The Jewish Studies Program and the Department of Sociology UC Davis
Present the Academic Conference:
Eating for Change:
Global and Local Perspectives on Food and Transformation
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
University of California, Davis
Call for Papers:
Transformation is inherent in food as a material substance. Wheat, for instance, is transformed into flour and flour into bread, a process that is environmental, social, cultural, technological and political in essence. Likewise, food systems and eating habits have always been subject to transformation and change. In contemporary Western societies, processes such as the globalization of food production and the industrialization of agriculture significantly change both local and global food systems. However, social movements that encompass political, economic and cultural resistance to these changes and the inequities they incur emerge as a substantive force for transformative change.
This one-day conference will tackle the notions of change and transformation underpinning contemporary and historical processes of food production, consumption and distribution. We wish to bring together scholars to focus on the social dynamics driving changes in food movements, food cultures and food systems.
We ask what are the epistemological and the ontological presuppositions that underlie changes in food systems and food cultures? In what ways do food and foodways partake in social change? How are new culinary trends affected by contemporary cultural, economic, technological and political processes? What is the role of food in struggles for social justice and equity? How are interactions between states, markets, social movements and individuals shaping and re-shaping cultural, moral and political frameworks guiding food practices today?
Food Studies scholars – including graduate students – from Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, CRD, STS, Environmental Studies, Human Ecology, History, Cultural Studies, Food Science and Technology, International Agricultural Development or any related field, are invited to email Rafi Grosglik (rgrosglik@ucdavis.edu) with a paper proposal (abstract, 250-500 words). In order to encourage a comparative perspective, papers can focus on either the Global North or the Global South. Paper proposals are due Friday, December 29.
FoodAnthropology 