606 Fll 08 outline - final.docVIP

Governing Global Food and Agriculture/Global Food Systems ERS-PSCI 606/ERS-PSCI 489/GEOG 429 Course Outline – Fall 2008 Course Director: Jennifer Clapp Office: ES2 Rm. 2016 Office Hours: Wednesdays 2-3 pm, or by appointment Email: jclapp @ uwaterloo.ca Times and Location: The course is scheduled as two 1.5 hour slots – a lecture/film session on Mondays, and a discussion/seminar session on Wednesdays. Lecture/Film sessions: Mondays 2:00-3:20pm, ES1 – 350 Seminar Discussion sessions: Wednesdays: 11:00-12:20 ES2 2006 (graduate Wednesdays 12:30-1:50 ES2- 2022 (undergraduate seminars) . Course Information: Calendar Description: This course examines the international rules and organizations that have emerged to govern the increasingly global system of food and agriculture. Specific themes to be covered include governance issues related to the rise of global food corporations, agricultural trade liberalization and the WTO, food aid distribution, international agricultural assistance, the global agro-chemical industry, and agricultural biotechnology. Detailed Description: We will examine the globalization of the agro-food system and the various mechanisms that have arisen to govern it at the global level. We will begin by addressing the current debate on the state of global food security. Some see an impending food crisis, which will require more scientific and technical intervention, combined with a more globalized food system. Others see abundance and argue that alternative agriculture at the local level is sufficient to feed the worlds growing population. With this debate in mind, we will look at the current global food system, and the extent to which people around the world are increasingly distanced from the production of the food they eat. We will then trace the historical trajectory of the globalization of the industrial agricultural model and the role that corporations have played in its diffusion globally. We will then turn to look at the global developme