This is the public blog and website for the course African and African American Studies 119x: Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food, designed and taught by Carla D. Martin [ Founder and Executive Director of the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute ] at Harvard University in the spring semesters of 2013, 2014, and 2015. All posts are written and published anonymously by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the course. Blog readers should keep in mind that the work presented here reflects the labor of students learning and refining their craft.
Course Description:
This course will examine the sociohistorical legacy of chocolate, with a delicious emphasis on the eating and appreciation of the so-called “food of the gods.” Interdisciplinary course readings will introduce the history of cacao cultivation, the present day state of the global chocolate industry, the diverse cultural constructions surrounding chocolate, and the implications for chocolate’s future of scientific study, international politics, alternative trade models, and the food movement. Assignments will address pressing real world questions related to chocolate consumption, social justice, responsible development, honesty and the politics of representation in production and marketing, hierarchies of quality, and myths of purity.