Like Food? Like American Lit? Well…This Is The Course For You

Eating American Literature, the newest class on PSU’s English roster taught by Abby Goode, is nothing short of intriguing.

Here’s a little sneak peek at what students can look forward to in this experimental course:

“What are the cultural politics, narratives, and images associated with eating in American literature? Taking into account contemporary environmental debates about food politics, organic farming, and locavorism, this course explores the American literary history of food and eating. Analyzing novels, dietary treatises, nature writing, poetry, and memoirs from the nineteenth century onward, we will use literature and popular culture as a tool for assessing cultures of consumption past and present.”

Eating American Literature is considered an INCO, which stands for Integrated Connection course. This class integrates the content and methods of literature, cultural studies, environmental studies, and history, especially as they relate to current debates in agriculture and food politics.

Some of the texts that students will be examining over the duration of the semester include Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation, Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals,  and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

This brand-new and inventive course echoes the major changes that are coming to PSU starting next year. The novel learning approach that Plymouth State will be implementing in the fall of 2017 will see students and faculty not only interacting with individuals within their own department but rather with all students and faculty across campus. Eating American Lit exemplifies this shift towards diversity and collaboration, as it combines literature, politics, ecology, and even business into one cohesive academic experience.