Deadline: 20 January 2014
Conference
The Rhetorics of Food
KU Leuven, Belgium
26-27-28 May 2014
As the
intake of food is a basic “ingredient” of human life and cultures, it is no
wonder that changes in this culture can reveal changes in basic patterns of a
civilization (cf. Norbert Elias in the 1930s, reedited by UCD in 2012),
Lévy-Strauss 1964). Over the past twenty years the rhetorics of food have
developed rapidly and widely: TV chefs and journalists develop new lifestyles; regional
and exotic foods mix in “transnational” combinations. Slow and fast food
compete for consumers’ daily meal decisions.
In contexts of postcolonial cultures or diaspora (like the Irish one)
where a transnational identity is being developed, rejection or acceptance of
food is one of the main identity markers of cultural assimilation or
alienation. (cf. Karl Marx’ Man is what
he eats). People also speak (or refuse to) with their bodies in
breastfeeding; a substantial number of children and adolescents develop eating
disorders, and the age of onset of these disorders seems to be decreasing.
Table manners change, but more significantly a new ethics of food brings about
a new awareness of ecological aspects of produce. That the rhetorics of food is
a “hot” topic is also illustrated by the latest issue of the renowned Cultural Studies Review published by UTS
(Sydney)on food cultures and amateur economies.
The topic of food clearly is situated at the
intersection of various disciplines. We are therefore thrilled to be able to
organize this multi- and interdisciplinary conference on the Rhetorics of Food,
particularly as we have succeeded in bringing Tina Beattie (Roehampton College,
UK) to the conference as the Key Note Lecturer.
This conference will look at how, both in the
past and the present, people have been using the language of food to many
purposes., and will bring together a
number of worldwide recognized experts on the topic to the Leuven Centre for
Irish Studies. We welcome papers in different areas: literature,
cultural studies, theology, art (iconography/iconology), film, history (of
ideas) and architecture, anthropology, political sciences, psychology,
philosophy, economics.
Topics could include
(but are not strictly limited to):
Psychology, philosophy of food:
- Food
and identity; the ethics of food; diet and health; hygienic rules
- the
rhetorics of quantity, and forms of potlatch
(cf. Montanari 1995);
-
refusing food: bulimia, anorexia, allergies;
- food
as a weapon / reward: poisoning / heavenly food
-
positive and negative symbolism attaching to food: salt, honey, fish, bread, potato, turkey,
haggis… vs taboos
-
gendered kinds of food (Walker
Bynum, 1998)
- fear
of food (Ferrières, 2002); discourse on genetic manipulation; food scandals
-
hierarchies of food (animals, plants, herbs, spices), of guests;
Rhetorics of chosen company and space:
-
selection of invitees; forms of
hospitality: monastic, regal, bourgeois, nomad, professional; xenophilia /
xenophobia: stories about unexpected visitors, magic of conviviality
-
rituals in kitchen & dining room: cutting bread, carving meat; Burns Night,
…
Food in Literature:
- verbal
and other rhetorics in pivotal positions in a novel (Molly Keane’s Bad Behaviour, Joyce’s Dubliners and in Ulysses, Woolf’s To the
Lighthouse …); ritual feasts (cf Christmas) often mark a conflict (or a
reconciliation)
-
kitchen sink drama; poems on food (Keats, D.H. Lawrence, Harrison…);
- Lands
of Cockaigne and all kinds of fabled food
- links between eating and reading,
interiorizing food or words (Apocalypse, The
Name of the Rose); connections
between the making of a poem and the making of food
-
“Gastropoetics”: writers and cookery (from Dumas to Dahl et al); metaphors used
to describe food (Jean-Paul Aron, Jean-François Revel, …)
-
developments in etiquette from Middle Ages till now: in fiction (Arthurian
romance) or in etiquette books
Food in the media:
food in
film, in journalism & cookery books; forms of advertisement and assessment
of food (cf. Brillat-Savarin 1807, Gault & Millau 2013)
Theology of food:
- Questions
relating to food in the bible, in the Eucharist; mediaeval “Schluckbilder”;
- the
idea of food and sacrifice; health and holiness (cf. Levenstein 1996);
- images
of the Maria lactans;
- Iconography
of fasts and feasts (cf. Walker Bynum 1988, 2007)
The Esthetics of food:
- Real
and metaphorical eating (cf. Saturn eating his children)
- new
forms of discourse on still life, kitchen pieces (beyond Schneider, Bryson et
al)
-
representations of feasts and fasts: Brueghel, Botticelli, Veronese, Jordaens,
Moreau,
- the
language of cutlery, crockery, glass, textile at table
- food
as art: consummation of the visual; (Jan Fabre 2000, Tuymans 2013)
-
accompaniments: music, dance, other entertainment interacting with food
Economics of food:
- food scarcity and strategies of poverty
reduction,
- agricultural development and food
distribution
- climate change and effects on food production
and consumption
Papers focusing
on Ireland (or a comparison with
Ireland) will be especially welcomed.
Confirmed plenary speaker: Tina Beattie (Roehampton College, UK)
Title:
“The female breast in theology and art”
The
conference is hosted by the KU
Leuven, the Faculties of the Arts, Theology, Psychology and Pedagogy in
cooperation with the Leuven Centre for Irish Studies (LCIS). It will take place
in the newly refurbished Irish college in Leuven (the Leuven Institute for
Ireland in Europe).
-Fees: 150 EUR (tenured), 80 EUR (students)
which covers conference costs, social events, lunches and coffees.
Papers should not exceed 2500-3000 words (20 minutes’
delivery). Proposals for papers (250-300 words) and a short biography should be
sent by e-mail to Hedwig Schwall , Hedwig.schwall@arts.kuleuven.be
You will
be notified by 31st January.
