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Without Limits speaker series brings “Food and the Liberal Arts” panel to campus March 9

Andrew Bruso

An interdisciplinary panel of College of Liberal Arts & Sciences faculty will discuss how their research addresses food in an open forum and conversation titled “Food and the Liberal Arts: A Smorgasbord of Approaches.”

The event will be held on Thursday, March 9, from 5-6 p.m. in Lecture Center 104.

The panel is the first spring event in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ signature speaker series, “Without Limits: Interdisciplinary Conversations in the Liberal Arts.” The series seeks to reconsider, reimagine and reaffirm the place of the liberal arts in higher education and civic engagement by exploring contemporary topics through an interdisciplinary lens.

During the 2016-17 academic year, Without Limits is applying this interdisciplinary critical approach to the theme of food: how it is produced, consumed, commodified and deployed as cultural signifier.

“Food represents more than just what we eat,” said Kenneth Nystrom, associate professor of anthropology and Without Limits committee co-chair. “Food reflects economics, politics, and, at a deep level, how we interact with the world. The speakers on this panel will highlight some of the ways that the liberal arts intersect with, and can inform, the topic of food.”

As one of the panelists, Nystrom will focus his remarks on his research into archaeological diet reconstruction as it informs debates about modern diets. He will be joined by Vicki Tromanhauser, associate professor of English, who will share insights from her studies of food in British literature, and Vanessa Plumly, coordinator of the German program, who will discuss food as a signifier of race, gender and sexuality.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Department of Anthropology, Department of English, Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures and Campus Auxiliary Services.

More information about the Without Limits series is available online.