CALL FOR PAPERS

We seek submissions for an interdisciplinary collection devoted to the examination of how representations (literary, filmic, artistic, etc.) of food and foodways serve as vehicles for the transmission of ideologies about gender, sex, race, class, age, ethnicity, disability, and a host of other identity constructs. Essays that provide a comparative analysis of multiple representations are preferred to those that examine just one text, although the latter will be considered. All submissions should go beyond a mere “close read” to discuss the social and political context and implications of the meaning of the representations.

Possible topics for consideration include:

• The politics of class, race and/or ethnicity as represented in dietary practices or rituals;
• The enforcement or resistance to religious ideologies and/or codes of morality through food;
• Food practices that challenge dominant ideologies and/or cultural practice (i.e., cannibalism);
• Food-related texts (i.e., culinary magazines, cookbooks, food-related television shows) that reinforce or resist dominant ideologies, including normative ideologies of sex and gender;
• Literary, filmic and/or artistic representations of contemporary debates about food and foodways (i.e., genetic modification of food, the raw food movement, vegetarianism, organic food, etc.).

We encourage contributions from a variety of fields, including (but not limited to) Art, Art History, Communication, Comparative Literature, English, Film or Cinema Studies, History, Media Studies, Musicology, Sociology, Theater, and Women’s Studies. Submissions should not be under review elsewhere, nor should they have been previously published.

Essays should be approximately 5000-6000 words in length and should adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style. Please send completed essays as MSWord attachment to both of the editors at the e-mail address shown below and pnaccarato@mmm.edu by June 1, 2005. Expressions of interest prior to the deadline are encouraged.

About the Editors: Kathleen LeBesco is Associate Professor of Communication Arts at Marymount Manhattan College. Peter Naccarato is Assistant Professor of English at Marymount Manhattan College.