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74316-01 - Seminar: Food Discourses in English (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Thomas Messerli (thomas.messerli@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Food as a topic in linguistics can be examined through many different lenses, and discourses around food in English are manifest in a range of different texts and practices. While we will take into consideration e.g. cognitive linguistic research on taste, our main focus in this seminar will be on discourse analytic approaches to situated practices such as interactions in restaurants, producing and watching of food-related videos on social media, evaluation of food in reviews and tasting notes, positioning of dishes as well as of restaurants through menus, the aesthetics of food in advertising and others. With a keen eye for methodology and an appetite for the richness of food-related language, we will discuss papers and book chapters from pragmatic, systemic functional and general linguistic traditions to review basic approaches to language in use and discourse by means of food and to develop a better understanding of the way speakers and writers engage with and communicate about food. |
| Learning objectives | By the end of the course, students will have revisited core aspects of pragmatics and discourse analysis and understood how they are realized in English discourses about food. They will have thought critically about empirical research, worked with data, engaged with different methods of analysis. They will have applied their theoretical and empirical insights to their own examples as well as those provided as part of exercises in the course. |
| Bibliography | All obligatory reading for the course will be made available on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This course is open to students of English who have passed all three BA introductory modules and to MA students of English and MSG Sprache und Kommunikation. |
| Course application | Please register for this course in services.unibas.ch. In order to ensure a good learning environment, we aim at no more than 20 students per linguistics seminar. We ask you to sign up for classes via the ADAM registration surveys, which will open on 1 January 2025, 10am (CET), and close on 23 February 2025, 2pm (CET): https://adam.unibas.ch/goto_adam_crs_1623802.html. **Please only register for a maximum of TWO seminars and only for more than one if you really intend to take both courses.** Should you have not made it into one of the courses and you are only able to register on the list in a position higher than 20, we guarantee that we will take you in the course with the least student numbers. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 20.02.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 27.02.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 06.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 13.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Fasnachstferien |
| Thursday 20.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 27.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 03.04.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 10.04.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 17.04.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Ostern |
| Thursday 24.04.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 01.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Tag der Arbeit |
| Thursday 08.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 15.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 22.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 29.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Auffahrt |
| Modules |
Modul: Advanced English Linguistics (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul: English Linguistics (Master's degree subject: English) Modul: Forschungspraxis und Vertiefung (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) Modul: Sprache und Gesellschaft (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | regular and active participation; preparatory reading; participation in expert groups (brief spoken introduction and data analysis task); short written task (around 1’500 words) |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |