English 2PC3: Food in Media and Popular Culture

In the Fall semester of 2021 I was the instructor of record for second year undergraduate course in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University.

The course had 97 students enrolled from across the university and was delivered entirely online due to the COVID pandemic. I structured the course to include one pre-recorded lecture and one optional live discussion period each week.

Course description:

Welcome to English 2PC3, where we're digging into the key concepts, conversations, and controversies on exciting topics related to food in media and popular culture! With an emphasis on food’s social, political, and ecological entanglements, this multidisciplinary course in English offers students the space to critically analyze various forms of cultural production— think social media, advertisements, film, television, product labels, cookbooks, novels, and more. Food is perhaps the most democratic form of cultural production—we all have a relationship with it in one way or another. This means that each of us have important insights to bring to this course and will have a hand in shaping the conversations we partake in this semester.  

By engaging with a wide range of texts and thinkers who describe themselves using different and sometimes overlapping titles (ie. academics, food critics, artists, activists, ect.) students in ENGL 2PC3 will develop the skills to identify and write about the complicated ways food media and the food industry in North America perpetuates heteropatriarchy, diet culture, capitalism, colonialism, and climate disaster, often at once. At the same time, we will consider the joyful, nourishing, and collaborative possibilities that thinking with food brings to our scholarship, writing, and lives.

Course objectives:

1. Develop a foundational understanding of how various cultural histories, events and circumstances have shaped current conversations in food media. 

2. Develop socially-minded writing and communication skills to articulate how food media, in its various forms, represents, co-produces, and challenges, arrangements of power and categories of identity (such as race, gender, sexuality, and class). 

3. Critically and thoughtfully consume and produce food media in everyday life, drawing both from course readings and personal encounters. 

4. Cultivate close reading, critical thinking, and communication skills that carry beyond the English classroom. 

What my students had to say:

More detailed evaluative material available upon request

Student 1) Melissa outlined the course in a very comprehensible way. Everything was easy to find, and her course outline was easy to navigate. Melissa creates a classroom environment that is inclusive, respectable, fun and engaging. She creates a space where students want to learn, participate and grow!

Student 2) Melissa did a beautiful job with this course. I absolutely loved every bit of it. She balanced online learning so well with both asynchronous and synchronous learning. Our one live class a week was such a fun time. We got to discuss the issues we'd been learning about in lecture and Melissa did a fantastic job of facilitating classes. She did a great job with her lectures, as well. They were super informative and thought-provoking, and even as they dealt with difficult topics, Melissa supported us as students. Melissa created an atmosphere where I, and many of my peers, felt they could express their ideas and feelings. She also was very understanding of individual circumstances. I also loved the methods of assessment in this class. They were extremely fair but still challenging in a wonderful way. Melissa is a huge asset to McMaster University and it would only benefit the school to maintain her position in teaching positions.

Student 3) Professor was super helpful and approachable. It was clear there was a lot of effort and time put into the lectures and lecture slides. The assignments actually helped further my understanding of the course content. Due dates were appropriate and fair.

Student 4) The course content was so insightful, and the readings were so relevant, while also not being overwhelming. I liked how the course was half asynchronous and half synchronous discussion based. it felt really balanced, and also was still very engaging. I liked how the marks were broken down! At the beginning of the semester I felt like there was soooo many assignments (rather than just a midterm paper and a final paper) but I loved how many opportunities there were to engage with course content.

Lecture Sample: Food in Media and Popular Culture Introduction