Learning to make a Neoliberal Dosirak

• In Event: Language and Belonging: Culture and Authenticity in Transnational Contexts

Abstract

I recently started questioning how growing up in suburban America reshaped my association with Asian cuisine broadly for the public. Why did I feel so ashamed when I had a delicious dosirak (Korean lunchbox) in my hands? Something I took for granted because I wanted to be and eat with the other kids while not feeling ashamed of what I was eating and how different it made me look. Until my family learned what the free/reduced lunch was and how we qualified for it… My natural mentality of otherization could not have been curated without the school lunch system. Which begs the question, in what ways does neoliberalism prevent cultural identity production, process, and presence? This paper must interrogate the relationality between food, identity, and institution because institutions serve a trait of identity on a platter to validate identity while disproving others.

Author

• Vivian Bo Kyung Lee, University of Utah