Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto
Joe Pinsker just published an article in The Atlantic about a potential new trend: Americans seem to be spending less time eating at the kitchen table, and more on the couch or in the bedroom.
I provided some insights on why this might be the case, drawing from my research on gender inequity in foodwork with Kate Cairns, along with my research on the casualization of food culture. Shyon Baumann, co-author of Foodies, also weighs in on this curious cultural shift.
Check out the article here.
An article I co-wrote with Kate Cairns on the topic of “meat and mothering” has been published by Agriculture and Human Values. Vol 35: 569-580. It can be downloaded here: http://www.springer.com/home?SGWID=0-0-1003-0-0&aqId=3451768&download=1&checkval=5899818bb273e12fee5729813ec2bc4b
In the article, we question the idea that “more consumer knowledge” will necessarily lead to altered, and more ethical food practices. Mothers are put in a difficult position in relation to children’s’ meat consumption: they feel pressure to teach kids where food comes from, but they also want to protect children from some of the harsh truths of animal slaughter.
Professor Kate Cairns and I are always happy to hear when our recent book, Food and Femininity, has struck a chord with readers. Here is a compilation of the thoughtful reviews the book has received so far. We hope our contribution continues to push forward critical conversations about gender, feminism, food and inequality.
Dr. Rebecca Sandover, an Associate Research Fellow in Geography at the University of Exeter, recently took the time to write a very thoughtful review of Food and Femininity. You can read the full piece in the Sociological Review, and here is an excerpt:
Through an immersion in the processes of decision making for household food choices, Food and Femininity offers a rich account of the thorny tensions faced by shoppers attempting to work out food ethics in their everyday eating lives. However, as Cairns and Johnston spotlight, these tensions are even more acute for women attempting to walk the tightrope of enacting feminist, post-feminist and healthy eating bodies within the framework of gendered food practices. . . . this book not only examines food and femininity, it also sets out feminist methodologies for researching food issues.
On the heels of International Women’s Day, I wanted to share a call for papers from Dr. Rachel O’Neill at the University of York, UK. She is organizing what looks like an exciting conference on June 30th, 2017: Food is a Feminist Issue: Media, Bodies Appetites. Attendance is free, but advance registration is required.
The call for papers (deadline 14 April, 2017) references feminist writers such as Susie Orbach, who will give a keynote address, along with Tisha Dejmanee, Rosalind Gill, and Angela McRobbie. Kate Cairns and I are honoured that our book Food and Femininity is referenced in the call for papers.
A new introductory sociology textbook I co-authored with Kate Cairns and Shyon Baumann is out now! You can peruse the introductory pages by clicking “Look Inside” at this link. Here is what one reviewer had to say about Introducing sociology using the stuff of everyday life:
“From designer jeans to iPhones, cultural understandings and material arrangements come together to shape what we buy and why. With a remarkable gift for storytelling, the authors shows us how the things we use reflect the conflict between our private lives and the public issues structuring them. After reading this book, it will be impossible to see a marketing campaign or a PR event in quite the same way. I can’t wait to teach Using the Stuff of Everyday Life in my classroom!”
Frederick F. Wherry, Yale University
The Huffington Post just published a short, seasonal piece I co-authored with PhD Candidate Merin Oleschuk and Professor Kate Cairns. In our article, we reflect on ways to alleviate some of the pressures behind the idealized family meal, particularly as they pertain to economic and gender inequality.Continue reading “HuffPo article on pressure of cooking holiday family meals”
It’s been exciting to read the critical ideas and discussions stimulated by Food and Femininity. In this book, Kate Cairns and I explore the complex and emotionally-charged tensions underpinning women’s relationship to food today.Continue reading “New book reviews for Food and Femininity”
Josée Johnston