AgriCultures invites “feed to field” engagement with practices of consumption that also consume. To explore how media cooks humanity in this fall-winter-spring series of programs, we'll focus on how agricultural grift intersects with agricultural craft to create the possibility for regenerative media and food systems. From the processing of authentic Belgian milk chocolate, Kataifi pastry, and Italian pistachio cream to Dubai Chocolate's viral production on TikTok, "Dubai Chocolate" (as both global trend and case study in Evergreen programs) seeds our inquiry. During spring, we'll produce media to explore where, when, how, and for whom eating is an agricultural act. As an intentional learning community, we’ll consider the histories of global foods and their mediatization. Why did who become consumers of viral foods? How will students' own media productions identify food's power as medium and message in relation to the seemingly universal tendency to absorb, transform, consume and be consumed by that which we identify as “not us”? What production practices will support critical reflection and creative resistance to being made ill by what our food ate, having our attention consumed by media, and having our appetites cooked?
With increasing intention and intensity we’ll move from experiencing how food is produced and consumed, to reading about and watching food in climate fiction and documentaries, to producing media. Place-based learning during weekly farm and food hub practicums as well as field trips will mirror the frame of AgriCultures. Why? As Wendell Berry puts it, “the circumstances, the place, knowing your place—is all-important. [T]here’s this thing I wrote, ‘Eating is an agricultural act.'”
Faculty will model as well as support students in pursuing individual or small group projects in relation to shared program themes and community partnerships using in-program Individual Learning Contracts.
Our use of media technology during spring quarter will be inspired by the Slow Media Manifesto and designed to advance prosumerism (being simultaneously a consumer and a producer). Our approach will be diverse but focused on selecting relevant tools. We will be intentional about all types of digital documentation: from consumer-level, to semi-professional, to professional audio and video devices for general media production (cameras, microphones, recorders, tripods, lights, and photography filters). We will explore processes such as photogrammetry, time-lapse, night recordings, aerial video capture, and editing with consumer-level apps and CapCut.
Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:
4 - Film Studies and Media Production
4 - Digital Food Systems
4 - Farm and Food Hub Practicum
4 - Student Project
Registration
Priority enrollment to students having completed fall or winter programs in the Liking Dubai Chocolate series.
Academic Details
Agriculture; Climate and Environmental Justice; Cultural Studies; Education; Food Justice; Food Studies; Food Systems; Gender, Sexuality, and Queer Studies; Marketing, Media Production, Media Studies
$110 fee covers entrance fees ($40), food lab supplies ($20), and a required media fee ($50).