Fall 2007
Ina Asim
Market in China
HUM 399: Food in Chinese Culture [CRN 15922]
Prof. Ina Asim
Fall 2007
MW 8-9:50 301 Condon Hall
Offices: 317 McKenzie Hall; PLC 218
Phone: 346-6161
Office Hours: M 3.00- 4.00: W 1:30-3:00 (Wednesdays: PLC 218)
Additional meetings for cross-disciplinary project 212 Lillis (T: 1-2 pm); 317 MCK (T: 2-3 pm)
Taught in cooperation with Professor Geraldine Moreno-Black: ANTH 365 'Food and Culture'
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For the make up quiz on Monday (8.00-8.15 am) please review your notes about the short novel 'The Gourmet' by Lu Wenfu.
Williams Grant family-style dinner November 28, 2007, 6.00 pm
University of Oregon Museum of Art
Menu as finalized by UO Catering Service
I. Appetizers
1．Pickled Chinese Cabbage
2．Roasted Nuts
II. Entrée
3.Vegetarian Potstickers
4. Marinated Chicken & Vegetable Stirfry
5. Stringbeans with Garlic
6. Tofu and Chow Fun with Water Chestnuts and Bamboo Shoots
8. Fried Rice
9. Vegetarian Wonton Soup
III. Dessert
10. [Asian Style] Fruit Platter
Beverages: Water; Tea
No MSG
Allergies considered:
nuts (except peanuts)
gluten (Celiac disease)
hot peppers
sugarcane
mushroom
dairy
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BLACK SUN BOOKS has received 'The Food in China' by E.N. Anderson.
Interesting information on Moon Cakes can be found at: http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/moon-cakes-in-shanghai/
"The Chinese... have probably fed more people, more successfully, than any other culture in world history. How they developed the cultural capital to do this is well worth our study."
(David Keightley in "What made the Chinese 'Chinese'? Some Geographical Perspectives." Education About Asia, vol. 9, number 2, fall 2004, p. 22).
There are few fields that bridge the disciplinary gaps between the social sciences, humanities, sciences, and arts as palpably as Food Studies. Interest in divere cultural histories, environmental concerns, questions of nutrition and health have led to observations in research that take into consideration determining parameters from categories such as cultural traditions, religious belief systems, social stratification, and gender issues. As China has once more become an active player on the world stage in this experimental course we will take a closer look at the specific qualities associated with food and at the diverse roles which food plays in history, materiall culture, and social life in China. The course begins with a chronological survey on the function of sacrifices in Early China and continues by looking at how food and the lack of food influenced the formation, development, and dissemination of Chinese culture determined politics well into the 20th century. This topical survey will include dietary rules as well as social rules of etiquette and banqueting and regional differences in cuisine. Finally, we will attempt an outlook on the availability of food, and the possibility to feed the people in the future.
We will conclude this class with an exhibition of food related artifacts from the Chinese collection and a banquet in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the University of Oregon art museum on campus. This banquet will bring the students of our two classes HUM 399 'Food in Chinese Culture' and ANTH 365 'Food and Culture' together with donors who are dedicated to support unusual classroom experiences.
This course will provide participants with a non-traditional learning experience: The unique combination of in-class instruction, research, excursions, curatorial work in the museum, and web site management offers multiple possibilities for personal engagement and the support for the development of a research focus related to individual interests while engaging in co-operative learning through a lively exchange of contents from all contributors.
In addition to these different perspectives offered on professional work, participants will reflect about the historical and cultural context of the symbolism, social significance, health care value, and spiritual implications of food in China.
All relevant information for the HUM 399 Food in Chinese Culture course will be avilable on this website, including guiding keynotes, that summarize the topics discussed in class or giding questions that will assist you when working with the assigned class readings.
How to navigate the website:
For access to the latest keynotes, please click the respective date maked in blue on the calendar on this page. Please also check the categories 'Readings', 'Image gallery', and 'Test questions' every week because they contain information to prepare your weekly tests.
Course Requirements for Undergraduate Students
1. Regular attendance and participation in class discussions. 20%
2. One paper of 10 pages. Topic options will be discussed during the first and second class meetings. The paper topic will be introduced to the class in a short presentation. A summary of the most important points concerning the research will be sent in as a Word attachment to the instructor at least one day before the presentation. The summary will be made available to all class participants on this class webpage. Final versions of papers are due in week 7 to ensure sound presentations and class handouts.
Paper, presentation, participation : 50% (15 %, 15 %, 20 %).
3. Weekly response to questions concerning reading assignments in short website supported quizzes. 30%
Term paper:
1. Please use the Pinyin system for Chinese terms.
2. Write Chinese terms (qi, li, yin, yang etc.) in italics. Write booktitles in italics.
3. Avoid colloquialisms! (No"you" in a paper.)
4. Consider singular and plural nouns. If you start a sentence with 'A person ..." do not use the reflexive pronouns "they / their/ in the end of the sentence.
5. Distinguish between legend and historical facts and figures. Many Chinese inventions are attributed to legendary figures because the exact date of their first appearance is unknown. Read your sources carefully!
