Food Security & Resilient Communities: Food Systems Theory & Practice

Food Security & Resilient Communities: Food Systems Theory & Practice

 ALCE 5984                                          

Spring 2017

 Virginia Tech, CRN 19642

This graduate-level course is a critical and interdisciplinary exploration of current issues related to food security and the emerging field of food systems. This course will focus on the concepts and discourses of community food security, food sovereignty, food justice, and agricultural sustainability from local, regional, and international perspectives. Topics include but are not limited to: conceptual frameworks and community-based strategies to address food system and health equity; social change and food security; and the role of university-community partnerships to cultivate possibilities for more resilient and just food systems. The Appalachian Foodshed Project and the Stories of Community Food Work in Appalachia initiative provide course participants with a theoretical and practical backdrop for class discussion, narrative research and storytelling, and engagement with food and farming scholar/practitioners in the region. Participatory learning and critical pedagogy are core course approaches.  Graduate student standing (3H, 3C).

Schedule:     Thursday 4-7 PM

Location:      Litton Reaves 244

Professor:    Dr. Kim L. Niewolny

                     Dept. of Agricultural, Leadership, & Community Education

                     282 Litton Reaves Hall (0343)

                     Email: niewolny@vt.edu

                     Office:  540-231-5784 

ALCE 5984_VT_2017_Syllabus_Niewolny.final.pdf