THE CEA FORUM - Winter/Spring 2013 - Roundtable Pedagogy Proceedings from 2012 College English Association Conference

Oct 15, 2026

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Pedagogy proceedings from the 2012 College English Association Conference, presented as a roundtable focused on integrated pedagogy and disciplinary border-crossing. Betsy L. F. Hall describes an Illinois College first-year seminar that uses food rhetoric to explore sustainability and ethics through inquiry and collaboration across political science, sociology, chemistry, and literature. The session links course texts such as Food Politics and Food, Inc. to classroom discussions on policy, exploitation, local eating, and practical ethical choices in food production and consumption.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Roundtable: Pedagogy Proceedings from 2012 College English Association Conference

Food for Thought: Crossing Disciplinary and Campus Borders with Integrated Pedagogy

Course Design and Integrated Disciplinary Inquiry

THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2013 Roundtable: Pedagogy Proceedings from 2012 College English Association Conference Food for Thought: Crossing Disciplinary and Campus Borders with Integrated Pedagogy Betsy L. F. Hall Illinois College Like many academics, I have multiple roles on my campus. In addition to being an English professor who specializes in first-year composition, I am also the academic director of the Illinois College Connections (ICC) First-Year Experience program. ICC is an integrated program that includes a discipline specific first-year seminar; a common convocation program connected to an annual theme; a summer reading and writing program centered on a common text; a dinner for all first-year students at the President’s home on campus; Success Strategy Sessions on time management, wellness, writing, information literacy, and careers/graduate school; and a day of community service. As faculty and administrator, I serve dual spaces on my campus. Service is an important part of the Illinois College mission: “True to its founding vision in 1829, Illinois College is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship and integrity in the liberal arts. The College develops in its students’ qualities of mind and character needed for fulfilling lives of leadership and service.” Many faculty consistently encourage our students to “cross campus borders” by integrating service learning and service into our courses. I created and have been teaching a first-year seminar (FYS) called “Food for Thought: Rhetoric of the Edible” for the past three years. Sustainability and ethics in the production and THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2013 consumption of food have been tangential topics that have arisen in the course. While my academic background is composition and rhetoric, food has become a research interest in recent years as I have learned alongside my students in this course. Each year that I have taught the course, I have collaborated with faculty from other disciplines: political science, sociology, and chemistry, and next year, I will partner with a Japanese professor. I have begun to think more intentionally about sustainability this year—but confess not to be an expert in the ethics of sustainability!—so I consulted an issue of Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics, where John Cairns offered this definition: “Sustainability ethics requires a harmonious relationship between human society and the biospheric life support system, which is enduring”(Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics 22)—i.e., a good, lasting relationship between humans and the earth. From this understanding, I used a system of inquiry as a way to connect to each of these disciplinary perspectives. I began with these general questions: How do we make ethical choices about food and its sustainability by integrating a variety of disciplinary perspectives? How can we ensure that our food growing, packaging, transportation, and consumption practices are ethical and sustainable? What are best practices in the food industry? Clearly, answering these questions requires multi-disciplinary perspectives: yet another border crossing. In my “Food for Thought” FYS, my students and I read Marion Nestle’s Food Politics, which exposes unethical practices in the food industry, many of which are supported directly or indirectly by the federal government. We also view Food, Inc. to begin the discussion of sustainability. Many first-year students have never even heard of a CAFO, and when they learn about how so much of our meat is being produced, they start to ask questions about how we can produce food in more ethical ways. We also view Fast Food Nation and read Eric Schlosser’s THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2013 “The Chain Never Stops,” which leads into interesting discussions about the meat packing industry and undocumented workers. There is a Cargill meat packing plant less than fifty miles from our campus in a town with

FAQs

What course model does Betsy L. F. Hall describe for first-year students?

She describes an Illinois College first-year seminar that integrates a discipline-specific seminar, campus themes, reading and writing around a shared text, and structured activities. The seminar specifically connects food rhetoric to sustainability and ethics.

How does the seminar incorporate multiple disciplines into sustainability discussions?

Hall frames inquiry questions that require integrating different disciplinary perspectives and then collaborates with faculty from political science, sociology, chemistry, and another planned partnership. Course texts and discussions connect food practices to policy, social structures, and scientific considerations.

Which readings are used to support discussions about ethical and sustainable food systems?

The seminar includes Marion Nestle’s Food Politics and Food, Inc., Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation selections on meatpacking and labor, and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which models locally grounded eating and small behavior changes.

Oct 15, 2026

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