Critical Studies in Food and Culture

Graduate Journal aspeers Calls for Papers on "American Food Cultures" Call for Papers Date: 2011-10-30
Date Submitted: 2011-09-13
Announcement ID: 187964

A familiar proverb tells us that 'we are what we eat.' Indeed, food is not only a daily necessity to sustain the body. The need for food, its production, its preparation, and its consumption turn it into an important cultural site and a crucial analytical category. Studying 'food' accordingly brings together a number of academic fields ranging from biology and agriculture to sociology, political science, history, and literary and cultural studies, to name just a few. In their interdisciplinary openness and diverse cultural significance, food cultures are central to American studies.
For historians, food offers a particular 'lens' through which to view historical events. Using it to look at, for example, the Civil War would highlight the underlying agrarian crisis and the transformations in the 'domestic sphere' expressed in changing eating cultures. Similarly, the economies of food production and of food products, such as coffee and potatoes, have had profound cultural impact, often crossing national and cultural boundaries and thus blending and mixing different cultures. From the 16th-century journey of potatoes from the 'New' to the 'Old' World to the 20th-century fears of McDonaldization, food is a matter of history, economics, politics, and culture most generally.

While the cultural significance of food is unquestioned, food crises like BSE, bird flu, swine flu, or various hunger catastrophes fuel heated public discussions as to the proper production of food, of healthy diets, and of the distribution of food. Here, the question of 'eating right' becomes an arena for the social negotiation of ethics of consumption: Organic? Local? Vegan? Vegetarian? Discussions of these food choices, as much as of food-related illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and various eating disorders, give evidence of the complex relationships between food, the (gendered) human body, and social values.

In literary and cultural studies, then, food often serves as a site at which to explore complex cultural or (inter)personal dynamics. The gendered discourse of cooking, e.g., is traditionally connected to the domestic sphere and to sensuality but can simultaneously function as a source of identity, just as regional and ethnic foods do. In media, food is omnipresent: Food documentaries, culinary travel reports, cooking shows, and 'food porn' are only some examples of the importance of food in expressing cultural values.

aspeers, the first and currently only graduate-level peer-reviewed journal of European American studies, invites fellow graduate students to reflect on the diverse roles and meanings of food in American culture. Please note that the contributions we are looking for might address but are not limited to the topical parameters outlined above. We welcome term papers, excerpts from theses, or papers specifically written for the occasion by 30 October 2011. If you are seeking to publish work beyond this topic, please refer to our general Call for Papers.

Please consult our submission guidelines and some additional tips at www.aspeers.com/2012.


ISSN: 1865-8768
American Studies Leipzig
Beethovenstr. 15
04107 Leipzig
Email: info@aspeers.com
Visit the website at http://www.aspeers.com/2012

CONFERENCE:
“The Language of Food: Exploring Representations of the Culinary in Culture"

*Location *Cornell University, Ithaca NY
*Date *April 13-14 2012

*Description *

The renowned author Brillat-Savarin asserted that what we eat speaks volumes about who we are. This conference pushes the axiom further, asserting that it is not only what we eat, but also how we represent nourishment in art, literature, and visual culture that provides this critical information. We will examine how food and representations of the culinary function as a sort of language. The language of food, at once material and abstract, permits us to approach intangible meanings through the study of concrete objects and media. Organized around this general topic, the conference seeks to explore artistic, literary, historical, and sociological perspectives that use the culinary as a means to understand culture. We invite papers that explore these themes from a variety of disciplinary traditions.
Please send a 250-word abstract and a CV to Diana Garvin, deg97@cornell.edu by Nov. 15.
In addition to fostering broad, scholarly dialogue regarding "the language of food," this conference will include a number of panels targeting specific questions related to this concept. Please submit abstracts to either the general call for papers, or a specific panel. Do not double-post.

Additional panels will be announced in the coming weeks.

