96466 - Biocultural Variations and the Evolution of Food Systems

Learning outcomes

This module aims to reconstruct the evolution of the interactions of human populations with the food environment and resources, examining the links between biology and culture. Students will acquire knowledge of human biodiversity to understand the origin, evolution and spread of different food systems in human populations.

Course contents

The course consists of the following topics:

• Human evolution and the evolution of diet.
  i)Technological achievements, morphological changes, brain growth, language acquisition, domestication of fire, socialisation.
  ii) Influence of geographical, climatic and food resource variables on human evolutionary history.
  

• Human biodiversity, food environment and resources (Part I).
  Evolution of the human diet, hunter-gatherers; Neolithic transition; domestication of plants; origin and spread of agriculture; domestication of animals.

• Human biodiversity, food environment and resources (Part II).
  i) The process of urbanisation; the industrial revolution, cultural and technological evolution and the resulting transformations of lifestyles, dietary changes and maladaptive phenomena.
  ii) Evolutionary and developmental mismatches and human diseases.
  iii) Obesity and diabetes in human populations.

• Human ecology and human-environment interaction.
  i) Biological and cultural adaptation processes in relation to different food systems: homeostasis and human adaptability; genetic adaptation and natural selection; epigenetic variability, phenotypic adaptation.
  ii) Nutrition and diet during the life course in different human groups and effect on human biological and physiological variability (e.g. geography of thyroid functioning, stature, ageing).
  iii) Gene-culture co-evolution.
  iv) Genetic variability of taste.
  v) Population genetics as a tool for reconstructing the history of human communities.
  
  

Readings/Bibliography

Power point presentations and Word documents prepared specifically for the course. Each lecture will include sources and indications to specific chapters of reference texts for each topic covered.

 

Below are some of the books suggested:

 

• ONLY Italian version: G. MANZI, A. VIENNA: Uomini e ambienti. Il Mulino, 2009

 

• Italian version: D. E. LIEBERMAN: La storia del corpo umano. Evoluzione, salute e malattia. Codice Ed., 2014.
• English version: D. E. LIEBERMAN: The Story of the Human Body. Penguin Books Ltd. 2014

 

• Italian version: J. DIAMOND: Il mondo fino a ieri. Che cosa possiamo imparare dalle società tradizionali? Einaudi 2013
• English version: J. DIAMOND: The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? Penguin Books Ltd. 2013
  

 

• ONLY English version: M. STONEKING: An Introduction to Molecular Anthropology. Blackwell Pub 2016

Teaching methods

The course consists of lectures related to the programme topics. Power point slides will be provided to students before each lecture. The course includes the analysis, commentary and discussion of specific case studies.

Assessment methods

Verification of learning by oral interview with questions on the programme.

The examination will be considered adequate if the student demonstrates property of language and autonomy in recognising or demonstrating connections between the topics addressed.

The evaluation expressed in thirtieths will then be used to make an arithmetic average with the evaluation of the other part of the integrated course held by prof. Giovanna Pezzi (96465 - HABITAT AND ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES IN ENOGASTRONOMIC LANDSCAPES).

Teaching tools

Lesson slides, National Geographic video.

Office hours

See the website of Cristina Giuliani