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WHY WE EAT WHAT WE EAT? FOOD AND CULTURE IN LATIN AMERICA

SPAN 324 - SECT D - FALL 2023
castas con frutas

This course examines the relationship between food, culture and society in colonial Latin America and its impact on our society today. Why we eat what we eat is a product of the encounters between these diverse societies (European, Indigenous and African) in the past and the result of subsequent centuries of social interactions.  Our aim is to read culture through food to better understand its impact on the articulation of social hierarchies, identity constructions, cultural distinction, and power. We will discuss a variety of written and visual texts from the colonial period (15th to 18th century) as well as current material on the culture of food.

Discussion, written assignments and exams will be in Spanish. Prerequisite: SPAN 228.

Section D - T/R 9:30-10:50am