Service Learning Ethnography Phase 2 Discussion

Service Learning Ethnography Phase 1 Discussion

Recently I received an email from ISS NEWS, shows Lynnwood food bank will come to campus every weeks and they are looking for some volunteers, because they need help in distributing the food among less fortunate. I believe that this opportunity offers me a good chance to explore the topic on anthropology on a social scale where I will be actively involved with the community.

The email did not really specify who my supervisor may be albeit I believe that this program will be running by the aid of the Edmonds community college. The campus food bank is located in the triton student center and they can be contacted through their email  [email protected] .

Volunteering in the food bank will enable me to learn the different societal cultures that may be around us and give me a better understanding of how food may influence this. Different cultures have a variety of preferences on food solely based on their interaction with the outside world and their traditions. Interestingly, through food we can define people’s identity which is better understood as the anthropology of food. Therefore volunteering in the food bank will not only give me an opportunity to learn a service to the community but also provide a learning space for me to broaden my knowledge on the subject of anthropology.

 

Mintz, Sidney W. and Christine M. Du Bois. "The Anthropology of food and eating." Annual review of anthropology (2002): 99-119. pdf.

This journal article provides an outline of food studies that have been conducted as early as the 80s. It tries to explain the essence of food and how it influences our societal processes. This study provides the relative merits of cultural and historical materialism vs. symbolic expressions of human behavior.