Bill Buford, Heat. ISBN-13: 978-1400034475. All other readings will be posted via
Blackboard. Schedule: Please note that changes to this schedule / additional ...
MHC 351 Spring 2013 Syllabus, 1
MHC 351 / HONORS COLLEGE SEMINAR 2 FOOD AND THE PEOPLING OF NEW YORK CITY Lehman College Professor Cindy Lobel 718-960-1897
[email protected]
Spring 2013 Office: Carman 295 Office Hrs: W 4-5 pm or by appointment
Technology Fellow: Edwin Mayorga Email:
[email protected] This course will study the peoples and peopling of New York City through the lens of food and eating. We will look at a number of themes that relate to migration and settlement in New York City, including historical and contemporary immigration and migration; work experiences; settlement patterns and assimilation; community and neighborhood; commerce and business; and conflict and cooperation. Our sources will include a variety of readings and films, our own experiences and memories and those of our families, visits to sites in New York City, and guest speakers. Assignments include in-class and online discussions and formal writing assignments throughout the term, and our culminating project – an interactive map of food and migration sites in the Bronx, which will be included in the 2013 Macaulay Encyclopedia. Course Requirements: In Class Participation 10% Attendance is required in this course. More than two absences will adversely affect your grade. Class participation is required as well, for which you must keep up with the weekly reading. Consistent, active and informed participation will earn students high class participation grades while failure to participate or negative participation will earn students a zero for class participation. Minimal participation will yield a participation grade somewhere in between these two poles. On-line Participation 10% Students will post weekly responses to our readings on our course blog. Two students will be assigned to spark the discussion each week. Sparks will post their comments by the end of the day on Sunday. We will use these online discussions as a springboard for our course discussions so all students should weigh in to the blog by 7 pm on Tuesday evening. Short Written Assignments 30% Students will write a few short (2-3 page) reflection papers over the course of the semester that explore the themes of the class. Each reflection paper will make up 10% of your grade. These papers will include: 1) A brief reflection on the first week’s readings, due on February 6. 2) A response paper following a visit to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, due on March 20. 3) A response paper to our Bronx walking tour, due April 17. Food Voice Narrative / Digital Essay
20%
MHC 351 Spring 2013 Syllabus, 2 Students will write a 2-3 page food voice narrative in which you use food to reflect on identity. These narratives will serve as the basis for a 2-3 minute digital essay, a video version of your food voice narrative. The first draft of your food voice narrative is due on February 27. Your digital essay is due on April 3 Group Website Project 30% As the major assignment for this course, students will design an interactive website that explores the subthemes of our course (Family and Neighborhood, Work, Industry and Commerce, Conflict, and Ethnicity and Fusions) vis a vis sites in the borough. Students will work in groups organized around these subthemes. Within those groups, each student will identify and study a specific, food-related site in the Bronx that relates to their group’s subtheme. Each student will generate a multimedia web page that presents their research findings. The results of students’ research will be compiled into an interactive map that explores the Peopling of the Bronx through the lens of food. Students will present their research findings to the class on May 15 and to the MHC community through the Encyclopedia. Each student will also write up and turn in a final paper that discusses his / her site in relation to the larger themes of the course. The final paper will be due on May 22. We will discuss this assignment and its components (including due dates) in much more detail in class. Required Readings: All of these books are available at the Lehman College Bookstore: • Annie Hauck-Lawson and Jonathan Deutsch, eds., Gastropolis: Food and New York City. ISBN-13: 978-0231136525 • Patti Smith, Just Kids. ISBN-13: 978-0060936228 • Jane Ziegelman, 97 Orchard. ISBN-13: 978-0061288517 • Bill Buford, Heat. ISBN-13: 978-1400034475 All other readings will be posted via Blackboard. Schedule: Please note that changes to this schedule / additional readings may be made via email or announcements in class or our course blog. In order to participate fully in class discussions, it is imperative that you keep up with the weekly reading. Please complete the readings for the day they appear on the syllabus. INTRODUCTIONS January 30
