​ Lecture by prof. dr. Andrew Calabrese: Food as Expression

In this academic year, Prof. Andrew Calabrese (University of Colorado, Boulder) is a guest lecturer for master's and doctoral studies at FSS. This time he is participating in two courses in the Master's programme (Media, Communication and Society and Food and Discourse). This year he will hold a lecture for employees and all interested students. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, October 25 at 11 a.m. in Lecture Hall 19.

Content of the lecture

Scholarly inquiry about food has spanned several disciplines of the humanities and social sciences for more than a century, most notably among anthropologists and historians. In recent years, food has been a subject of increased interest in media and communication studies. Food satisfies the ongoing and non-negotiable human need for sustenance, and food also is a cultural good that serves as a signifier of identity and status. In this presentation, I will briefly discuss how some of the themes that historically have preoccupied scholars of media and cultural studies – commodification, the cultural industry debates, the binary of production and consumption – apply equally to our understanding of food. From there I will examine how and why food is the focus of a social movement that is a site of political-economic and cultural struggles over decolonization, and I will explain how this movement resonates with the decades-long efforts to articulate the idea of a right to cultural expression.

Suggested readings: 

• La Via Campesina, Peoples' Food Sovereignty - WTO Out Of Agriculture (2003).
• Laudan, Rachel. Introduction to Cuisine and Empire (University of California Press, 2013).
• Phippen, J. Weston (2016, May 13). ‘Kill every buffalo you can! Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone.’ The Atlantic.

Bio:

Andrew Calabrese is a Professor of Media Studies in the University of Colorado’s College of Media, Communication and Information. His research and publishing focus on media and citizenship, social movements, media literacy, media policy, and role of media in social justice activism. His recent research and civic engagement focuses on the intersections of media, culture, and food movements related to food justice, food sovereignty, and public knowledge about food systems.