Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food

Harvard Extension School

AAAS E-119

Section 1

CRN 25963

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This course examines 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 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 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.

Registration Closes: January 23, 2025
Credits: 4

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Term

Spring Term 2025

Part of Term

Full Term

Format

Online

Credit Status

Graduate, Noncredit, Undergraduate

Section Status

Open

Instructor Info

Carla D. Martin, PhD

Lecturer on African and African American Studies, Harvard University


Meeting Info

1/27 to 5/17

Participation Option: Online Asynchronous

In online asynchronous courses, you are not required to attend class at a particular time. Instead you can complete the course work on your own schedule each week.

Deadlines

Last day to register: January 23, 2025

Additional Time Commitments

Optional sections to be arranged.

Notes

The recorded lectures are from the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences companion course African and African American Studies 119x. Registered students can ordinarily live stream the lectures Thursdays, 12:45-2:45 pm starting January 30 or they can watch them on demand. The recorded sessions are typically available within a few hours of the end of class and no later than the following business day. Class sessions for this course may include students enrolled in the FAS companion course. Accordingly, when you participate in live class sessions, you will do so alongside both Division of Continuing Education (DCE) and FAS students. If you participate in a way that causes you to appear in recordings of the class, those recordings may be shown to DCE students enrolled in this course or FAS students enrolled in the companion course, according to the policies of the two schools on accessing recordings of class sessions.

Tuition

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All Sections of this Course

CRN Section # Participation Option(s) Instructor Section Status Meets Term Dates
25963 1 Online Asynchronous Carla Martin Open Jan 27 to May 17

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