4 courses with the subject LART, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
LART 300World Cultures and Cuisines3
Food is a critical component of culture within any society. This course investigates its impact on lifestyle, commerce, and politics in key global regions. Students learn why and how agriculture, religion, history, and environmental sustainability influence the characteristics of a culture and its food. The course develops an expanded understanding and appreciation of why and how people from diverse world cultures with varying backgrounds approach food and beverages differently.
LART 335Ancient Foods and Foodways of Latin America3
Attention is being paid globally to unfamiliar ingredients emerging from Pre-Columbian Latin American foodways. Often these ancient ingredients are marketed for their nutritional value, exoticism and 'authenticity'. Global interest in crops such as quinoa and amaranth has created an economic boom for producers, but increased global demand often has the effect of driving those who traditionally consumed these crops out of the marketplace. Rural villagers' demands increasingly give way before those of first-world gourmets. The general name for such ingredients is 'Lost Crops', which begs the question, 'lost to whom?' While a great deal of traditional farming knowledge was lost during the Columbian Exchange, such as how to make terra preta de indio, and methods of construction and maintenance of chinampas, most of the ingredients being 'discovered' today have enjoyed a long history of uninterrupted cultivation and consumption in their lands of origin. This class seeks to address the culture of colonialism and globalization that allows such ingredients to be simultaneously 'discovered' and exploited, and the various issues of agency, ownership and social justice that underlie the adoption of new foods from Latin America.
In no other time has the conversation of southern food been more passionate. Major debates have been surrounded by the authenticity of dishes, how they are prepared and who can claim the tradition of southern food. Often the holders of these traditions are overlooked. In this course we will examine the stories of the enslaved and freed cooks from Charleston, who through their skill created the authentic cuisine still alive today. This course examines the food of the South as it related to the ingredients that make up the African Diaspora. We will examine these things not only through foodways but through, race relations, gender roles, power and privilege.
LART 400A Sense of Place: Critical Perspectives on the California Wine Industry3
This interdisciplinary course seeks to provide a cultural, historical, and socioeconomic context for the modern California wine industry. Students in this course will not only read about the history and culture of California wine, but also will, by meeting and engaging with visiting speakers, be able to take part in academic and practical conversations that will expand the discourse. Students will be introduced to the social and historical chronology, major events, salient issues, and controversies of the California wine industry through assigned readings, films, and interaction and discourse with experts in order to place California wine in both the professional and larger culture.
