Food for Thought: foodways as a tool for racial reconciliation

PROPOSAL TYPE

Workshop

SEEKING

Seeking Additional Presenters
Seeking General Feedback and Interest
Seeking Specific Expertise

ABSTRACT

The love of food is universal. Food expresses culture, race, ethnicity, religion, and geography. Some historical interpreters have successfully used colonial foodways and cooking demonstrations at sites of enslavement to break down racist ideologies and engage visitors in honest conversations about slavery in the U.S. This workshop will discuss the unique role food can play in educating the public about hard history and provide examples of programs and interpretive tools to implement foodways-centered education at your site.

DESCRIPTION

I would like to know if a workshop is the best venue for this topic and if I could recruit one or two more food focused public historians who can provide examples of foodways-centered tactics to discuss historical inequalities (race, class, gender, religion, ethnicity). I would like participants in this workshop to leave with knowledge of how to use food in discussing hard history at their sites. Also, do I broaden the topic to include other racial/ethnic groups and recruit other workshop leaders, or turn it into a traditional panel where we all share case studies?

If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Kelley Deetz, [email protected]

ALL FEEDBACK AND OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE SHOULD BE SUBMITTED BY JULY 10, 2024. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.

Discussion

1 comment

Denise says:

June 26, 2024 at 6:19 pm

This is really interesting given how many public history sites have historical cooking demonstrations or food centered celebrations. There’s also a universe of agricultural public history sites that tie in to food traditions. A workshop could work if you are thinking you can work with interpreters and others to develop more engaging and illuminating foodways events.

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