New interdisciplinary master's program on food studies

A new two-year master’s program focused on the cultural, environmental, and policy aspects of food and diet will be offered by IU’s College of Arts and Sciences beginning Fall 2021. Jointly run by the departments of Anthropology and Geography, students in this program will be able to take a range of coursework across departments and will also select and participate in an internship and capstone project.

Growing interest in food quality, policy, nutrition, and the socio-cultural aspects of food, along with concern over the sustainability of food systems in the face of global environmental change, has created new opportunities for those interested in the field of food studies. “Food studies isn’t just about food, it's about all the things connected to it: labor, environment, policy, racial inequality, and looking at the intersectional aspects of food, not just culinary practices,” said Professor Brian Gilley, Program Coordinator for the Food Studies Master’s Program. Students in this program will be able to apply their knowledge to any number of jobs, such as policy work, farming and hospitality.

Prof. Andrea Wiley, Chair of the Anthropology department, says she hopes the new master’s program will draw diverse students from many backgrounds: chefs, restaurants owners, and growers, for example, as well as recent college graduates from a wide variety of majors. “One of the cool things about food studies is that there aren’t rigid boundaries,” she says. “it’s very interdisciplinary. For me that’s really exciting.” So, students will take courses like “Urban Alternative Agriculture,” “Climate Change, Food and Farming Systems” and “Nutritional Anthropology.”

Just as food brings people together around the table, Wiley imagines that the new master’s degree program will be a great gathering place. She looks forward to welcoming the first class, which she projects to include 10 or 12 students, this coming fall.

New minor in medical anthropology

Medical Anthropology is a vibrant part of anthropology, and the ways in which anthropologists have important contributions to make to understanding health and disease has become ever more apparent during the COVID19 pandemic.  In 2019 we gained approval for a new undergraduate minor in medical anthropology here in the College at IU. Profs. Sarah Phillips and Andrea Wiley teach the core courses in this minor:  ANTH-E260 Culture, Health and Illness, and ANTH-B260 Biocultural Medical Anthropology.  Faculty in the department offer many other courses for the minor, including Prof. Seizer’s new course Stigma and the Expressive Arts: Cultivating Compassion. Examples of additional courses are Evolutionary Medicine, Anthropology of Human Rights, and Applied Anthropology, among many others.  Many students at IU have career ambitions in health care, and the medical anthropology minor is a perfect complement to their majors and provides them with anthropological skills and approaches that will benefit them in their chosen career.

New minor in museum studies

In Spring 2020, the Campus Curriculum Committee approved a 12-credit Ph.D. Minor in Curatorship. It is an interdisciplinary outside minor for those interested in intellectual and professional training in collections, museums, archives, and related fields. The minor can be earned by either a classroom-only or a combined classroom and practicum track. It includes course options from Folklore (FOLK), History (HIST), Anthropology (ANTH), Information and Library Sciences (ILS), and the Paul H. O’Neil School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA).