Food, Identity and Social Change

2014 ToRS International Food Workshop

on

Food, Identity and Social Change

25 to 26 September 2014

Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Food draws people into the web of life and touches upon everything that matters: it expresses personhood, marks membership (or non-membership) in practically any kind of social grouping, draws lines of where morality begins and ends as well as functions in social allocations, in terms of ethnicity, nationality, individuality, class and gender. Yet, food can also signify very different things from place to place, from kitchen to kitchen and from one time period to another.

Food is a powerful lens for analyzing identity. This is clearly illustrated in the foundational works of food studies that include, Bourdieu’s inquiry into the taste and preferences of the French bourgeoisie and Mintz’s pioneering historical study of how high status sugar produced in the Caribbean became a working class staple to the exciting growth of more recent influential works by Appadurai on how to create a national cuisine and Wilk’s scrutiny of the complex culinary reactions of Belizeans to colonialism, class differentiation and modernity.

In this plethora of studies concerning how people define themselves with food; and how food defines and redefines them, a mystery remains unsolved. People can and have been known to change their food and foodways - as well as their drink and drinkways –radically and quickly: a collective rejection or an eclectic mass movement embracing an alternative ethic and practice of consumption.

The roles of many kinds of social changes – such as peoples on the move (nomads, migrants, refugees, expatriates, tourists), changes in intergroup relations within societies, new technologies (in mass media, biotechnology), mass production of foods and increasing globalization of foods and war – have been relatively neglected in food studies.

The organizers of the workshop welcome contributions on food, identity and social change: Why do we eat what we eat and why have different cultures and societies at different times and different places eaten other things? What fosters social change to affect dietary patterns and changing identities? How can food offer the lens to understand the cultural and social affinities in moments of change and transformation? The topic offers an opportunity to excavate the past, to examine the present and to project into the future.

Organizers and more information
Cynthia Chou
Susanne Kerner

Call for Abstracts/Papers for Special Issue

Innovations and Trends in Sustainable Urban Agriculture (Nationally and Internationally. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems

Special Issue Editors: Carolyn Dimitri (New York University, carolyn.dimitri@nyu.edu), Andy Pressman (National Center for Appropriate Technology-ATTRA project, andy@ncat.org), Lydia Oberholtzer (Penn State, lso3@psu.edu)

Interest in urban food is growing, not only on the part of consumers, but also on the part of federal and local policymakers. While policymakers typically focus on the food access aspect of urban farming, growth in urban and suburban agriculture can provide new opportunities for small and medium-sized farmers. Worldwide, according to the United Nations Development Programme, an estimated 15 to 20 percent of food is raised in urban settings. Urban agriculture is best known for its widespread adoption in developing country where often many urban residents rely on urban farms as a key source of food. Recently, however, attention has turned to urban agriculture in the United States, and other developed countries, where it has been offered as a solution to increase the food security of low-income households in cities.

We are seeking papers for a special issue of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (RAFS) focusing on sustainable urban agriculture production systems, as well as the social/economic underpinnings of these systems in North America and abroad. This is a great opportunity to highlight your research or reviews, as special issues usually lead to comparably higher citations of your work. RAFS has an international reach, and we are looking to ensure that this special issue addresses international urban agriculture as well. We are also particularly keen on addressing sustainable urban agriculture production systems, as these are often overlooked in other Journals.

We welcome both research and review papers on these topics, as well as papers that fit the Journal’s other manuscript categories. Of particular interest to researchers with research ongoing in the field or young investigators would be “From the Field” papers, which are a bit more informal and shorter (see http://journals.cambridge.org/images/fileUpload/documents/RAF__ifc.pdf for more information).

Some possible topics for the Journal special issue would include:

1) Trends in urban farming both in North America and internationally
(2) Social and economic factors for urban farming
(3) The extent of urban farming’s role within the city: food security, green space, markets for farmers, revitalization to name a few
(4) Sustainable production innovations in urban farming in developed
(5) Urban farming and sustainable production methods in developing/emerging countries
(6) Information and technical assistance for urban farmers

If you would like to be considered for this special issue, please send the guest editors (email addresses above) a short abstract of the paper you suggest by February 28, 2013. Please provide some information on background and methods. Include any additional information you think we should know.

We will be looking to have submissions to the Journal by late-summer 2013, out for review and revision in Fall 2013, and publication 2014. Please note that all manuscripts will go through peer review and there is no guarantee that those papers invited to take part in the special issue will be published does not result in a successful outcome.

Alimentos en zonas de conflicto

The International Commission on the Anthropology of Food announces a one-day, cross-disciplinary symposium on Food in Zones of Conflict.

Focusing particularly on anthropological and nutritional perspectives on food in places where military or other conflicts affect lifestyle.

to be held at Oxford Brookes University,
Headington, Oxford
on Saturday 5th June 2010
from 9.45 am to 5.15 pm
(Registration from 9.15 am)

Coffees, teas and a light buffet will be provided.

Admission free by prior email booking before June 2nd
at email address: hmacbeth@brookes.ac.uk
(so that we can arrange the catering for appropriate numbers)

STUDENTS PLEASE NOTE:
There will be a poster competition for students
under the title of “Food in cross-disciplinary perspective”
If you want to display a poster, please email hmacbeth@brookes.ac.uk


Organised by
The International Commission on the Anthropology of Food (ICAF)
in conjunction with ACCEND and the Functional Food Centre,
Oxford Brookes University