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Dec 05, 2025
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[DRAFT] Course Catalog 2026-2027 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Food Studies Integrative Concentration
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The integrative concentration consists of a minimum of 5 full courses (or the equivalent), 1 experiential component, and 1 learning portfolio.
Note: Students must earn minimum grades of C- or P for all courses that apply toward the integrative concentration.
The food studies integrative concentration invites students to critically examine food and agriculture from a range of perspectives: as embedded within social and cultural practices; as shaped by histories, politics, and economic policies; and as a determining factor for human and environmental health. This growing field examines issues that cross disciplinary boundaries and connect the local and the global. The food studies curriculum highlights the importance of interdisciplinary inquiry and, through community engaged internships and courses, trains students in ethical, respectful, and reciprocal collaboration.
The course work and experiential learning demonstrates the value of a curriculum grounded in our location and its history. Our academic courses and experiential learning build on Oberlin’s relationships with local organizations, integrating applied research opportunities through campus growing operations and partnership with Oberlin Community Services (OCS), Lorain County Community College (LCCC), and urban farms in Lorain County and Cleveland. Through commitments to understanding and supporting Black agrarianism, Indigenous food sovereignty, immigrant workers, and environmental and food justice, our food studies curriculum centers analysis of ethics, justice, reparations, decolonization, and sustainability, and practices of growing, cooking, farming, storytelling, community organizing, hospitality, and social care.
 Visit the concentration’s web page for more information.
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Note(s) on Requirements
- 16 of the 20 required credits may not be applied to another major, minor, or integrative concentration.
- If a student wishes to count a course that is not listed below toward the concentration, they can petition the concentration chair(s) for approval to apply the completed or in-progress course toward their concentration.
- In planning their schedules, students should be aware that some of the courses listed below have prerequisites.
Learning Goals
Students who successfully complete an integrative concentration in food studies will: - Demonstrate an understanding of food studies concepts that are essential in understanding a field that is fundamentally interdisciplinary and crosses arts and architecture, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and policy and economics;
- Understand how food and agriculture impact human health and environmental systems, and how food and agriculture can contribute to health disparities and food apartheid as well as how this field can contribute to more just, sustainable, and vibrant urban and rural communities;
- Recognize and value the knowledge of Indigenous, enslaved, Black, urban, rural, and immigrant communities, including the expertise held by farmers, farmworkers, cooks, and food justice activists;
- Communicate the ethical, political, and scientific bases for food democracy and sustainable agriculture to a range of audiences;
- Learn to engage in respectful, reciprocal, and ethical relationships with communities, such as urban farmers, immigrant farmworkers, rural landowners, and participants in nonprofit food programs;
- Place the industrial U.S. food system–its organizational structure, policies, and objectives–in comparison to food and agricultural systems throughout history and in other countries, as well as with local and organic systems;
- Understand the complex interrelationships between the local and the global for food systems and food justice; and
- Gain practical experience through an internship and community based learning courses.
Detailed Integrative Concentration Requirements
Food Studies Integrative Concentration Course Lists
Social and Cultural Practices Courses
Return to the summary of requirements. - ANTH 212 - Ecological Perspectives on Small-Scale Societies
- CAST 302 - American Agricultures ⇒ cross-listed with EVSS 302
- CAST 385 - Indigenous Nations, Treaty Rights, and the Great Lakes ⇒ cross-listed with EVSS 385
- CAST 416 - Taste the Nation: Culture, Consumption, and American Identities
- DANC 925 - Tasting France
- ENGL 293 - Acquired Taste: Literature and Colonial American Foodways
- EVSS 302 - American Agricultures ⇒ cross-listed with CAST 302
- EVSS 385 - Indigenous Nations, Treaty Rights, and the Great Lakes ⇒ cross-listed with CAST 385
- FOOD 200 - Lorain County Foodways