*Call for Abstracts*

O mangi questa minestra: Food as a Site of Coercion

From familial insistence to political intimidation, third parties often attempt to control what we eat. This panel examines the content and stylistics of these messages with the goal of identifying the larger aims that these agents seek to accomplish while communicating through the medium of food. Questions to be posed include: Why are these groups and individuals invested in others’ food choices? How does food, the medium of this coercion, evoke their true aim? And finally, why use food to accomplish these ends? Themes to be considered include politics, mass media, gender studies, the family, religion, regionalism and ethnic identity. Relevant studies of Italian, European, Italian-American, and American examples are encouraged.

Please send a 250-word abstract and a CV to Diana Garvin, deg97@cornell.edu by Nov. 15.

Title: FAT STUDIES PCA 2012 CFP-Boston, MA
Location: Massachusetts
Date: 2011-12-15
Description: PCA/ACA Fat Studies 2012 Call for Papers Fat Studies
is becoming an interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary field of
study that confronts and critiques cultural constraints against
notions of fatness and the fat body; explores fat bodies as
they live in, are shaped by, and remake the world; and create
...
Contact: jmccross@gwmail.gwu.edu
Announcement ID: 187862
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=187862

Title: CFP: Food and the City Conference, Boston University
Location: Massachusetts
Date: 2011-10-01
Description: CFP: Food and the City Conference, Boston University
The Boston University History Department is pleased to host its
first Food and the City Conference on Friday, February 24 and
Saturday February 25, 2012. This two-day conference welcomes
scholars from a broad range of disciplines to explore the hi
...
Contact: history@bu.edu
Announcement ID: 187840
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=187840

Edible is a revolutionary new series of books on food and drink which explores the rich history of man’s consumption. Each book provides an outline for one type of food or drink, revealing its history and culture on a global scale. 50 striking illustrations, with approximately 25 in colour, accompany these engaging and accessible texts, and offer intriguing new insights into their subject. Key recipes as well as reference material will also accompany each title.


http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/series.html?id=19

Edible Education 101

UC Berkeley is giving a series of lectures, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Chez Panisse (h/t Alice McLean). The 13-week course, "Edible Education 101: The Rise and Future of the Food Movement," was organized and funded by the Chez Panisse Foundation. Oakland's People's Grocery Executive Director Nikki Henderson and UC Berkeley Journalism professor (and /Omnivore's Dilemma /author) Michael Pollan are co-teaching the course.


UPCOMING LECTURES:

_September 13: The Politics of Food_
Speaker: MARION NESTLE, Ph.D., M.P.H, Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at NYU; chair of the Council on Nutrition Policy of the National Association for Public Health Policy; and author of numerous books including /Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health/, /Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety/, and /What to Eat/.

_September 20: Perspectives on Race, Place, and Food_
Speakers: ALEGRl'A DE LA CRUZ, Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment; REBECCA FLOURNOY, PolicyLink; YVONNE YEN LIU, Applied Research Center/Colorlines, Inc.

_September 27: Nutrition, Health, and Diet Related Disease_
Speakers: PATRICIA CRAWFORD, M.P.H. Dr.P.H, RD., Director of the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley; ROBERT LUSTIG, M.D., Director of Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health at UCSF

_October 4: Corporations and the Food Movement_
Speakers: JACK SINCLAIR, Executive Vice President of Grocery Merchandise, Wal-Mart, and JIB ELLISON, CEO, Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting, in conversation with author MICHAEL POLLAN

_October 11: School Lunch and Edible Schoolyards_
Speaker: ANN COOPER, author of four books, including /Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children/ (2006).

_October 18: Feeding the World_
Speaker: RAJ PATEL, a writer, activist and academic. He has worked for the World Bank and WTO, and protested against them around the world. His first book was /Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System/ and his latest, /The Value of Nothing/, is a New York Times best-seller.

_October 25: Agriculture and Social Justice_
Speakers: ERIC SCHLOSSER, author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001); executive producer of the film, There Will Be Blood (2007), and a co-producer of the documentary, Food Inc., (2008); GREG ASBED and LUCAS BENITEZ, co-founders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a grassroots, membership-led organization of migrant agricultural workers based in Florida.


http://www.chezpanissefoundation.org/edible-education-101