6. Insert page numbers.
7. No contractions in a paper! I don't want to..=. I do not want to
8. Read the paper one more time before you hand it in; let a friend read it and point out what remains unclear.
9. If you quote a website, it is insufficient to simply quote the site. You have to give the precise webpage from which you quote as well as the day when you accessed the page. Other quotations can be penalized as plagiarism.
10. Read more than webpages! A paper that consists of quotations from webpages cannot be graded like a paper that shows intensive research and library work.
Required Readings for Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Selected readings will be handed out. Additional readings are on reserve in the Copy Shop on 13th St as well as on electronic reserve. Please copy the folder of readings in the Copy Shop on 13thStreet.
Course Requirements for Graduate Students
Read Eugene Anderson, The Food of China. New Haven, London: Yale University Press 1988
In addition, each student will prepare two at least five page, double-spaced, book review of each of the two books assigned to her or him. Reviews are due as arranged with the instructor, latest by Wednesday of week 9.
In your reviews you should demonstrate a command of the content of the book and the sources the author relies on. Explain the objective of the main thesis developed in the book and the methodology applied by the author. Consult as many professional reviews in relevant periodicals for Asian Studies (Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Journal of Asian Studies, T’oung Pao etc.) as possible but cite and acknowledge wherever you refer to them. Reading reviews by other authors will help you to place the book in its historical context and guides you to express your own observations.
As a general outline when preparing the review you can follow the pattern given below. Add other important information that will enhance the understanding of the reader of your review whenever further aspects of the book need to be covered.
Chinese Market
1. Bibliographical data
2. Summary of content / summary of authors argument
3. Sources and methodology
4. Most valuable contribution to the topic
5. Most important shortcomings and
questions that are left unanswered
6. Your suggestions (for comparisons with
other works by the same author/ other authors; further reading; improvements
for future editions; regarding the audience of the book etc.)
Cross Disciplinary Project: Food and Ritual
This project concentrates on the role food played in Chinese culture. It is part of the Integrated Class Project in which students of Anth 365 and Hum 399 cooperate in learning about the origins of Chinese eating etiquette and styles, tea ceremony etc. A field trip tp the Portland Chinatown and the Classical Chinese Garden with its teahouse, as well as a demonstration of Chinese tea preparation / tea ceremony are planned. These activities will enable you to prepare the final event for the two classes: the banquet that participants of the two classes will share with several donors, who engage in the support of undergraduate education. The event will have two parts: Before we eat together, we will lead the donors through a small but exquisite exhibition of food related artifacts selected from the holdings of the JSMuseum of Art of the University of Oregon. Class participants will explain the exhibits to the donors: the materials used, the production process, and the respective function of the objects related to food. Then we have a banquet that will be designed by the class participants as well. It will be your responsibility to engage with the UO catering service for the sequence and selection of dishes, design the menu, and decorate the tables in traditional Chinese style.
The choice of a banquet for the two courses is the logical concluding event for our courses. Rituals of food and drink have played an important role in traditional Chinese society. They constituted the essential part of communal gatherings, award ceremonies for military support, political loyalty, awards of fiefdoms, etc. Originally even more important, offerings of food and drinks were of utmost importance in the communication with the invisible world, the world of the deities and the ancestors. Thus Chinese culture developed an orientation towards the social functions of food which is extraordinary and -though subjected to changes throughout history- shows a remarkable continuity.
Your activities in this segment:
Participation in film presentations and field trip;
Active participation in preparing the final event: Exhibition in the Gilkey Hall of the UO Art Museum for the 'Food and Ritual' segment;
Preparing the banquet in the Pape Hall of the UO Art Museum (Planing the dishes with UO Catering Service; designing the menu,etc.)
Contributions to the class website in the 'Tofu' and 'Restaurant' project segments showing the results of your respective activities (interviews; restaurant comparisons; Tofu production etc.) which will be displayed during the banquet.
Tentative outline for the 'Food and Ritual' segment:
This segment will be taught in MCK422/ MCK 423 in a lab of the Social Science Instructional Laboratory.
No food and drink in the lab, please!!!
Week 1 Introduction during HUM 399 class: choose your project, sign up; no lab class
Week 2 Chinese bronzes
Week 3 Ritual: Religion and Community
Week 4 Porcelain, Cloisonne (in the UO Museum of Art)
Week 5 Food in the Arts
Week 6 Tea: Production and Consumption (Tea Ceremony with explanations by Josh Chamberlain)
Week 7 Medical Properties; Vegetarianism
Week 8 Setting the table; questions of etiquette
Week 9 Lab time except Thanksgiving
Week 10 Banquet
Responsibilities of the Food and Ritual segment participants:
1. Exhibition in the Gilkey Hall of the UO Art Museum
2. Banquet preparation: contact UO Catering Service; select menue; artistic design of menue and decoration of venue
Excursion to Portland: Visit to the Portland Art Museum, a Dim Sum restaurant, and the Classical Chinese Garden with its teahouse on a Saturday between week 3 and 7. The exact date will be announced here!