Commensality: From Everyday Food to Feast - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857857363 ISBN 13: 9780857857361

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015

Synopsis

Throughout time and in every culture, human beings have eaten together. Commensality - eating and drinking at the same table - is a fundamental social activity, which creates and cements relationships. It also sets boundaries, including or excluding people according to a set of criteria defined by the society. Particular scholarly attention has been paid to banquets and feasts, often hosted for religious, ritualistic or political purposes, but few studies have considered everyday commensality. Commensality: From Everyday Food to Feast offers an insight into this social practice in all its forms, from the most basic and mundane meals to the grandest occasions. Bringing together insights from anthropologists, archaeologists and historians, this volume offers a vast historical scope, ranging from the Late Neolithic period (6th millennium BC), through the Middle Ages, to the present day. The sixteen chapters include case studies from across the world, including the USA, Bolivia, China, Southeast Asia, Iran, Turkey, Portugal, Denmark and the UK. Connecting these diverse analyses is an understanding of commensality’s role as a social and political tool, integral to the formation of personal and national identities. From first experiences of commensality in the sharing of food between a mother and child, to the inaugural dinner of the American president, this collection of essays celebrates the variety of human life and society.

About this title

About the Author

Susanne Kerner is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She has directed a number of excavations in Jordan from different periods and is the author of several publications concerned with social complexity, social importance of food and craft specialisation. Cynthia Chou is Associate Professor and Head of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She is a social anthropologist who has carried out extensive research with the Orang Suku Laut, the sea-nomads of the Malay World. Her research focuses on centre-periphery relations of marginalized ethnic groups in Southeast Asia. Morten Warmind is Associate Professor and Head of Studies of Sociology of Religion at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a specialist in pre-Christian European religions and studies religious change during the Hellenistic times.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0857857363
• ISBN 13: 9780857857361
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Kerner Susanne