This course examines the contemporary global food system, its structure, historical evolution, and integration at multiple geographic scales. We explore how current issues such as land grabbing or food insecurity in the midst of plenty are connected to political structures and relative power on the global stage. We consider how international trade agreements affect migration and labor dynamics in regional and national-level food systems. With an emphasis on sustainability and justice, we survey some of the most important challenges affecting the global food system today, including climate change; feeding an increasingly urban population; migration; gender inequity; loss of biodiversity; and declining fish stocks. We consider how global governance, agricultural development discourse, and international trade have -- and continue to -- affect these issues. With an emphasis on action and activism, we examine how international movements such as food sovereignty and agroecology are being used to design more just and sustainable systems at a global scale.* A knowledge based elective *