- FREN 356 - Discovering Champagne: The World in a Glass
- FREN 387 - Bread, Wine, and Cheese: The French Art of Savoring
- FREN 406 - Discovering Champagne: The World in a Glass
- FREN 925 - Tasting France
- FYSP 171 - Environment and Expression in Appalachia
- GERM 345 - From Apfelstrudel to Zwiebelkuchen: Food, Culture, and Belonging in Germany and Beyond
- JWST 256 - Jews and Food ⇒ cross-listed with RELG 256
- RELG 256 - Jews and Food ⇒ cross-listed with JWST 256
- SOCI 387 - Serving the Public: Labor & Place in Cafes, Bars, & Restaurants
Histories, Politics, and Policies Courses
Return to the summary of requirements. - CAST 339 - Indigenous Activism, Environmental Justice, and the State ⇒ cross-listed with EVSS 339
- CAST 385 - Indigenous Nations, Treaty Rights, and the Great Lakes ⇒ cross-listed with EVSS 385
- EAST 294 - Eco-Dynasties: China’s Environmental Past, Present, and Future ⇒ cross-listed with HIST 294
- EAST 364 - You Are What You Eat and Wear: Global Crops ⇒ cross-listed with HIST 364
- EAST 436 - Science and Technology in Early Modern and Modern East Asia ⇒ cross-listed with HIST 436
- ECON 207 - Urban Economics
- ECON 209 - Economic Development
- ECON 231 - Environmental Economics ⇒ cross-listed with EVSS 231
- EVSS 208 - Environmental Policy ⇒ cross-listed with POLT 208
- EVSS 220 - Global Agriculture and Food Production
- EVSS 231 - Environmental Economics ⇒ cross-listed with ECON 231
- EVSS 323 - Seminar: Global Environmental Politics
- EVSS 339 - Indigenous Activism, Environmental Justice, and the State ⇒ cross-listed with CAST 339
- EVSS 352 - Decolonizing Global Agricultures
- EVSS 385 - Indigenous Nations, Treaty Rights, and the Great Lakes ⇒ cross-listed with CAST 385
- EVSS 390 - Sustainable Cities
- EVSS 431 - Seminar in Sustainability in Agriculture ⇒ cross-listed with ECON 431
- FYSP 006 - Power, Politics, and Pastries
- HIST 294 - Eco-Dynasties: China’s Environmental Past, Present, and Future ⇒ cross-listed with EAST 294
- HIST 364 - You Are What You Eat and Wear: Global Crops ⇒ cross-listed with EAST 364
- HIST 436 - Science and Technology in Early Modern and Modern East Asia ⇒ cross-listed with EAST 436
- POLT 205 - Political Research and Analysis
- POLT 207 - Social Movements and the Policy Process
- POLT 208 - Environmental Policy ⇒ cross-listed with EVSS 208
- POLT 213 - The Politics of Oil
- SOCI 241 - American Urbanism
Experiential Component
All students are required to pursue some form of food-related community engagement. This can be through a course with the CBL (community-based learning) attribute or a community-engaged internship or research project. Oberlin’s existing community partners offer a wide range of possibilities for students to meet this requirement, including: Oberlin Community Services (OCS), Grafton Correctional Institution and Reintegration Center, the Food Shed, Cleveland Roots, Stone Soup CLE, and the Immigrant Worker Project. The concentration is designed to afford maximal accessibility for students, including BIPOC, lower income, first generation, and undocumented students. All students, regardless of documentation, are eligible for assistantships and internships. We recognize that programs like Willing Workers on Organic Farms are not affordable for all students, especially those who need to earn money for college during breaks. Students will be able to fulfill the experiential requirement during the academic year through volunteer service with partners or through community-based work study at a relevant site. A winter term or summer internship/research project is also an option for students. Learning Portfolio
Students are required to maintain a learning portfolio that will include signature course work and documentation of experiential learning. The portfolio is a means for students to draw together the theory from the curricular component with the practice from the experiential component. Students should begin the learning portfolio upon declaration of the food studies integrative concentration and use it as a means to reflect on and chronicle their evolving understanding of and interests in the field. Ultimately, the learning portfolio will serve as a curated sample of work for graduate school or prospective employers. Food Studies Integrative Concentration Advisory Group
Jay Fiskio, Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences; co-chair
Aaron Van Neste, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences; co-chair Grace An, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media and French
Ruby Beil, Sustainable Agriculture Program Coordinator at Lorain County Community College
Carmen Merport Quiñones, Assistant Professor of Comparative American Studies
Angela J. Roles, Associate Professor of Biology
Danielle C. Skeehan, Associate Professor of English
Ellen B. Wurtzel, Associate Professor of History |
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