Diversity & Globalism Studies
Spring Quarter 2026
DGS 216 (28869 & 28879), HOST 175 (28867 & 28872), & SUST 175
(28868 & 28876): Food, Culture, & Politics
Instructor: Justin Taillon (jtaillon@highline.edu)
Office: 26-322
Student Hours: Monday (1:30p-2:50p), Wednesday (1:30p-5p), & Thursday (1:30p-2:50p)
Appointments: Pre-Book Meetings (I recommend pre-booking meetings)
Class Schedule: Online Asynchronous
Text required: HOST courses do not rely on textbooks. All materials for this course will be provided to
you electronically on Canvas
Highline College: 2400 South 240th Street
Des Moines, WA 98198
P: (206) 878-3710
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course considers socio-cultural dimensions of food from the dawn of agriculture to the present. The class explores topics
such as the juxtaposition between food, society, and identity, organic vs. conventional foods, genetically modified organisms
(GMOs), agriculture’s role in climate change, chronic hunger, obesity, seed property rights vs. food sovereignty, foreign aid, and
the U.S. food policy process. There will also be an investigation of best practices with a focus on sustainable and environmental
approaches to land use for foods.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Being aware of the course learning outcomes is paramount to success in all your coursework. The learning outcomes guide
the material each of your courses covers and the way the material is covered. Please make yourself aware of the elements of
this course and all other pertinent courses. The course learning outcomes for all HOST classes can be viewed at this web
address: http://catalog.highline.edu/
The Student Learning Outcomes for this course are as follows:
• Learners will describe contemporary and historical sociocultural perspectives around food production, distribution,
consumption, and disposal.
• Learners will explain contemporary sociocultural changes in economic patterns related to food systems.
• Learners will examine points of interconnectedness with others through the food system.
• Learners will compare the global forces that propel change in the food system.
• Learners will explain food concepts and their importance in sustainable communities and food security.
PARTICIPATION
Hopefully participation is fun in our course together this quarter! Participation does not mean only one thing. You are a
unique individual and your approach to participation can be as unique as you are. Participation is graded. You can lose or gain up to 10% of your final grade in the course. If you are going to lose more than
3% of your final grade due to a lack of participation, then a meeting will be requested beforehand. You will not lose more than 3% without being notified in advance and being given a chance to meet with your instructor(s). No student will lose more than 10% of their final grade due to a lack of participation. It is also possible to gain a maximum of 10% toward your
final grade based on participation. Losing points occurs primarily through cheating such as plagiarism, not attending class when enrolled on campus, treating members of our class poorly, or submitting multiple assignments after the due date. We will have fun and your participation
will likely be seen in a positive light so long as you put forth a positive effort.
Student and Visitor Exchange Program
In compliance with the Student and Visitor Exchange Program (SEVP) requirements for F-1 international students, this course
has an in-person component, which is (Wednesday, April 29, from 11a-11:50a in 23-210). All students, regardless of status, are
invited to attend. The in-person component of this class is not required for any student.
ASSIGNMENT PROTOCOLS
All final exams take place face-to-face in courses that are scheduled face-to-face. The time and location of your final exam will be dictated by the College. Hybrid, flexible, and online asynchronous courses have final exams that take place online. These final exams stay open for a minimum of 48 hours in my classes. Instructors cannot move final exam locations or times.
You are responsible for knowing the time and location of your final exam. This can be located on Highline.edu. You are eligible for an Incomplete if you complete the course except for the Final Exam and the instructor agrees to an Incomplete. Incompletes can be made up later in agreement with the instructor. You will not be given an Incomplete if you
choose to depart campus early. For example, flight dates are not a reasonable excuse for missing a final exam.
Assignment Grading
Table I. Assignment Grading
Assignment No. %/ea. Total
Exams 2 18 36
Small Assessments 2 5 10
Case Studies 6 9 54
Participation 1 - -
TOTAL 100
All submission and quiz assignments will be submitted on Canvas. The instructor will not micro-manage your submissions. Do not expect to be
notified of your failure to keep up in the course unless you fall behind drastically.
Assignment Explanations
Exams: There are two exams: a Midterm Exam and a Final Exam. Each exam is cumulative to the date in which it takes place but there is a focus on Modules 2-6 (Midterm Exam) and 7-11 (Final Exam).
Case Studies: There are 14 case studies this quarter. Each case study will bring the course’s lessons to life in a real-
world example. Only your 6 highest case study grades will count toward your final grade in the course. You can choose to complete only six, or you can choose to complete more and have your lowest grade(s) dropped. You cannot retake quizzes if you do not like your score after seeing the questions and correct answers or miss a quiz; instead, you
complete additional quizzes. Asking to retake a case study means you likely have not read the Syllabus.
Small Assessments: There are two assignments that fall under this category:
• Crossword Puzzles: There is a crossword puzzle. This is due during Final Exam week. Completing this
assessment is an excellent way to help you study for the Final Exam.
• Syllabus Quiz: This is our Week #1 assignment. The primary purpose is that you understand the course beginning in Week #1. The secondary purpose is that you complete Week #1 during our first week together.
This way I know you are logging into Canvas effectively and not falling behind.
Language AI
You may use AI tools such as Chat GPT. You cannot plagiarize though. If you are unsure whether you understand plagiarism
then please visit this site to learn about plagiarism. You can read more about plagiarism in this department in the departmental
syllabus (attached to this course syllabus). You can enroll in HOST 253 (AI Unveiled) to learn how to use AI effectively and ethically in coursework and post-graduation in your future studies or work environment.
This course will use a software called Undetectable to identify plagiarism. In alignment with industry best practices, if Undetectable states you plagiarized then you did plagiarize according to the rules of this course. I recommend testing your authored writing in this website before submission. It is free to do this! Make sure you are “green” on undetectable.ai before
submitting writing in this course.
This is not the only method for identifying plagiarism in this course. Please do not plagiarize. You will be held accountable.
COMMUNICATION
Two Before Me Policy
This course relies on a “two before me” policy in regards communication. This policy will help you in potentially identifying answers before the instructor can get back to you. This also helps to avoid answering similar questions or concerns multiple times.
What is the “two before me” policy? You should check these two sources for an answer before asking a course instructor to reply to your individual questions:
1. The Syllabus
2. Announcements/Information provided on Canvas
Office Hours
Instructors hold office hours. Instructors notify the entire class via email if an alteration to office hours needs to be
made. All instructor office hours can be located this site: https://directory.highline.edu/.
Email Communication
Canvas, Watermark, and ctcLink are not preferred communication tools. Please use your student email account.
There are four primary reasons for this:
1. It is not possible to write a professional business email in Canvas.
2. You cannot receive attachments as a response to a Canvas message.
3. There is no email thread for our communication.
4. I receive hundreds of emails every day. My inbox is set to place student emails first. You should come first!
All emails from @students.highline.edu go to the top of my inbox. Emails from other addresses do not go
to the top of my inbox. You could end up waiting weeks for a response if I am busy.
We want you to evidence your professional business email etiquette every time we communicate. Thus, if you do
choose to use Canvas as a communication tool then include a tagline and realize that if we respond to your email
with an attachment then you are still responsible for the attachment. You not receiving an attachment due to relying
on Canvas in lieu of email is not the instructor’s error.
Finally, please send professional business emails to your instructor’s Highline College email account. View this video if you are unsure whether you know what constitutes a professional email.