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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 AUP, 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 AUP (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.