Foodways, community, and film-making: a case study of funds of knowledge in higher education

ABSTRACT Undergraduate students can develop different bodies of knowledge by engaging with members of their family, university, and community. In this study, we investigated how undergraduate students used the knowledge, skills, and resources they gained in class to engage with their local communities through the creation of documentary films as part of an undergraduate course assignment. We employed funds of knowledge as a theoretical lens to understand how students utilize their academic knowledge in community contexts, and how students accumulate funds of knowledge within these contexts. The findings demonstrate that community-based knowledge was transmitted through a food discourse, which in turn informed the students’ academic knowledge. What is highlighted is the dialectical relationship between knowledge developed through community engagement and those gained through academic contexts.