ANTH 411: The Culture and Politics of Food in Italy

Autumn Quarter 2024

Instructor: Ann Anagnost

12 credits (with an option to do an additional 3-credit independent study project)

Estimated program fee: $8,000.00. Please note that students do not pay regular tuition in addition to the program fee.

Additional costs: Airfare (approx. $1500.00), Study Abroad Fee ($450.00), Daily Personal Expenses (approx. $2,000), including meals, except for group meals which are covered in the program fee. All meals in our farm stay are covered by the program fee.

Dates in Italy: September 25-November 11. (dates are still tentative)

Virtual Class Sessions: November 11- December 6

The final three weeks of the quarter will be virtual with two class periods per week for discussion of course readings and student presentations.

Program Description:

This program is designed to introduce students to a different kind of food system. The first ten days will be spent in Santa Severa, a seaside village on the train line a short distance north of Rome. Santa Severa is a hub for a resurgent local food economy as well as a gastronomic museum of Italian cuisine going back to ancient Rome. We will be learning from local farmers, archaeocooks, artisanal food producers, food journalists, and food change activists. We will be staying at the historic Santa Severa Castle located directly on the sea.

We will then spend four weeks in Rome having classes in the UW Rome Center. Students will be housed in group apartments close by. We will visit produce markets and develop an understanding of where they fit into the larger food system in Italy. We will bring back produce to cook with, focusing on basic cooking techniques and understanding the Italian approach to cuisine. We will also be exploring the community gardening movement in Rome and how it produces new forms of citizenship to address social inequality, urban blight, and economic instability. We will tour the headquarters of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) to learn about one of the most important centers for global food policy making. And we will meet with local NGO activists, journalists, and filmmakers to learn about the global food crisis.

Our final week in Italy will be spent with our farm hosts at Pulicaro who will introduce the theory and practice of regenerative agriculture, raising animals on grass to sequester carbon and build organic matter in the soil. The learning here will focus on animal/human relationships, “multi-functional” farming as a sustainable economic model for small organic farms, the importance of farm networks and solidarity, and farm-to-table cooking in an environmentally responsible way. We will also participate in the olive harvest and accompany the harvest to the mill to see how olive oil is made.

The last three weeks of the course will take place as a series of twice-weekly online seminars in which much of the academic processing of our experience will take place through readings and discussions, culminating in presentations showcasing student research projects in Italian gastronomy.

An additional three-credit optional independent study will also be offered for students wishing to delve deeper into the topics and themes of the program. Student projects will be individualized in consultation with the program director. A&H credit may be possible if the project involves some aspect of the arts, such as creative food writing, journaling, a photo essay, or short film.

The application process will not begin until later this quarter. Let me know if you would like to be added to the list of students to receive program updates.