| the
political economy of food
FALL syllabus/schedule/readings
(online
readings are constantly updated! notify me of broken links promptly!
all materials are provided for educational use only.
Books available at the Bookstore:
- Christopher D. Cook, Diet for a Dead Planet. 2006: W W Norton & Co.
- C. Clare Hinrichs, Thomas A. Lyson, ed., Remaking the North American Food System: Strategies for Sustainability. 2008: U of Nebraska Press
- Angus Lindsay Wright, Wendy Wolford, To Inherit the Earth: The Landless Movement and the Struggle for a New Brazil. 2003: Food First Books
Schedule
week 1 September 8: introductory class
topic 1: production
Week 2 September
15 the green revolution
required readings
week
3 Sept 22 scale & efficiency (is bigger better?)
required readings
- Cook, Diet
for a Dead Planet pages 79-152 and 217-229.
- Marty Strange, Family Farming. 1989: University of Nebraska Press, particularly chapters 1, 2, 5, 6.
- Kevin Morgan, Terry Marsden, and Jonathan Murdoch, "Geographies of Agri-Food" 53-70 in Worlds of Food. 2006: Oxford University Press, Oxford. (this pdf includes the whole chapter; note that you only need to read to page 70)
optional readings
- Andrew Kimbrell,
"Bigger
But Not Better: Myth Number 5: Industrial Agriculture is Efficient"
01/04/2003
- William Heffernan
et. al., "Consolidation
in the Food & Agriculture System", report to the National
Farmers Union. February 5, 1999.
- Peter M. Rosset, "The Multiple
Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture In the Context
of Global Trade Negotiations". Food First Policy Brief No 4. 1999.
- USDA National
Commission on Small Farms Report "A
Time to Act" 1998.
- Ben Lilliston
& Niel Ritchie, "Freedom to Fail". Multinational Monitor 21.7/8 (July/August
2000)
- Devinder Sharma,
"Farm Subsidies: The Report Card"
Znet Commentary 27 November 2005.
- Patty Cantrell,
Rhonda Perry & Paul Sturtz, excerpt from "Hog
Wars: The Corporate Grab for Control of the Hog Industry and How Citizens
are Fighting Back". n.d.: Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Columbia
MO.
- · New Internationalist
issue on fish, #325 (July 2000):
· Anouk Ride, "Fishy
business".
· Meenakshi Raman, "Tree-hugging
fishers".
· John Kurien, "Behind
the label".
- Susan C. Stonich
and Isabel De La Torre, "Farming
Shrimp, Harvesting Hunger:The Costs and Benefits of the Blue Revolution"
Food First Backgrounder, winter 2002.
organizations and resources
Week 4 September
29 organic
required readings
synthetic
pesticides and fertilizers
exam
1 posted october 6, due october 24 5 pm
Week 5
October 6 "alternative" production
required readings
• Edward Goldsmith
interviews Mudiyanse Tennekoon, "Traditional
Agriculture in Sri Lanka", The Ecologist, 1982. Reprint 47-56
[10]
• Nicanor Perlas,
"Detoxifying
the Green Revolution": A Success Story From the Philippines"
• one from each section below:
Agroecology
- Miguel A. Altieri,
(Division of Insect Biology University of California, Berkeley) Modern
Agriculture: Ecological impacts and the possibilities for truly sustainable
farming
- Miguel A. Altieri,
Agroecology:
principles and strategies for designing sustainable farming systems.
