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 anthropology department at Indiana University has unique strengths and capabilities in the study of food. The PhD specialization in the anthropology of food allows students to further their knowledge of 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.

The PhD track is organized so that each student will draw on the diversity of knowledge of all anthropological subfields, while pursuing specialized training in one of three of the traditional subfields.

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

Advisory Committee
No later than the second year the student is responsible for establishing an Advisory Committee and meeting with its members. The Advisory Committee will consist of four members, at least one of whom will be a member of the Anthropology of Food faculty. The members will include representatives from the major subfield, inside minor, and outside minor. 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. ANTH H500 History of Anthropological Thought in the 19th & 20th Century
3. Graduate course in Nutrition
4. Other Core Courses to be defined
2. A minimum of 4 courses in the major subfield, one of which must be a methods course.
3. A minimum of 3 courses in the Anthropology of Food, one of which must be a methods course.
4. A minimum of 3 courses in a culture areas, of which at least one should be concerned with the past of that area, and at least one with current issues. Courses counted for requirements 2,3, and 4 may be double-counted, i.e., they may fulfill more than one requirement.
5. Outside minor can be composed of an approved combination of food-related courses in Political Science, SPEA, History, Nutrition or Sociology.

Qualifying Examination
The Ph.D. qualifying examination will consist of the following:

1. A written examination in Anthropology of Food, prepared by the Advisory Committee. It will be approximately 4 hours in duration.
2. A written examination composed by the advisor(s) in the major subfield, approximately 4 hours in duration.
3. A written examination composed by the advisor(s) in the outside minor, approximately 4 hours in duration.
4. A written examination composed by the advisor(s) in the geographic area of study, approximately 4 hours in duration.

The format of the exam will be approved in advance by the committee.

Research Proposal and Research Committee
At least two weeks before the qualifying examination, the student will circulate a draft of his or her research proposal to the advisory committee. This draft will include a statement of the research problem, a literature review related to the problem, and the methodology to be employed.

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 track 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.

Graduate Courses in the Anthropology of Food:

• E600 Food and Famine
• E621 Food, History and Culture
• E600 Ethnobotany
• E600 Land Use and Food Production
• P380: Prehistoric Diet and Nutrition
• P425: Faunal Osteology
• E425: American Indian Subsistence
• E600: Coffee Culture, Labor and Markets
• P600: Paleonutrition
• P600: Food in the Ancient World

Courses under development:

• Money, Sex and Cooking ( Clark)
• Archaeology of Food – (Sievert, Pyburn, King…)
• Food, Culture and Ethnicity on the Steppes of Central Asia (Shahrani)
• Easy to Digest: Food, Ethnicity and American Society (Royce)
• Forest Foods (Brondizio)
• The Memory of the Palate: Food, Religion and Identity (Bahloul)
• Local Food and Sustainability in Global Context (Wilk)

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)