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- All Subjects: Food in literature
- Creators: Adamson, Joni
- Creators: Bruce, Kayla Ann
This study posits that Royster and Kirsch’s four feminist rhetorical practices— Critical Imagination, Social Circulation, Strategic Contemplation, and Globalizing Point of View (19)—taken together offer a model for instruction geared to help learners chart identity pathways in the context of one semester of their undergraduate rhetorical education. This model is operationalized through a writing classroom that focused on feminist ideals, using a food memoir, The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber, as the vehicle of inquiry. This study offers a starting point for analysis of food memoirs in university writing classrooms by focusing specifically on the ways that students understood and applied the framework, model, and vehicle of the study. This dissertation prioritizes the composition and valuing of individual and communal lived experiences expressed through the articulation of identity pathways. Teachers and scholars can use the knowledge and takeaways gained in the study to better support and advocate for the inclusion of the students lived experiences in writing classrooms and pedagogy.
Much attention has been given to food justice in both academic and activist communities as of late. This project adds to the growing discourse around food justice by using creative works produced by members of the black community as case studies to analyze the relationship between food justice and the criminal justice system in their neighborhoods. In particular, this project examines two unique sources of creative expression from the black community. The first is the novel Been ‘Bout Dat, the story of a young boy Fattz, who is born into the projects of New Orleans and takes to street life in order to provide for his siblings and struggling single mother. Written in prison by Johnny Davis it offers a valuable perspective that is combined with historical context and statistical support to construct an understanding of how concepts of food and criminal justice influence each other. The second source is the lyrical content of several hip-hop songs from rappers such as Tupac Shakur, Mos Def, Nas, and Young Jeezy. Comparing the content of these works and the lived realities expressed in both brings new and useful insights about food justice and criminal justice as experienced in poor minority communities. Recognizing this relationship may illuminate solutions to food justice issues through criminal justice reform as well as inform fresh efforts at community renewal.
Speculative fiction requires massive amounts of worldbuilding in order to create realistic societies and cultures for the audience to understand. While there are many aspects of worldbuilding such as economics, religion, and politics that are highly focused on in the discussion of how to worldbuild, there are also elements of everyday society that are not discussed as thoroughly. One of these aspects is food. This includes both how food is produced in certain speculative fiction settings and how these different cultures interact with food items on a daily basis. In addition to the ways that food systems operate, this project looks into three major works of speculative fiction--Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, and the works of Tolkien--to analyze the ways that these pieces of fiction have or have not used food as a part of worldbuilding. Then, I use the research that I have done to demonstrate the ways in which the food system can be incorporated into a work of speculative fiction through the writing of my own creative piece, “Of Yoila and Yalia”. My research details the ways that speculative fiction tends to treat food as either a logistical issue or simply a differentiating cultural marker instead of a useful tool to build a culture and act as a foothold for readers as they access a world that is foreign to them. Through my research and the writing of “Of Yoila and Yalia”, I conclude that food is an important aspect of creating a society and a culture that is not only accessible to readers but is relatable and understandable. To overlook food is to disregard one of the most compelling elements of culture that people interact with on a daily basis and therefore miss much of what culture revolves around.
Speculative fiction requires massive amounts of worldbuilding in order to create realistic societies and cultures for the audience to understand. While there are many aspects of worldbuilding such as economics, religion, and politics that are highly focused on in the discussion of how to worldbuild, there are also elements of everyday society that are not discussed as thoroughly. One of these aspects is food. This includes both how food is produced in certain speculative fiction settings and how these different cultures interact with food items on a daily basis. In addition to the ways that food systems operate, this project looks into three major works of speculative fiction--Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, and the works of Tolkien--to analyze the ways that these pieces of fiction have or have not used food as a part of worldbuilding. Then, I use the research that I have done to demonstrate the ways in which the food system can be incorporated into a work of speculative fiction through the writing of my own creative piece, “Of Yoila and Yalia”. My research details the ways that speculative fiction tends to treat food as either a logistical issue or simply a differentiating cultural marker instead of a useful tool to build a culture and act as a foothold for readers as they access a world that is foreign to them. Through my research and the writing of “Of Yoila and Yalia”, I conclude that food is an important aspect of creating a society and a culture that is not only accessible to readers but is relatable and understandable. To overlook food is to disregard one of the most compelling elements of culture that people interact with on a daily basis and therefore miss much of what culture revolves around.