This course draws on the concept of ‘food politics’ – the political, social, cultural and economic conflicts surrounding food – to debate some of the common public controversies surrounding food and agriculture systems. These debates are related to sustainable development which aims at integrating different objectives and ‘pillars’, such as economic, environmental and social ones. The ‘Food controversies’ course thus revolves around the theme of conflict and integration, and we will study how progress can be made towards more sustainable food systems.

The course begins with a theoretical part in which we look at conceptual approaches to conflict and integration in a sustainability context. The second part on “Debating food topics” will be organised around class debates. Each debate covers a specific topic or question related to food and agriculture, which one student group will argue for and another will argue against. The debates will be organised as ‘fishbowl’ discussions. In addition, the course will also include a field trip to the Salon International de l’Agriculture in Paris, which serves us as a practical terrain to study food controversies.

7 classes of 3 hours plus a one-day field trip

Course programme:
Session 1: Introduction: Sustainability controversies around food and beyond

Part I: Conflicts, integration and sustainability
Session 2: Conflicts & sustainability
Session 3: Integration & sustainability

Part II: Debating food topics
Session 4: First food debate
Field trip: ‘Salon international de l’agriculture’, Paris Expo
Session 5: Reports on food/agriculture controversies from field trip
Session 6: Second food debate
Session 7: Third food debate