Against the backdrop of an escalating global food crisis – marked by conflict, poverty, and the climate crisis – this class examines the global history and politics of food security since the late nineteenth century. We trace how understandings of hunger shifted with the rise of modern nutrition science, when a lack of food came to be defined in terms of caloric or nutrient deficiency. This reframing rendered malnutrition measurable, comparable, and – crucially – governable. In this moment, the very concept of global food in/security emerged. Over the course of the twentieth century, various international actors developed competing ways of measuring and diagnosing food in/security, often arriving at divergent assessments.

At the same time, “food security” was a highly acceptable political goal and thus well-suited to advancing the objectives of heterogeneous coalitions of global and transnational actors, including officials from the League of Nations Health Organization, FAO, food industrialists, and NGOs. Discussions of food in/security were linked to discourses of population growth and industrialized agriculture. Since the 1950s, ending world hunger has become the predominant argument for intensifying and capitalizing farming practices and mobilizing resources for corresponding development programs on a global scale. Since the 1980s, opponents of globalization have used the same argument – food in/security – to criticize the growing dependencies, debt burdens, and the declining resilience of local farming practices due to global integration. Thus, since the late twentieth century, debates on food security have increasingly unfolded in the shadow of ecological crisis, itself partly produced by an ever-expanding capitalist food system that now further threatens global food security. The class examines these shifting notions of food security, along with the political responses at the sub-state, state and global levels they have shaped, situating them within the wider histories of global and planetary health.

3 ECTS for participation, more upon completion of a term paper, according to respective curricula. [Students need to confirm with their institutional programme coordinator to make sure this is recognised.]

Admission: Please apply by 06/09/2026 and upload a letter of motivation and a current transcript of records.

In the one- to two-page letter of motivation, please explain why you would like to take part in the course and name a possible presentation topic in the field of Food In/Security that would interest you.

BA-/MA-Class on the History and Politics of Food Security from a global and planetary health perspective. The focus lies on the 20^th and 21^st centuries, transnational, international and global actors (governments, international organizations such as LNHO and FAO, NGOs, nutrition experts, and the food industry). Co-taught by Prof. Dr. Nina Mackert, UHH and Prof. Dr. Veronika Settele, LMU.

The seminar is designed as a laboratory for inclusive and transnational teaching and learning methods. Following the maxim “From Teaching to Learning,” we start the course by assessing the knowledge levels and needs of participants from various locations. During in-person classes, we foster an atmosphere of constructive peer learning that enables students to also collaborate on digital assignments. Students learn to provide concise contributions in a comprehensible manner, argue complex theses, and examine a specific research question in detail in a written paper. In particular, they gain insight into the multiperspectivity of complex issues by adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, learning how health, inequality, and sustainability can be understood in markedly different ways across disciplines.

Short description of methodology: Preparatory readings, preparatory small research assignments, classroom discussions and working groups, written assignment/s (end of term paper)

Open