Concentration

Food, Agriculture, and Society Concentration

Steering Committee: Karin Aguilar San Juan (American Studies), Arjun Guneratne (Anthropology), Scott Legge (Anthropology, Acting Director), Michael Anderson (Biology), Mary Heskel (Biology), Susan Green (Chemistry), Amy Damon (Economics), Christine O'Connell (Environmental Studies), Kelly MacGregor (Geology), Bill Moseley (Geography, Director), Joelle Vitiello (French and Francophone Studies), David Chioni Moore (International Studies and English), Michael Zis (Political Science)

The interdepartmental program in Food, Agriculture and Society offers a six-course, interdisciplinary concentration involving core and supporting courses as well as an internship. The program exposes students to the social and biophysical aspects of complex food and agricultural questions. It aims to produce graduates who: 1) understand the fundamentals of food and agricultural systems; 2) have broad interdisciplinary training on the theme of food, agriculture and society; and 3) are able to connect their interdisciplinary training on food, agriculture and society to real word experiences and application.

Food, Agriculture, and Society Concentration

Structure of the Concentration

The concentration consists of 6 courses: three (or more) core courses, one approved 4-credit internship with reflective paper, and up to two supporting courses. When developing their individual concentration plan, students must consider the following:

1. No more than two courses may be counted in another major or concentration (with the exception of interdisciplinary majors);

2. Courses in the concentration must be spread across at least three different departments;

3. Given that the Macalester curriculum is constantly evolving, students may petition the director to have classes not listed count as a core or supporting course.

Core courses (three or more)

ANTH 259 - Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic
ANTH 369 - Food and Culture
BIOL 318 - Soil Ecology
CHEM 123 - Food Chemistry
ECON 239 - Economics of Global Food Problems
ENVI 310 - Agroecology
FREN 194 - Topics Course: Food in French and Francophone Culture: The Local and the Global
GEOG 232 - Food, Agriculture and the Environment
INTL 290 - World to Table: Global Food Studies
POLI 294 - Topics Course: Hungry for Change: Urban Food/Politics/Policies/Mvts
RELI 232 - Religion and Food

Internship with associated reflective paper

An approved 4-credit food and agriculture-related internship. Internships will ideally have a faculty sponsor from the steering committee. Included in the internship experience should be a reflective paper where, among other things, the student makes connections between their academic training and the world of practice. All internships require approval of the Internship Office.

Supporting courses (two courses, or less if student takes more than three core courses)

ANTH 115 - Biological Anthropology
BIOL 170 - Ecology and the Environment
ENVI 150 - Climate and Society
ENVI 234 - U.S. Environmental History
GEOG 243 - Geography of Africa: Local Resources and Livelihoods in a Global Context
GEOG 249 - Environment and Society in Latin America
GEOL 220 - Environmental Geology
GEOL 260 - Geomorphology
POLI 252 - Water and Power