- Miguel A. Altieri
& Clara Ines Nicholls Applying
agroecological concepts to the development of Ecologically Pest Management
strategies
- Miguel A. Altieri,
Multifunctional
Dimensions of Ecologically-based Agriculture in Latin America
- Miguel A. Altieri,
The
Potential of Agroecology to Combat Hunger in the Developing World
Biointensive:
- Ecology Action,
introduction to biointensive
growing
Biodynamic
- Biodynamic Farming
& Gardening Association, Introduction
to Biodynamics
- ATTRA, Biodynamic
Farming & Compost Preparation, Alternative Farming Systems Guide
Permaculture
- Margaret Rainbow
Web, "Re-earthing
the Cities". Permaculture International Journal 72 (Sept-Nov
1999): 8-11. [4] Re-earthing the Cities website
(confusing but lots of info)
- Bill Mollison,
"Introduction
to Permaculture" Pamphlet I in the Permaculture Design Course
Series
- on utube: It's a bit hokey at times (made in 1989), but the series The Permaculture Concept with Bill Mollison,
is a great introduction to permaculture. You can now watch it on YouTube. It's a little less than an hour long in total:
pt 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUr4uPe9WBk
pt 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g2mmqqEn08&mode=related&search=
pt 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye90FxJmuw0&mode=related&search=
pt 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlPZKggxZ0E&mode=related&search=
pt 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPokZm_z9zM&mode=related&search=
pt 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bda8TbW9MrQ&mode=related&search=
- ATTRA, Introduction
to Permaculture: Concepts & Resources
- Bill Mollison,
interview,
Seeds of Change #25. February 2002
- Masuoko Fukuoka,
One Straw Revolution (1975). for interviews with fukuoka and
articles about his methods, see http://www.fukuokafarmingol.net/index.html
- Mae-Wan Ho, "One
Bird, ten thousand treasures". Third World Resurgence 110/111:
2-4. [3]
- agroforester.com,
The Overstory #50: Animal
Tractor Systems
- Plants
for a Future
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf
- fallen
fruit
- participatory wiki
on plants
- urban strategies:City
Repair, Art/Urban
Repair "city repair"in chicago
Wild/other
recommended film:
Global Gardener (Permaculture)
October 13 Holiday, No Classes
Week
6 October 20 biotechnology
what is it?
regulations &
policy
October 29 field trip to the food project
topic 2 :
economics
Week 7 November 3 international economics
required:
• Cook
Diet for a Dead Planet pages 229-242
• any four articles
below
exam
2 posted November 10, due nov 21 at 5 pm
Week
8 November 10 free trade
required:
read at least 5 articles from below
- Martin Khor, "Macroeconomic
policies that affect the South's agriculture", Third World
Resurgence No. 100/101, Dec 98/Jan 99.
- Bhagirath Lal Das,
"The "Big
Bang" in agriculture in the WTO". Third World Economics,
16-31 January 1998
- Lori Wallach, "The
WTO’s Slow Motion Coup Against Democracy: An Interview with Lori Wallach".
Multinational Monitor October/November 1999: 26-30. [5]
- Muddassir Rizvi,
"Corporate
Farming Comes to Pakistan: The Harvest of Globalization & Business
Influence". Multinatinal Monitor Oct 2000: 17-20. [3]
- Shahid Husain,
"Farmers
to be Hit by WTO Agreement" Daily Times, Pakistan November
24, 2002.
- Lucinda Sikes at
the 21st Annual National Food Policy Conference "The
Impact of Harmonization on U.S. Food Standards" March 24, 1998
- Global Trade Watch
"Executive
Summary NAFTA's Broken Promises: Fast Track to Unsafe Food"
Fall 1997
- Patrick Barkham,
"The
banana wars explained" The Guardian Friday March 5,
1999
- "Civil
Society Groups Reject the WTO Agriculture Draft", February
24, 2003
- Walden Bello, "Why
Reform of the WTO is the Wrong Agenda" January 2000.
- Harry Cleaver's
introduction to Zapatistas!
Documents of the New Mexican Revolution, New York: Autonomedia,
1994.
- Plan Colombia,
see the Mobilization
on Colombia and a report
from SOAWatch
- Linus Atarah, "Playing
Chicken: Ghana vs. the IMF" CorpWatch June 14th, 2005
- TRIPS
Privatization
of Water
- Gabriel Kolko, "Weapons
of Mass Financial Destruction". Le Monde Diplomatique.
