Robinson, G (2004) Geographies of Agriculture. Prentice Hall, London
Millstone, E and Lang, T (2003) The Atlas of Food. Earthscan, London
Atkins, P and Bowler, I (2001) Food in Society. Arnold, London
Young, E (1997) World Hunger. Routledge, London
Shiva, V (2000) Stolen Harvest. Zed Books, London
Madeley, J (2002) Food for All. Zed Books, London

University library, Faculty of Sciences Learning Resources Centre, Internet and email facilities.

1 x 2 hour examination [50%]
A short answer section and an essay question - one to be chosen from an unseen list
[Learning outcomes 1, 3, 4, 6, 8]

I A report 1250-1500 words [50%]
[Learning outcomes 2, 5, 7, 8]

Additional Assessment Details:
The report will evaluate the contemporary nature of food or agriculture issues with reference to a specific country selected from a given list

Formative Assessment:
There will be a variety of formative assessment opportunities associated with the seminars/workshops. Students will also be able to receive feedback on their report plans.

10 Lectures to introduce the core themes and perspectives (10 hours)
10 Seminars/workshops employing a variety of strategies to encourage students to engage with the material and each other. (10 hours)

The production and distribution of food is a very contentious issue which has implications for politics, economics, culture, the environment and ethics. Analyses of food, how it's produced, processed, distributed and consumed, exemplify many themes established as 'core' to geography: inequality; power; environmental sustainability; the links between ideology; policy and practice; and the contested nature of science. This module holds that the food business, as currently organised, is globally inequitable, environmentally unsustainable, ethically indefensible and scientifically suspect. Studying 'the food business' exposes bizarre anomalies in our contemporary global political and economic systems. While millions still suffer from conventional malnutrition associated with insufficient diets, a new form of malnutrition associated with obesity and unhealthy diets is emerging as a major global health crisis. Industrial food production is being exported to the developing world just as its social and environmental costs are under scrutiny in the developed world. This module evaluates the problems and potentialities of a globalised food provisioning system with reference to specific case studies in the North and South. Specific themes include: old and new conceptions of food security; equity and sustainability in food provisioning systems; globalisation and food provisioning; corporate control and democratic accountability in food systems; the international trade and food; rural crises in the North and South; technology and food production; environmental impacts of contemporary food production systems; globalisation and industrial agriculture; challenges for the 21st Century.

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