FYS 056 Worlds in Cookbooks: A Sociocultural Approach

Cookbooks are much more than simple collections of recipes. When approached critically, they allow us to analyze patterns of daily life, domestic ideals and practices, and power relations in the societies that produced and consumed them. In this seminar, we will answer the following questions: 1) What is a cookbook? 2) What can cookbooks tell us (and not tell us) about the societies in which they circulated? 3) What subjects can cookbooks encourage us to (re)consider? In examining these questions, we will explore topics including cookbooks as biographies and domestic advice, as well as genres of cookbooks including ethnic, commercial, and community cookbooks. Therefore, in terms of content, the learning objective of this course is to broaden your understanding of scholarly sources by learning to unpack cookbooks as complex worthy of serious scholarly consideration.

Offered

Fall

Instructor

Pite, Luhrs