The Politics of Food

In the fall, students will study key issues in contemporary debates about food, including environmental and climate impacts, public health and nutrition, labor rights, and the role of policy in shaping what food gets produced and eaten, and by whom. Students will visit and learn from several Richmond community organizations whose missions center food access and justice. By spring, students will work in small groups to design and carry out projects that address food needs in the Richmond area. The course’s interdisciplinary scope allows students to engage with material across Environmental Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Global Studies, Health Studies, Sociology, Africana Studies, Leadership Studies, Business, Political Science, and more. This focus will allow students in this Endeavor program to better discern what excites them intellectually and what disciplines they may wish to pursue during their time at the University of Richmond.

Expand All

  • Coursework Overview

    The coursework for this Endeavor community involves taking a one-unit course in the fall semester and a half-unit course in the spring semester, both taught by Dr. Ooten.

    Fall 2026 Semester

    Spring 2027 Semester

    FYS 100: The Politics of Food (1 unit)

    IDST 190: The Politics of Food Seminar (0.5 units)

    FYS 100 satisfies a Web of Inquiry Engagement Learning Area; students are required to take one first-year (FYS) during their first semester at Richmond.

    IDST 190 is a half-unit project based course part of the Endeavor program.

  • Specific Course Information

    FYS 100: The Politics of Food

    This course examines the fundamentally political nature of food. It will introduce students to key issues in contemporary debates about food while also providing them with a solid foundation of the United States history of food production, labor, and policy. It will consider cross-cultural, historical, and transnational perspectives on the themes identified above, since it is impossible to understand contemporary aspects of the politics of food without a multifaceted perspective. Contemporary topics will include environmental and climate impacts, public health and nutrition, corporate power, labor rights, and the role of policy in shaping what food gets produced and eaten, and by whom. The course also will include a unit focused specifically on local food justice movements, which emphasize the right of all people to have access to healthy, affordable food with community control over those food systems, including sovereignty over the land on which its raised. 

    IDST 190:  The Politics of Food Seminar

    The 0.5 unit spring course will expand on the community connections we began in the fall Politics of Food course. It will center collaboration with food justice work in Richmond, Virginia. Students may work in a community garden, design a marketing plan for a local food organization, volunteer to make/serve weekly meals, or otherwise engage in ways that further the mission of local food justice organizations. Organizations that we connect with for the fall course will take priority in our work: RVA Community Fridges, Food Not Bombs, Sankofa Community Orchard, Fonticello Food Forest, and MAD RVA, who operates a free grocery on Saturdays in Northside.

  • Faculty Information

    Dr. Melissa Ooten serves as the Director of the will Program and Associate Dean of Social Justice Engagement and Practice for Westhampton College.

  • Endeavor Short Course Information

    As part of the Endeavor program, you will participate in the popular Endeavor Pre-Orientation program, where you will take a short course led by Dr. Melissa Ooten.

    Short Course Description:  Are You What You Eat?

    The popular proverb, you are what you eat, suggests that the food we consume reflects, and even shapes, our health, character, identity, and values. But does it? That’s the question we will consider in this short course. We will explore how food can express identity, the ways in which taste and power intersect, how migration and diaspora reshape cuisine, and how popular trends influence what we eat – and what that says about us.