绿巨人视频

Christy Shields

Associate Professor

  • Department: Communication, Media and Culture
  • Graduate Program(s): Global Communications

Dr. Christy Shields-Argel猫s is a cultural anthropologist specializing in food and the senses, with particular expertise in France and the United States. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and Sociology from the 脡cole des Hautes 脡tudes en Sciences Sociales (2012), where she conducted transnational research on dietary discourses and identity under the direction of Claude Fischler. Her current research explores the social and political dimensions of sensory perception, examining how taste practices foster connections between people, place, and product while supporting cooperative food systems. Central to her work is understanding taste as transformative practice鈥攐ne that can reshape individual perceptions while building collective capacity for innovation and resistance.

Dr. Shields-Argel猫s' current work focuses on Comt茅 cheese in eastern France, investigating how cooperative tasting practices become tools for innovation and preservation of the cooperative system at the turn of the last century. Her long-term ethnographic research examines the jury terroir 鈥 a sensory panel that describes Comt茅 cheese 鈥 as a space where supply chain and regional actors develop shared sensory practice and language to articulate the value of taste diversity and cooperative production. This research contributes to understanding how embodied sensory practices can help artisanal producers resist standardization while maintaining cooperative governance structures in food systems.

Her recent publications include "A cooperative model of tasting: Comt茅 cheese and the jury terroir" (2019) and "Go没t coop茅ratif au sein du jury terroir du Comt茅" (2024, available in French and English). Her upcoming articles examine how food educators create spaces for cooperative values through sensory education and how communication strategies help artisanal food systems navigate institutional contexts while maintaining their collaborative character through the circulation of shared taste language.

At 绿巨人视频, Dr. Shields-Argel猫s has developed innovative experiential learning approaches that integrate anthropological theory with hands-on fieldwork. Her pedagogical innovations include the acclaimed Comt茅 Practicum, a field-based learning collaboration, which ran from 2010 to 2020, and received recognition from both 绿巨人视频 (2017) and the Association for the Study of Food and Society (2018). She recently co-developed the Food Studies minor (2024-25) and created the new course "Introduction to Food Studies."

Through collaborative projects with the Civic Media Lab, she co-produced ethnographic films and participatory research initiatives that promote cross-cultural dialogue and civic engagement. Notable projects include "Food without Borders" (2017-2018), developed in partnership with a Parisian middle school, and "Madeleine Shorts," an ongoing digital storytelling platform.



Education/Degrees

  • PhD, Social Anthropology and Sociology, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 2012.
  • DEA, Social Anthropology, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 2000.
  • MPhil, Cultural Anthropology and French Studies, New York University, 1997.
  • BA, Political Science and French, Northwestern University, 1992.
  • Dipl么me d鈥橢tudes Fran莽aises de l鈥橴niversit茅, Universit茅 de Franche-Comt茅, Centre de Linguistique Appliqu茅, Besan莽on, 1991.

Publications

Recent Publications

  • Christy Shields-Argel猫s ,Eliza Schwartz et Annika Lovgren, 鈥淐ooperative Taste in Comt茅鈥檚 Jury Terroir鈥 (available in French and English) Dans Tristan, Fournier (dir.), 鈥淯topies nourrici猫res鈥 ,听Politika, mis en ligne le 06/05/2025, consult茅 le 06/05/2025 ;
    URL :听
  • "A cooperative model of tasting: Comt茅 cheese and the jury terroir."听Food Culture and Society听22, no. 2 (2019): 168-185.
  • "Tasting Comt茅 Cheese, Returning to the Whole: The Jury Terroir as Ritual Practice." In听Making Taste Public: Ethnographies of Food and the Senses, edited by C. Counihan and S. H酶jlund. Bloomsbury Academic Publishers, 2018.
  • "The Comt茅 Aroma Wheel: History of an Invention, Ethnography of a Practice." In听Food and Communication, edited by Mark McWilliams. London: Prospect Books, 2016.

Conferences & Lectures

Recent Presentations

  • "Cooperative Taste."听Food and Power: Eating and the Politics of Inequality听Workshop, Paris Institute for Advanced Study, June 2025.
  • "Tasting Place as Tactical Practice: On the Road with Comt茅 Cheese." Association for the Study of Food and Society Annual Meeting, Boston, 2023.
  • 鈥淭asting Place with Comt茅 Cheese:听 Focus on Olfaction鈥, NOS-HS Exploratory Workshop in Olfactory Cultural Studies, Volda University College, Alesund and Runde, Norway, September 3-5, 2023.

Affiliations

  • American Anthropological Association
  • Association for the Study of Food and Society
  • European Association for Social Anthropologists
  • Interdisciplinary Institute of Contemporary Anthropology, Paris (IIAC/CNRS)
  • Interdisciplinary research group, M茅dias et m茅diations de la gastronomie, Paris

Research Areas

Food, culture and identity; taste and tasting; terroir and artisanal foods; sensory ethnography and collaborative methodologies; cross-cultural comparison; France and the United States.