Oct 2006. or here
- Martin Khor, "All
Doha talks suspended at WTO". 25 July, 2006 other breaking
wto news from Third
World Network
- Celine Tan, "Norway
to cancel 'illegitimate debt' of 5 countries". 3 October, 2006.
organizations and resources
week
9 November 17 alternative trade
required:
C. Clare Hinrichs & Thomas A. Lyson, ed., Remaking the North American Food System. 2007: University of Nebraska Press: pages 65-344.
Herman Daly, "A Steady-State Economy". Sustainable Development Commission, UK (April 24, 2008).
Read one from each section below.
urban agriculture
fair trade
- Josée
Johnston, "Consuming
Social Justice". Arena Magazine 51 (March 2001): 42-47.
- Aimee Shreck, "Resistance,
distribution, and Power in the Fair Trade Banana Initiative"
Agriculture & Human Values 22 (2005): 17-29.
- James
O'Nions, "Fairtrade
& Global Justice". 22 April 06. Red Pepper reposted
on ZNet.
organizations: TransFair USA,
Equal Exchange, The
Human Bean Company
- Oxfam's "Make Trade Fair" campaign.
Walden Bello's critique
food
sovereignty: NGO/CSO
Forum for food sovereignty, "Food
Sovereignty: A Right for all" 14 june, 2002.
multifunctional
agriculture: Brad
DeVries, "Multifunctional
Agriculture in the International Context: A Review", Land
Stewardship Project, October 2000.
policy
for local food
-
Amory Starr, et.
al., "Overview of the Local Food Movement" (second section
only) in "Sustaining
Local Agriculture: Barriers and Opportunities to Direct Marketing
between Farms and Restaurants in Colorado", Agriculture
& Human Values.
Community
Supported Agriculture
-
Jack Kloppenburg,
Jr., John Hendrickson and G. W. Stevenson, "Coming
Into the Foodshed" Agriculture and Human Values 13:3
(Summer): 33-42, 1996.
- Soil Association,
"Developing
Local Food Economies: Soil Association Policy Recommendations"
2/7/03
- City of Toronto,
Department of Public Health, Food
Policy Council, "The
way to a city's heart is through its stomach: putting food secruity
on the urban planning menu". june 2001
- Cardiff University's
Local food Works
- Christopher D.
Cook & John Rodgers, "Community
Food Security: A Growing Movement" and here's the
- "Weaving
the Food Web: Community Food Security in California" California
Community Food Security Network, 2002.
- Maya Tauber and
Andy Fisher, "A
Guide to Community Food Projects", 2002.
community
currency
organizations and resources
Recommended readings
- John C. Cross, Informal Politics: Street Veendors and the State in Mexico City. 2002: Cambridge University Press.
topic
3 : consumption
Week 11
December 1
- final exam
posted december 1 due dec 15 at 5:30 pm
Week 12 December
8 :
land reform
Angus Lindsay Wright, Wendy Wolford, To Inherit the Earth: The Landless Movement and the Struggle for a New Brazil. 2003: Food First Books.
- required Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen & Maria Mies, The Subsistence Perspective 2000: Zed Books, London, excerpt.
- interview with Maria Mies
- required (photocopies)
Wendell Berry, "The Unsettling of America" 3-14 and "The
Agricultural Crisis as a Crisis of Culture" 39-48 in The Unsettling
of America: Culture & Agriculture. 1977 (1996) Sierra Club Books,
San Francisco.
Maria Mies, "Women
& Work in a Sustainable Society" conference (1995)
- Peter Rosset, Raj Patel, and Michael Courville, ed., Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform. Oakland, CA: Food First Books. PICK chapters that interest you and download:
- Allen Salkin, "Leaving Behind the Trucker Hat" New York Times. March 16, 2008
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