[ecrea] Call for Papers Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food 2018

CALL FOR PAPERS

Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food 2018

Topic: *Body and Soul: Examining the historical relation between 
nutrition, health, and culture*

The act of ingestion ensures our intimate relationship with food. This 
literal ‘incorporation’ has implications that go far beyond basic 
physicality: it is precisely in the corporeal sphere that the cultural 
significance of our food habits is on display. Crucial to the connection 
between food and body is the concept of control. State institutions, 
medical professionals, and spiritual teachers have prescribed and 
proscribed dietary behaviour, exercising what Michel Foucault has termed 
‘biopower’, in an attempt to regulate the nourishment of populations. 
Such nutritional advice has often been a form of moral guidance: to 
authorities like doctors and religious leaders, public health was a 
medical and an ethical issue. Corporations have made similar persuasion 
efforts, often aided by health gurus and sportspersons – from 
19th-century fruitarians to 21st-century Instagram influencers 
advertising their ‘killer’ bodies. By conceptualizing the body as a 
machine in need of ‘input’, they increasingly sold consumers the 
prospect of total control over their health and wellbeing.

Yet the public has the agency to modify and contest existing food 
regimes. By narrativizing the fundamental everyday practice of food 
consumption, individuals fashion eating – and not-eating – into a 
performance, thereby inextricably linking these acts to personal 
identity. Their pursuit for healthy and inspiring lifestyles can lead to 
greater self-care, but can also encourage problematic body/food 
mindsets, such as anorexia or orthorexia. No wonder that, since ancient 
times, the notion of a powerful connection between psychological and 
physical health has been deployed by spiritual leaders to promise 
audiences control over their desires and appetites. Hence it is 
especially in the context of the body that the cultural relevance of 
food can be explored.

Topics

This year’s Symposium aims at drawing into dialogue scholars exploring 
the historical complexities of the relationship between body and 
nutrition. We invite abstracts for papers covering any topic related to 
the study of this relationship including, but not limited to, the following:

- Nutritional science, dietetics, and medicine

- Popularization and mediatisation of nutritional knowledge

- Dieting, body images, and physical culture

- Food, spirituality and morality

- Public health and nutritional policy

Guidelines Paper Proposals

The symposium program consists of plenary keynote lectures, paper 
presentations and panel discussions. If you are interested in presenting 
a paper at the symposium, please submit an abstract before 5 March 2018. 
Please expect to be presenting to a large audience of up to 250 people, 
including academic as well as professional participants. The symposium 
language is English. Presenters of accepted papers are asked to speak 20 
minutes as lively and engaging as possible, followed by a discussion 
with the panel and the audience under the supervision of a session chair.

Applications should include:

- Title of proposed paper

- Abstract (maximum 500 words)

- Biographical information (short CV)

- Contact information (e-mail, telephone and postal address)

Applications should be sent by the deadline of   *5 March 2018*   to: 
(Foodhistory-ub /at/ uva.nl) <mailto:(Foodhistory-ub /at/ uva.nl)>

Notification of acceptance:

As it may not be possible to include everyone’s submission, the 
organizing committee and advisory board will make a selection. You will 
be notified if the paper is accepted by  *1 May 2018* .

Organisation

The Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food is the result of a 
collaborative partnership between Special Collections (UvA), the 
Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (UvA) and the research unit 
Social & Cultural Food Studies (FOST) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Ir. Louise O. Fresco; Mrs. Claudia Roden; Prof. Dr. Peter 
Scholliers; Prof. Dr. Irene E. Zwiep

Aims

The symposium is an annual point of assembly and an exchange of 
knowledge in the field of food history. It intends to stimulate debate 
and research that bridges the gap between different disciplines. 
Submissions are encouraged to use an interdisciplinary approach, in 
which theory and methods from diverse (social) sciences are appropriated 
or from other disciplines that take a historical stance. Another aim is 
to transfer academic research to a wider public and stimulate research 
using the Special Collection of the University of Amsterdam. The 
symposium is therefore targeted at both an academic and a professional 
audience.

Organizing Committee

IJsbrand van Dijk; Joke Mammen; Antonia Mazel; Jon Verriet; Ingrid de Zwarte

More information and updates about the symposium

http://bijzonderecollectiesuva.nl/foodhistory/amsterdam-symposium-on-the-history-of-food/ 


Partners

Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam

Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (UvA)

Social & Cultural Food Studies (FOST) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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