Understand the dynamics of the global food system local contexts, exploring agriculture, food justice, global markets and exchange, sustainability, and social change.
16
None
English
Jan 23 – May 8
Ecuador, South Africa, Spain
Ecuador, Spain, South Africa
Climate & Environment
Development & Inequality
As global temperatures and populations rise, food availability and access become increasingly strained. Journey to Ecuador, Spain, and South Africa as you study how food production, distribution, and consumption are affected by climate change, global trade, and historic inequalities. Learn from farmers, activists, and policy experts about alternative farming practices, government and non-government interventions, and innovative food safety and trade regulations. Dive deep into the resilience of the Ecuadorian food system as global pressures drive local and indigenous innovation. Examine the complexity and disparity when tradition meets vanguard cuisine in Spain. Explore South Africa’s struggles for food sovereignty as local populations reckon with the past and present racial and socioeconomic inequalities. Across continents, explore gastronomy as a driver of economic growth and economic equality and the importance of celebrating food, while uncovering local, national, and global solutions that offer the most promise for sustainable food futures.
Explore a Day in the Life of an IHP student!
Photos on this page may depict program sites from previous semesters. Please view the Program Sites section of this page to see where this program will travel in spring 2022.
None
(5 weeks)
One of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Ecuador is home to three distinct ecological zones: the Pacific coast, the Andes Highlands, and the Amazon rainforest. Explore Quito’s urban agriculture program, born in response to increasing food insecurity in the poorest areas of the city. Meet activists, visit NGOs, and learn from locals about the practices of the Good Life and legal rights for nature impact sustainability. Trek south through the stunning Andes, passing by Machachi, Lasso, and Riobamba, to learn from farmers and local communities about models of agricultural production and how food affects their livelihoods.
(5 weeks)
South Africa presents a unique opportunity to explore the complexities and contestations of food systems within a framework of racialized, socio-economic inequality. By spending time with locals in the city of Cape Town and nearby rural communities like Arniston village, you will have the opportunity to learn from academics, farmers, fishers, policymakers, NGOs, and activists while exploring the relationships between political and economic forces in the lives of ordinary people. Navigating a South African landscape of contradictions, you will engage with a range of issues including urbanization, land ownership, health and nutrition, child labor, indigenous knowledge systems, climate stress, government policies and the effects of COVID-19 on food systems, security, and sovereignty.
(5 weeks)
Spain is known worldwide for its Mediterranean diet, the attendant health outcomes, and the development of vanguard cuisine. Discover the deep relationship of Spanish culture and history with food, livelihoods, and modes of production. Examine debates about mass production and its impact on the environment. Learn how farmers or fishermen are recovering their traditional agriculture knowledge as a way of preserving threatened traditions while strengthening their identity and constructing food sovereignty. You will also explore the impacts and influence of the European Union on small-scale, rural producers, and take an excursion to the western region of Extremadura to compare food systems and practices.
Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.
The following syllabi are representative of this program. Because courses develop and change over time to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, actual course content will vary from term to term. The syllabi can be useful for students, faculty, and study abroad offices in assessing credit transfer. Read more about credit transfer.
People, Identity, and Food – syllabus
(ANTH3010 / 4 credits)
This course will help you to understand how access to food, eating habits, choices, and the pleasures and processes of food consumption often reveal distinctions of age, gender, status, class, occupation, ethnicity, and religion—within and among cultures. Explore the role food plays in people’s lives, including and in addition to nutrition, and how urbanization and globalization are changing relationships between people, their environments, production and distribution chains, and therefore relationships with food itself. Identity how development, food demand, and distribution systems shape each other, and learn about how access to food, along with strategies for health and nutrition, are culturally determined.
Getting from Field to Fork – syllabus
(ECON3010 / 4 credits)
This course examines the most effective economic development strategies for increasing food security among the most vulnerable food producers and consumers, how to increase efficiencies and reduce waste in existing processing and distribution chains to ensure more equitable access, and how to develop sustainable food systems for rapidly growing urban populations. Explore how international trade and regulatory frameworks affect food production and distribution chains, analyzing how these frameworks can contribute to global food security, as well as how income inequality—at local, national and global scales—affect nutrition and health, and what strategies can be most effective in reducing disparities. This course allows you to investigate the role migration plays in food production and consumption in diverse communities, and how access to information (including digital technology) can improve efficiency of both food production and distribution systems.
Agriculture, Ecology, and Sustainable Futures – syllabus
(ENVI3010 / 4 credits)
This course analyzes how to reach food security objectives while taking into account local and global environmental imperatives and realities. Explore the prospects of currently prevailing agricultural models and what solutions they offer, as well as alternative models—including ecologically integrated methods and scales. There is emphasis on what roles science, technology, and innovation will play in creating a more food secure world, and how global climate change affects and will continue to affect local environments—creating new threats, weaknesses, and opportunities for shifting priorities. Look into possible systems and tools to empower local food producers to promote productivity and ecological health, and examine how urban agriculture and other innovations can contribute to local food security in our rapidly urbanizing world.
People, Ethics, and Food Security – syllabus
(POLI3010 / 4 credits)
This course explores questions related to land rights, income distribution and inequality, food distribution systems, government regulation, the role of international organizations, and policy crafting as they relate to food and food security. More specifically, learn how to define food security at local, national and global scales, and how different conceptions determine varied approaches. You will also discuss how land rights and livelihoods can be balanced with rising global pressures around food security, and how income distribution and inequality affect hunger, food production, and development. The course deeply examines how governments, NGOs, research institutes, and UN bodies, among others, can help develop global solutions to ensure food accessibility for urban and rural communities. These complex topics will help you build a rich understanding of food security issues in an increasingly globalized and urbanized world.
Students’ accommodations will include a mix of hostels, guesthouses, and small hotels/dorms.
Relevant career paths include:
Agriculture and food production
Nonprofit management
Government
International development
Sustainability and climate change
The faculty/staff team shown on this page is a sample of the individuals who may lead your specific program. Faculty and coordinators are subject to change to accommodate each program’s unique schedule and locations.
SIT Study Abroad is committed to making international education accessible to all students. Scholarship awards generally range from $500 to $5,000 for semester programs and $500 to $3,000 for summer programs. This year, SIT will award more than $1.5 million in scholarships and grants to SIT Study Abroad students.
See Full Breakdown
Take a sneak speak into our IHP Food Systems program with Academic Director Joe Lanning as he discusses examining the dynamics of local food systems in a global context in four unique countries.
