Japn 317: Pacific Food Empires
Course Description:
This course examines the historical processes that have informed the food on our plates. In particular, we will look at food as a medium through which to understand the processes of migration, invention, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism that have shaped much of the Asia-Pacific world, including Japan and the United States. Students will have a clear understanding of the processes of colonialism and globalization that informed the spread and invention of different food cultures and cuisines.
MLO's: This course meets MLO 2 and MLO 4.
Course Narrative:
This course helped me to better understand the importance of culture and food in our everyday lives. By examining how our food ends up on our table and not only the history of how the food got there but also the importance of who produced the food, we are able to fully understand how central food is to our understandings of ourselves and others. I learned about the importance of colonialism and the concept of traditional foods and how they form someones identity. This identity becomes essential when dealing with others and with the increasing of mass production of foods once considered traditional. Food is often seen as the litmus test for who is still a part of their culture and who is not meeting the standards that others believe that they should be meeting. Part of the instruction of this course was a group object that we worked on throughout the class that allowed us to look at food areas that interest us. My group worked on cafe culture in Japan and how cafe culture has developed in Japan. In doing so we were able to see what influenced Japanese culture at different periods and what themes have stayed constantly attached to cafes in Japan. For our midterm project we made a poster that showed different themed cafes in Japan and explained how the history of cafes in Japan is essential to understanding why these themes are in Japan's cafes today. The poster allowed for us to better understand how to create an online poster and how to be selective with the information that we put on it.
This course examines the historical processes that have informed the food on our plates. In particular, we will look at food as a medium through which to understand the processes of migration, invention, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism that have shaped much of the Asia-Pacific world, including Japan and the United States. Students will have a clear understanding of the processes of colonialism and globalization that informed the spread and invention of different food cultures and cuisines.
MLO's: This course meets MLO 2 and MLO 4.
Course Narrative:
This course helped me to better understand the importance of culture and food in our everyday lives. By examining how our food ends up on our table and not only the history of how the food got there but also the importance of who produced the food, we are able to fully understand how central food is to our understandings of ourselves and others. I learned about the importance of colonialism and the concept of traditional foods and how they form someones identity. This identity becomes essential when dealing with others and with the increasing of mass production of foods once considered traditional. Food is often seen as the litmus test for who is still a part of their culture and who is not meeting the standards that others believe that they should be meeting. Part of the instruction of this course was a group object that we worked on throughout the class that allowed us to look at food areas that interest us. My group worked on cafe culture in Japan and how cafe culture has developed in Japan. In doing so we were able to see what influenced Japanese culture at different periods and what themes have stayed constantly attached to cafes in Japan. For our midterm project we made a poster that showed different themed cafes in Japan and explained how the history of cafes in Japan is essential to understanding why these themes are in Japan's cafes today. The poster allowed for us to better understand how to create an online poster and how to be selective with the information that we put on it.