APFS-305: Building Sustainable Food Communities

This course introduces students to civic engagement and learning by combining a semester-long internship at an organization focused on community building and empowerment in the field of food, with a survey of the academic literature on some of the important alternative modes of organization beyond the standard capitalist model. We will examine community-based organizations, the non-profit sector, cooperatives, and benefit corporations. Our analysis will include both an examination of the societal benefits of the alternatives to neoliberal capitalist organization and a critique of the individual alternatives. Students will have the opportunity to apply classroom content to the experience of working in the community, and vice versa.