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Session Submission Summary

Food & Nation in Latin America

Sun, April 30, 12:00 to 1:45pm, TBA

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Food has long been a topic of anthropological and sociological interest. There have been comprehensive studies of what specific groups eat and how (Boas 1921) as well as the role of class, taste and religion in the consumption of specific foodstuffs (Douglas 1966; Levi-Strauss 1979; Bourdieu 1984; Goody 1982). Histories of specific foods have become noted classics whose reach extends far beyond disciplinary boundaries (e.g. Mintz 1985). Over the last twenty years, food has been increasingly examined through the lens of industrialization, globalization, (mal)nutrition, insecurity and poverty (e.g. de Waal 1989, Nestle 2007, Gewertz and Errington 2010 to name only a few). From preparation to etiquette to ritual to consumption, food matters.

This panel seeks to extend this scholarship to examine the connection between nation and food more generally in Latin America. Only recently have scholars begun to think about food and its connection to national images and identities in Latin America (see Pilcher 1998, 2012; Milanesio 2011; Pite 2013). How have national cuisines been (and continue to be) constructed and around what circumstances? How do specific food preparations become considered national cuisines? What implications does nation building around food have? In what ways have race and gender figured into the preparation and consumption of food as national identity? What role has technology played in such projects?

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