Presenter: Rosi Song, Professor, School of Modern Languages and Cultures (Durham University)
Sponsored by Latin American and Caribbean Landscapes Cluster
About the talk:
Rosi Song discusses the burgeoning field of Food Studies and their intersection with History, Cultural Studies, Latin American and Iberian Studies. While the ever-evolving study of food and nutrition has contributed to the understanding of societal debates as recipes and food practices were passed down from generation to generation, new interest in food traditions as linked to specific geographic territories and as intangible heritage artifacts offer us a valuable opportunity to interrogate some common perceptions about the food we consume and our relationship to them. How has the study of food been utilized to address larger issues relating to cultural heritage and identity, especially in the present when food consumption and food expectations have become increasingly global? How can we understand foodways as the embodiment of change and the movement of people amid environmental and social transformations under duress and violence yet at the same time engage with pseudo essentialist discourses entangled with emotions about belonging and subjectivities? How can developing an understanding of food practices address or help us envision common ties while protecting cultural heritage, or how can we conceive geographic mobility through food in an increasingly connected but also fragmented world? Can food culture be part of this conversation and what should it contribute? Thinking about food through the linguistic, geographic and material boundaries that traditionally define the fields of Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies, this talk explores how social and cultural values that are sustained by ideas of tradition and conservation can teach us about our ever-changing multicultural foodscapes.
Registration:
About the FHIS Research Seminar: Hosted by the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies (FHIS), the Research Seminar is an opportunity to explore current research and ideas related to the languages, literatures and cultures of the Romance language-speaking world, with presentations from faculty members, graduate students, and/or guest speakers. All are welcome.
If you have questions, please contact Dr. Katharina Piechocki (katharina.piechocki@ubc.ca).
UBC Vancouver is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) People.
