The anthropology of food and body : gender, meaning, and power / Carole M. Counihan.

By:

Counihan, Carole, 1948-

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: New York ; London : Routledge, 1999.Description: viii, 256 p. : ill., ports. ; 24 cmISBN:

0415921929
0415921937 (pbk.)

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

394.1

Summary: The Anthropology of Food and Body explores the ways that making, eating, and thinking about food reveal culturally determined gender-power relations in diverse societies. Carole M. Counihan uses a cross-cultural approach to the study of food in order to ask compelling questions about eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, bodily changes in reproduction, and gender differences. Drawing upon ethnographic data from her fieldwork in Europe and the United States, Counihan addresses such issues as: What powers do women gain and lose through their control over food preparation and distribution? What do food images in children's fantasy stories tell us about their sense of self? How do beliefs about eating and intercourse in different societies reflect and affect ideologies of gender? How does the objectification of the female body subordinate women, and how can women challenge it? And how do pregnancy and birth affect women's image and empowerment? The Anthropology of Food and Body is a fascinating examination of the way we understand our bodies, our genders, and ourselves through food.--

Holdings ( 1 )
Title notes ( 2 )

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds	Course reserves
Reserve - Overnight loan	CYA Library Reserve	394.1 COU (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		00000007371		Placas, Aimee

Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Anthropology of Food and Body explores the ways that making, eating, and thinking about food reveal culturally determined gender-power relations in diverse societies. Carole M. Counihan uses a cross-cultural approach to the study of food in order to ask compelling questions about eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, bodily changes in reproduction, and gender differences.
Drawing upon ethnographic data from her fieldwork in Europe and the United States, Counihan addresses such issues as: What powers do women gain and lose through their control over food preparation and distribution? What do food images in children's fantasy stories tell us about their sense of self? How do beliefs about eating and intercourse in different societies reflect and affect ideologies of gender? How does the objectification of the female body subordinate women, and how can women challenge it? And how do pregnancy and birth affect women's image and empowerment?
The Anthropology of Food and Body is a fascinating examination of the way we understand our bodies, our genders, and ourselves through food.--