those contexts. Examples of topics include feasting, politics and power, food and identity, transitions in food systems, culture contact, cannibalism, and the idea of cultural cuisines.