Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva
Israel, The Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

International Conference
15 - 16 June 2010
The Department of Sociology & Anthropology
The Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy
The Centre for the Study of European Politics and Society

This conference aims to explore the ways in which food and
foodways partake in the production, reproduction, negotiation and
subversion of power and meaning in the Middle East and Mediterranean
Regions. Over 30 speakers from around the world will take part in this
event and will discuss the culinary sphere as an active sphere of cultural
production, will approach culinary artifacts as cultural icons and will
define different aspects of identity that highlight power and power relations as tangible social forces.

Keynote speakers:
Prof. Carole Counihan - Millersville University: 'Food Voice, Activism, and Power in Italy’s
Slow Food Movement' (16/6/2010, 16:15-17:15)
Prof. Penny Van Esterik - York University: 'Nurturing Power: Food and Commensality in a
Globalized World' (15/6/2010, 9:00-10:00)
Prof. Daphne Barak-Erez - Tel-Aviv University : 'Symbolic Constitutionalism: On Sacred Cows
and Abominable Pigs' (16/6/2010, 9:00-10:00)

Sessions:
The Culinary Negotiation of National Identity
Representation of Food & Power in the Media and Arts
Culinary Representations of Palestinian Identity in Israel
Who Eats Whom? Eating Globally
Feeding the Nation: State, Civil Society and Food Regulation
'Eat, Drink, Man, Woman'
Eating in the Diaspora
Food, Religion and Class
Historical Perspectives on Food and Power
Eating in Palestine during the British Mandate (1921-1948)

Public Panel (16/6/2010, 18:-20):
And we have falafel? Israeli chefs, food writers and critics on the issue of food and power in Israel
(This panel is open to the general public and will be in Hebrew with English translation)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The conference will be held in English.
Conference program will be published on the 'Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy' website: http://cmsprod.bgu.ac.il/Eng/humsos/centers/herzog/default.htm

To attend the conference please send an e-mail to: rafig@bgu.ac.il
To attend the conference please send an e-mail to: rafig@bgu.ac.il