AMS 55 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Tortilla Soup, Mary Douglas, Vegemite
23 Jan 2018
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Identity work: activity of what we define ourselves and others, vegemite strong australian identifier, how foodways can socially unite us and divide us. Today: eating as a social event: community, hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, boundaries, transactions across boundaries. (cid:862) oup night(cid:863) (cid:862)gra(cid:374)d(cid:373)a"s ta(cid:271)le(cid:863, tortilla soup. Meal as a social event: soup night: community, this food ritual creates community. Invite friends, who invite their friends: the door is open and they let themselves in, no assigned seating, serve themselves, commensality, not a formal dinner party. People bring some sort of bread or wine or other food. Making an exchange of friendship: degrees of hierarchy, she and her husband sit at the end of the table and they will say the blessings. Unwritten code: some people bring better bread or wine than others and there is talk of this. Inclusion/exclusion: striving for inclusion and explicitly trying to create a non-hierarchical community, self-selecting group.
