EDIBLE ENVIRONMENTS: In and Beyond Montreal
How the city manages its food supply as a problem of environmental governance
July 5–13, 2018
Description:
In this intensive 7-day summer school, 15 students will be invited to examine the past & present ecological, economic, political, & cultural dimensions of urban food provisioning in & beyond Montreal. The main focus will be on thinking about how the city manages its food supply as a problem of environmental governance. Through classroom sessions with visiting experts, local archival research, and guided site visits to the city’s landmark food landscapes and current food producers, they will study the history—and manifold contemporary manifestations—of how Montreal’s food supply came to be comprised of a complex network of local, regional, national, and global provisioning chains, thereby connecting Montreal to near and distant natural resources. Students will be sent readings to complete ahead of the course. During the course they will develop and present a research project proposal and bibliography to be workshopped collectively on the final day. The projects may focus either on some specific aspect of Montreal’s food provisioning or agro-ecology, an analysis of another locale, or a comparison between Montreal’s food landscape with that of another place. Papers or website content and design based on this proposal will be due one month later.
Field Trips:
- Lufa Farms rooftop greenhouse agriculture in Ahuntsic;
- Mushroom hunting on Mount Royal (with biologist Judith Noël Gagnon);
- More TBA;
Application:
BA honors and MA/PhD students currently researching or interested in topics relevant to the themes of this summer school (e.g. environmental studies, food studies, and science studies) are invited to send a brief letter of intent describing how this summer school will enrich their past, current and/or prospective research (max. 750 words) as well as the name and email address of their thesis supervisor (undergraduate students should provide contact information for two academic references) to anya.zilberstein@concordia.ca. Please note that the submission deadline is April 15th 2018.
