PWR 1HK: Food Values: The Rhetoric of What and How We Eat
Whether at the farmers’ market, the drive-thru window, or the kitchen table, what we eat reveals something about who we are and how we relate to the world. Our food practices express our social identities, including gender, race, class, and cultural backgrounds. Growing and eating food also impacts labor conditions, the environment, and human–animal relationships. Terms like “natural,” “sustainable,” and “clean eating” contain assumptions about health, identity, and ethics. Our course theme is “food values”—an inquiry into the multiple ways that the food we eat reflects what we value.
As college students, you face practical and ethical questions about your own food values every time you enter the dining hall. How do you balance competing priorities, such as taste, cost, and nutrition? How do you sustain a connection to your family and cultural traditions while away from home? In most cases, there is no simple or singular answer.
In this course, you will develop your writing skills by undertaking a research project on a food-related topic of your choice. You will conduct original research by selecting a particular person, group, or subculture whose rhetoric or perspective interests you. Your task is to investigate this social world and analyze rhetoric that has been overlooked by other scholars. In other words, you will investigate their food values—shedding light on their ideologies, worldview, and rhetorical practices.
Examples of Research Topics
- Indian diasporic food cultures on TikTok
- Fitness influencers and gender identity
- Mukbang and overconsumption
- Chinese fine dining restaurants
- Vegan Middle Eastern cuisine
- K-Pop stars and body image
- Indigenous agricultural practices in Hawaii
- Migrant farmworkers’ health
- Diet culture and the wellness industry
- 3D-printed foods
PWR 1 Assignment Sequence
Rhetorical Analysis
(1200-1500 words; 4-5 pages) You will select a food-related text of your choice and analyze how the writer constructs an argument and understand the strategies used to persuade the reader. Possible genres may include product advertisements, travel narratives, investigative journalism, and social media posts.
Texts in Conversation
(1800-2400 words; 6-8 pages) As you embark on your research project, you will survey the scholarly conversation about your chosen topic. You will conduct library research to find existing sources. This assignment situates your project amid the relevant scholarly literature, identifies a research gap, and introduces texts that you will analyze as evidence.
Research-Based Argument
(3000-3600 words; 10-12 pages) Building on your Texts in Conversation, this essay advances an argument based on evidence that intervenes in the scholarly literature. You will support your argument by presenting and analyzing the rhetoric of texts related to your case study.