Indiana University PhD Track in the Anthropology of Food

Food represents an integral part of human livelihoods, biology, identity, and culture. The practical dimensions and ramifications of food production, consumption and sharing, and the symbolic and ideological meanings attached to food, have relevance across all of anthropology’s subdisciplines – sociocultural anthropology, bioanthropology, archaeology and linguistics. As a theme it integrates aspects of all the four traditional subfields of anthropology.

The Department of Anthropology at IUB has unique strengths and capabilities in the study of food. The PhD concentration in the anthropology of food draws on those strengths to offer students unparalleled training in the the roles of food in (1) prehistoric, historic and modern societies, (2) human evolution and adaptation, (3) human health, (4) political economic relationships, (5) human-environment interactions, including sustainability, (6) the representation, construction and maintenance of ethnicity, social class, and cultural identity.

Food Studies is organized as a concentration within anthropology, and each student will normally choose one of the four subfields within the department within which to pursue food studies. We expect students to draw on as much of the diversity of knowledge of all anthropological subfields as possible even while pursuing their degree in one of the existing four subfields.

Subfield and Inside Minor
Depending on the specific interests of the student, his/her major subfield will be Archaeology, Social/Cultural, Linguistics or Biological Anthropology, with the Anthropology of Food constituting an inside minor within one of those subfields.

Advisory Committee
As required by their subfield, no later than the second year the student is responsible for establishing an Advisory Committee and meeting with its members. The Advisory Committee will include at least one member of the Anthropology of Food faculty. As required by the graduate college, an outside minor will be selected, in consultation with the advisory committee, preferably during the first year.

Course Requirements

  1. Core Courses
    1. ANTH E621 Food and Culture
    2. Graduate course in Nutrition
  2. A minimum of 3 courses in the Anthropology of Food, one of which must be a methods course.
  3. The outside minor should be chosen in consultation with the student’s Advisory Committee, to complement the Food Studies concentration.

Qualifying Examination
The Ph.D. qualifying examination will follow the format of the subfield in which the student is enrolled. It is expected that in addition to the examination sections required for the anthropology degree, the examination also will include a section covering the Anthropology of Food.The format of the exam will be approved in advance by the committee.

Research Proposal and Research Committee
As soon as it is practical after admission to Ph.D. candidacy, potential members of the research committee will be identified, and the candidate will offer a detailed research proposal to that group. Only after thorough discussion of the proposal, and general agreement, will the research committee be formally appointed. Please see the departmental guidelines for all four major subfields on research committees in this Guide and page 13 of the University Graduate School Bulletin for the university requirements on research committees. In addition to these requirements, please note that the research committee for students in this concentration in the Anthropology of Food will, minimally, be composed of a chair, two additional faculty representing the major subfield and the inside minor subfield, and a representative of the outside minor department.

Program Coordinator
One member of the core faculty will serve as the coordinator for the program on a yearly, rotational basis. The main responsibility of the program coordinator will be to ensure that committees meet with new students and that advanced students have their committees in place.

Graduate Courses in the Anthropology of Food:

 

Courses under development:

 

Courses from other departments:

FOLK F540 Material Culture and Folklife

HPER N401 Community Nutrition

HPER N520 Food Chemistry

HPER N530 Advanced Human Nutrition

HPER N531 Medical Nutrition Therapy

HPER N532 Advanced Human Nutrition II

HPER N533 Medical Nutrition Therapy Application

HPER N536 Community Nutrition

HPER N617 Seminar in Nutrition Science

SPEA E412/512 Risk Communication

 

Special Topics seminars in:

Biology (L410)

Central Eurasian Studies (U520)

Comparative Literature ( C670)

East Asian Languages and Culture (E505)

Economics (E501)

Folklore (F755)

History (T500)

Latin American and Caribbean Studies (L526)

Near Eastern Languages and Culture (N695)

Political Science (Y657)

Religious Studies (R660)

Russian and East European Studies (R500)

Sociology (S660)

SPEA (E555)

West European Studies (W605)

 


Core Faculty:

Susan Alt (Archaeology)

Sonia Atalay (Archaeology)

Joelle Bahloul (Sociocultural anthropology)

Eduardo S. Brondízio (Sociocultural anthropology)

Gracia Clark (Sociocultural anthropology)

Geoffrey Conrad (Archaeology)

Della Cook (Bioanthropology)

Kevin Hunt (Bioanthropology)

Frederika Kaestle (Bioanthropology)

Stacie King (Archaeology)

Emilio Moran (Sociocultural anthropology)

Sarah D. Phillips (Sociocultural anthropology)

Anne Pyburn (Archaeology)

Anya Royce (Sociocultural anthropology)

Laura Scheiber (Archaeology)

Jeanne Sept (Archaeology)

M. Nazif Shahrani (Sociocultural anthropology)

April Sievert (Archaeology)

Catherine Tucker (Sociocultural anthropology)

Richard Wilk (Sociocultural anthropology)

 

Faculty from other departments:

Christine Barbour (Political Science)

Rebecca Spang (History)

Victoria Getty  (HPER Nutrition)

Diane Henshel  (SPEA)

Vivian Nun Halloran (Comparative Literature)

Alice Lindeman (HPER Nutrition)

James Reidhaar  (SoFA)

Heather Reynolds (Biology)

Whitney Schlegel  (Biology)

Pravina Shukla (Folklore)

Jim Biles (Geography)