UC Santa Cruz at the Umbra Institute

Course Description
This unique summer program treats students as anthropologists in training, embarking on independent ethnographic research in one of Italy’s oldest university towns and vibrant food scenes. With the medieval hilltop city as a classroom, students complete both Anthropology of Food (ANTH 161) and Workshop in Ethnography (ANTH 151), syllabi that are crafted to bring the theory and topics covered in the classroom to life as students employ various methods to answer research questions. Readings explore how globalization, material heritage, social justice, and sustainability intersect in Perugia’s rich culinary world, while excursions include visits to farms, artisan workshops, and outdoor markets. The program is reading and writing intensive, with small class sizes and close mentorship from instructors. Coursework satisfies two upper division requirements for the UCSC anthropology major and minor, and completion of ANTH 151 provides students with hands-on training strongly recommended for pursuing research opportunities in the anthropology department and beyond.

Course Materials
Mandatory course reader

Co-curricular activities
Students will participate in a field trip to do truffle hunting, as well as a daytrip to visit Umbrian food producers. There are also three additional evening workshops meant to give students a better appreciation of the history and culture of Italian food–pizza, pesto, and cheese. The Institute offers an optional weekend field trip to Florence, and students can volunteer in a permaculture garden, situated at the base of the ancient city walls, that produces food with and for local underprivileged people.

Professor Lissa Caldwell, Professor of Anthropology at UCSC and Editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies. Her research and teaching focus on issues of social justice and political practice, with special interest in the ways in which food is used as a form of political expression and mobilization. Her new research focuses on food hacking. At UCSC she has been part of the campus Food Studies network, and she has regularly taught “Food and Culture” and the “Anthropology of Food,” as well as courses on “Consuming Culture,” “Poverty and Inequality,” “Memory,” and “Ethnography of Russia and Eastern Europe.” Professor Caldwell is excited to be leading this study abroad program, not just because it will allow her to explore new food experiences in Italy, but also because it will be an exciting opportunity to bring together her two passions: the anthropology of food and ethnographic field methods.

Rebecca Feinberg is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research maps the assemblages of people, places, and plants that go into making a bottle of Italian wine. She is finishing her PhD at UCSC’s Anthropology Department, where she has taught courses such as ‘Anthropology of Food’ and ‘Labor in Food Systems’. She has been studying, researching, and teaching across Italy since 2008. Rebecca is excited to be part of a program that combines challenging coursework with hands on experience. Her class provides students with a contextual background and set of ethnographic tools to use as anthropologists in training as they embark on their own exploration of Italian social worlds and foodways.