Environmental Studies Program, St. Mary's College of Maryland

Study Abroad Students Studying Abroad in Costa Rica with Mud on Faces

Did You Know . . . ?

. . . that there are over 20,000 species of edible plants in the world, yet fewer than 20 species now provide 90% of our food. However, there are hundreds of less well-known edible plants from all around the world that are both delicious and nutritious.

Drawing by Sarah Claggett '08

St. Mary's Project Spotlight

Adam Peterson’s SMP draws from his experiences living and working in an isolated community in Caribbean Costa Rica. His project is intended not only as a creative piece, but as ethnographic writing that gives insight into another culture. The story itself is largely fictional; however, it illustrates a common experience of Jamaican immigrants in Costa Rica and the role in their lives of the nesting Leatherback, Hawksbill, Green, and Loggerhead turtles.

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Upcoming Events 2011

MARCH

Books that Cook: Sustainability Edition
16 May – 3 June 2009 / 9.00* AM – 12.10 PM / M – R ENG390
Prerequisite: Any 200-level English class or permission of the instructor

Given their sensory nature, cookbooks and culinary narratives suggest an implicit relationship between author and audience beyond the bounds of mere reading. When one person writes down a recipe for another, a moment of cultural work has been enacted: the giver imparts a history of region, family, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, whereas the receiver re-enacts these multiple histories the moment she or he cooks and consumes the dish. In this course, we will discuss such cultural work by exploring how different literary genres (recipes, cookbooks, memoir, fiction, and film) represent the production and presentation of food. For instance, we will examine how literatures of food reveal relationships; construct regions, ages, or ethnicities; express love or anger; record history or fairytales and fantasies; and serve as articulations of sexual, social, or artistic power through the acts of reading about and performing food. This edition of Books that Cook is cross-listed with Environmental Studies. As such, discussions throughout the term will be on issues of sustainability, including local and seasonal eating practices, organic vs. industrial farming methods, and how food “sustains” body, community, and planet. Students will be expected to engage service-learning activities related to this focus, such as hours spent working in the Campus Farm, as well as attend extra-curricular events, such as an eat-local, eat-fresh restaurant dinner; an Indian cooking class; and/or tours of a local organic farm or vineyard.

For more information, please contact: JCB at jcognard@smcm.edu

Economics of Developing Countries
May 16 - June 3 / 1:00 pm - 5:10 pm / M - R / ECON 372

A multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of factors responsible for the poverty and underdevelopment of developing countries. Asif Dowla 4 credits
Prerequisite: ECON 101 Location: Kent 120

Environmental Studies