Boundaries and crossing boundaries in Islamic culinary culture

(29. September 2010 - 9.15 bis 13 Uhr - HS 1.201)

 

Leitung: Prof. Dr. Peter Heine, Berlin / Thomas Krüppner, Berlin



Opening Remarks

Referent/in: Prof. Dr. Peter Heine, Berlin


Section 1: “Identity and Alterity”

1. Migration und kulinarischer Wandel

Referent/in: Prof. Dr. Peter Heine, Berlin

2. Halal Production in China. An Anthropological Study of Food

Referent/in: Madlen Mählis, Hong Kong

3. Taboos as community boundaries

Referent/in: Dr. Riem Spielhaus, Kopenhagen


Section 2: “Symbolism”


1. Ringer von Gewicht. Körperbilder und transkulturelle Ernährungsmuster

Referent/in: Prof. Dr. Birgit Krawietz, Berlin

2. Ibn Battuta on the hospitality of Sufis and Sultans

Referent/in: Prof. Dr. David Waines, Lancaster

3. Alcohol in Social and Symbolic Boundaries

Referent/in: Prof. Dr. Sami Zubaida, London


Section 3: “Religion, Fiction and Reality”

1. Food, Religion and Medicine: Black Seed

Referent/in: Prof. Dr. Remke Kruk, Leiden


1. Hexenküche: Speisen als Zaubermittel im arabischen Volksepos

Referent/in: Prof. Dr. Hinrich Biesterfeldt, Bochum

2. The concept Food in Life and Afterlife

Referent/in: Thomas Krüppner, Berlin


Abstract


“Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es" (Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 1825)

For the “Deutscher Historikertag” 2010, we propose one panel on culinary studies in Islamic societies. These panels discuss on the one hand normative religious imperatives and prohibitions, and on the other hand boundaries and the crossing of boundaries. Besides religious boundaries, also political, social, ethnic symbolic and fictional boundaries as well as their transgression play a paramount role in our considerations. Apart from the traditional Arabic area, we will also look at countries with Muslim minorities and transcultural phenomena.

Eating and drinking is a basic human need indispensable for man’s existence. Hunting and gathering food or food cultivation is one of the most important tasks in the history of mankind. From a contemporary viewpoint, sufficient food supply for a population is both a national and international challenge in politics. Nourishment has a physical material side and a socio-cultural side: between the need (hunger and appetite) and its satisfaction (eating and drinking), man has set up an elaborate system of cuisine. Cultures and religions structure days, weeks, months and years according to culinary laws.

As a cultural phenomenon, eating and drinking constitute a complex in which discourses and policies of cultural inheritance reach far into daily practices. Religions especially display different food imperatives to varying degrees and meaning.  Religions not only deal with the questions of what is allowed to be eaten and how food has to be prepared, but they also treat issues on the presentation/offering and the absorption of food. While there exist explicit food prohibitions and taboos as well as laws on how to slaughter animals in Islam and Judaism, in Christianity, for instance, aspects of Lent and moderation are especially highlighted.

Patterns of nourishment, i.e. what we eat, how we eat and with whom we eat, are a determinate part of identities both on an individual and a community level. Eating as a daily practice and food as a daily absorbed substance connect and separate individuals, families and communities, and therefore constitute a powerful factor in the construction of identities. We become what we eat – physically, emotionally and spiritually. Culinary studies as a discipline of cultural studies aims at exploring cultural identities and alterities.

There are different criteria that can serve to describe the culinary situation of an individual, a group or a society, including its norms as well as the violation of norms in the past and present. These criteria comprise how people learn to use their natural resources, to appreciate or to avoid them, how they developed a unique culture of cooking and nourishment and how they view the relation between food and the art of cooking. Culinary studies describe food in the making up of a culture. Outlining the contexts in which those practices are performed can contribute to understanding and tolerating the rich diversity of nourishment patterns of “others” in the world. In this way, prejudices and the fear towards the “other” can be dismantled, which adds to “cultural diplomacy”.

The panel “Boundaries and crossing boundaries in Islamic culinary culture” is divided into three sections containing two or three contributions. At the end of each section, there will be room for discussion of the single papers in order to outline similarities and differences of various concepts and spaces and to examine the relation between these concepts.

Vorträge Epoche
Migration und kulinarischer Wandel Epochenübergreifende Sektion
Halal Production in China. An Anthropological Study of Food Epochenübergreifende Sektion
Taboos as Boundaries. Community and Conflict in South Asia Epochenübergreifende Sektion
Ringer von Gewicht. Körperbilder und transkulturelle Ernährungsmuster Epochenübergreifende Sektion
Ibn Battuta on the hospitality of Sufis and Sultans Epochenübergreifende Sektion
Alcohol in Social and Symbolic Boundaries Epochenübergreifende Sektion
Food, Religion and Medicine: Black Seed Epochenübergreifende Sektion
Hexenküche: Speisen als Zaubermittel im arabischen Volksepos Epochenübergreifende Sektion
The concept Food in Life and Afterlife Epochenübergreifende Sektion