Introductions
February 6 Readings:
Migrant Voices • Just Kids, xi-32 • Colson Whitehead, “City Limits,” from The Colossus of New York, posted to Blackboard Please turn in a 2-3 page reflection on today’s readings. Please also introduce yourself on the discussion board. Bronx trolley rolls from Hostos at 5:30 February 13 Readings:
Food Voices • Gastropolis, Preface, plus Chapters 6, 13
MHC 351 Spring 2013 Syllabus, 3 Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, A Tiger in the Kitchen, Prologue, (posted on Blackboard) Come to class with a food-based memory in mind along the lines of the memories explored in the food voice narratives we’re reading this week. Technology workshop. •
No class Wednesday 2/20 – Classes follow Monday’s schedule THE PEOPLING OF NYC February 27 Readings:
Soul of a Store – Russ and Daughters • Gastropolis, Chapter 11 • Rachel Wharton, “Russ and Daughters,” in Best Food Writing 2010 (on Blackboard) • 97 Orchard, xiii-82 Our class will meet today at 2 pm at the Macaulay Building for a presentation / discussion with Mark Russ Federman. Please come to class prepared with a question for Mr. Federman, based on the Russ & Daughters readings. Draft 1 of Food Voice Narrative due . March 6 Readings:
The Peopling of New York I • 97 Orchard, finish book • Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Sons, excerpt (on Blackboard) Video screening: “Migrations: The Puerto Rican Experience” (on Blackboard) Research topic: Maps / Census research Bronx Trolley rolls from Hostos at 5:30 pm FRIDAY 3/8 VISIT TO TENEMENT MUSEUM? March 13 Readings:
Research topic:
The Peopling of New York II • Robert Smith, Mexican New York, excerpt (on Blackboard) • Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, A Tiger in the Kitchen, Chapter 2 (on Blackboard) • Just Kids, 33-88 Finding sources / Oral History
THEMES / PATTERNS IN THE PEOPLING OF NYC March 20 Readings:
Family and Community • Chang Rae Lee, “Magical Dinners,” from Best Food Writing 2011 (on Blackboard) • Jhumpa Lahiri, “Cooking Lessons,” (on Blackboard) • Just Kids, 89-210. Form Groups for Website Project Research topic: Doing research on the Bronx Tenement Museum response paper due No class Wednesday 3/27 – Spring Break
MHC 351 Spring 2013 Syllabus, 4
April 3
Bronx immigration Walking tour. Details TBA Food Voice Digital Essay due Bronx Trolley rolls from Hostos at 5:30 April 10 Readings:
Ethnicity and Americanization • Gastropolis, Introduction (Fusion City), plus chapters 5,12 § Donna Gabaccia, Crossing the Boundaries of Taste excerpt (on Blackboard) § Tiger in the Kitchen, Chapters 6, 16 (on Blackboard) Video screening (in class) of “Hester Street” April 17 Readings:
Arthur Avenue tour • Gastropolis, Chapter 15 • Culinary Heritage tourism readings (on Blackboard) Bronx walking tour response paper due Conference on Food and Immigrant Life at the New School April 18-19 April 24 Readings:
Work • Heat, pp. TBA • Ben Ryder Howe, My Korean Deli, excerpt (on Blackboard) • Food Workers readings (on Blackboard) Video Screening (on Blackboard) of “Man Push Cart” Website work May 1 Readings:
Commerce / Industry • Heat, pp. TBA • Gastropolis, Chapter 10 • Food industry articles (on Blackboard) • “Bronx Baking Company,” Serious Eats (on Blackboard) Classroom guest Alexis Faraci of Bronx Baking Company Website work May 8 Readings:
Hunger and Conflict • Gastropolis, Chapter 17 • Gentrification readings (on Blackboard) • “Divided We Eat: What Food Says About Class in America,” Newsweek November 2010 (on Blackboard) Video screening (on Blackboard) of “Do the Right Thing” May 15
Wrap-up / Student Presentations
FINAL PAPER DUE MAY 22
