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Food and Agriculture in Historical Perspective

Module description

This module examines food and foodways from the late Paleolithic to the present day. You will study the transition from hunter-gathering to pastoralism and agriculture in the late Paleolithic; foodways and food systems in antiquity; the development of food markets and the movement of food stuffs between world regions; changing cultures of cooking and dining from the early modern period to the present day; the industrialization of agriculture and food processing; the nutrition transition and the rise of obesity; and the implications of changing foodways and food systems for the environment and consumer safety.

Module aims - intentions of the module

You will read works on food and agriculture produced within a range of disciplines, including archaeology, classics, ancient history, history, and anthropology. Through engagement with the literature, you will gain perspectives on both historical trends in human foodways and the particularities of foodways in specific places and times. The module will prepare you for your own research in the field of study, whether academic or within the context of public institutions, industries, or third sector organisations with an interest in food and foodways, heritage and sustainablitity.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand in detail how agriculture and foodways have evolved over time
• 2. Discern and trace historical linkages and transformations in agriculture and foodways

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Identify the factors contributing to specific foodways within their historical contexts as well as complex interactions between these
• 4. Critically analyze the social and environmental consequences of historically specific foodways

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Identify and critically analyze sources pertaining to foodways in various historical contexts
• 6. Present relevant information in support of coherent and persuasive historical accounts of food and agriculture in various specific contexts

Syllabus plan

The module will be structured as a reading and discussion seminar. The following themes will likely be covered, with minor variation from year to year depending upon the availability and current research of lecturers contributing to the module:

• The Agricultural Revolution: Causes and Consequences
• The domestication of animals, and pastoralism
• Food in Antiquity
• Early modern agricultural markets
• The Columbian exchange and the globalization of food 
• Cultures of cooking and dining in the early modern period
• Devon food history
• The industrialization of agriculture
• Food preservation and food safety through time
• The nutrition transition

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Bellwood, Peter (2005) First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies (Oxford: Blackwell).

Bohstedt, J., The politics of provisions [electronic resource]: food riots, moral economy, and market transition in England, c. 1550-1850 (Farnham, 2010).

Goldschmidt, Walter (1978) As You Sow: Three Studies in the Social Consequences of Agribusiness (Allanheld, Osmun, and Co.).

Heath, Francis George (1911) British Rural Life and Labour, chapter 10 (London, P.S. King & Son, Orchard House, Westminster).

Outram, Alan (2014) “Animal Domestications,” in Cummings V, Jordan P, Zvelebil M (eds) Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 749-763

Popkin, Barry M. (2003) “The Nutrition Transition in the Developing World,” Development Policy Review 21(5-6): 581-597.

Smith, Woodruff D. (2002) Consumption and the Making of Respectability 1600-1800 (Routledge).

Thirsk, Joan (2007) Food in Early Modern England: Phases, Fads and Fashions 1500-1760 (Hambledon Continuum, London).

Wilkins, John, David Harvey and Michael Dobson, eds. (1995) Food in Antiquity (Exeter).

Wilson, Bee (2008) Swindled: From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee: The Dark History of the Food Cheats (John Murray).

Key words search

Food, history, agriculture, industrialisation