Our department has unique strengths and capabilities in the study of food. Food Studies is organized as a Ph.D. Minor within Anthropology (an inside minor). If you pursue this concentration, you will receive unparalleled training in the roles of food in:

• prehistoric, historic and modern societies
• human evolution and adaptation
• human health
• political economic relationships
• human-environment interactions
• including sustainability
• the representation, construction and maintenance of ethnicity, social class, and cultural identity

You are expected to draw on as much of the diversity of knowledge of all of the anthropology subfields as possible, even while pursuing the inside minor within one of the existing four subfields.

The course requirements for the minor are equivalent to an External Minor in the Anthropology of Food (available to students in other disciplines), with the addition of one course in nutrition. They are:

• Core Courses
  1. Food and Culture – ANTH E621
  2. Nutritional Anthropology – ANTH B545 (permission from B545 instructor required for substitution)
• A minimum of 3 courses in the Anthropology of Food, one of which must be a methods course.
• Requirements of the outside minor, chosen to complement the minor in the Anthropology of Food.

As required by their subfield, the student is responsible for establishing an advisory committee and meeting with its members no later than the second year. It is wise to begin earlier than this, however, as the graduate college requires you to also select an outside minor, in consultation with the advisory committee—preferably during the first year. The outside minor should be selected to complement the Food Studies inside minor.

The advisory committee must include at least one member of the Anthropology of Food faculty.

The Ph.D. qualifying examination will follow the format of the subfield in which the student is enrolled.

It is expected that in addition to the examination sections required for the anthropology degree, the examination also will include a section covering the Anthropology of Food. The advisory committee approves the format of the exam in advance.

After qualifying as a Ph.D. Candidate, you form your research committee. One faculty member of the research committee must be a member of the from the Anthropology of Food faculty.