Students explore Southern Foodways through a research blog in Honors Seminar

Students in Dr. Ashli Stokes’ Honors Seminar, Consuming Southern Foodways, spent the Fall 2017 semester completing field research in order to document and rhetorically anlayze the region’s foodways on a class blog. Attending local church BBQs, exploring the city’s newest food traditions from newcomers to Charlotte from around the globe, and participating in their own individual research projects, students posted their work on a class blog and on Instagram using the hashtag #consumingsouthernfoodways. Take a look at some of their discoveries and findings here: 

https://consumingsouthernfoodways.wordpress.com/

Additional course description is provided below:

Many Southerners love to talk about food, quickly revealing likes and dislikes, regional preferences, and their own delicious stories. This course will examine the origins and practice of southern foodways (what people eat and why) from rhetorical, critical, and interdisciplinary perspectives. Food supplies a common fuel to launch discussion, and in class we will examine, debate and eat to understand how foodways reflect regional cuisine. We will study the region’s culinary history, the relationship between food and race/class/gender dynamics, think about food as a sign of regional identity, and examine the cultural representation of southern food. We will analyze scholarship about regional foodways, read cookbooks and novels, and watch movies and listen to music about Southern food. Students will be required to go outside the classroom to research southern foodways and present their findings digitally, in a collaborative final project, and in a research forum.