SUM4035 – Past, present and future meat cultures in a local and global context
Course content
This course will provide students with a thorough understanding of the environmental, developmental and ethical challenges of industrial meat production, and offer alternative perspectives for the future of meat. The course will combine lectures, seminars, online content and farm visits.
We will start the course by tracing the role of animals in local agricultures, explaining the ongoing historical trajectory of industrial meat production, and show how meat directs and shapes food systems both locally and globally. The course will give an in-depth understanding of the historical, political and cultural problems surrounding meat, and envision the role of future meat. We will examine meat production as an integrated and/or isolated part of agriculture and trace chicken feet, turkey tails and hoofprints geographically and culturally from production to consumption. Research cases from the global North and South will be used to explore and explain the ways in which the growing complexity of meat production impacts everyday life and the global environment. Finally, we ask how we can adapt and imagine the role of animal husbandry and meat in sustainable and future food systems.
Learning outcome
- To better understand the development of meat production and consumption and its local and global consequences.
- To recognize and critically assess how various actors and groups contribute to, and are affected by, the global meat and feed systems.
- To identify and discuss the problems and dilemmas involved in meat as part of a future sustainable food system.
Admission to the course
You may apply to be a guest student at SUM. Please follow these instructions.
Formal prerequisite knowledge
A bachelor’s degree.
Recommended previous knowledge
Specialization equivalent to at least 80 ECTS within subjects from the humanities or social sciences, sustainable development, or equivalent relevant subjects.
Teaching
Attendance in lectures and seminars is mandatory, and active participation in class is both expected and encouraged. You must have an attendance of 80% to be eligible to take the exam.
Examination
3 days home exam.
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.