Book Review of Jack Goody's "Food and Love: A Cultural History of East and West"

While I was pondering over the tactical speak to I should adopt to write this report on discreetness?s attempt to incorporate the anthropology of regimen into his themes, I was met with a winning surp heighten when I received my subscription of date cartridge in the mail. In bold letters, the cover of the newest issue of TIME (June 25 ? July 2, 2007) reads, ?We argon What We Eat?. Indeed, as Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin?s nonorious saying goes, ?Tell me what you eat and I get out itemise you who you argon?. fare is a fundamental man necessity, indispensable to the sustenance of the human body. At the same time, forage whitethorn be associated with pleasure, passion, up to now luxury. aliment is alike essential to the friendly body. Who eats what, who eats with whom, and whose appetites are fulfil and whose denied, are altogether profoundly social dynamics by dint of which identities, relationships, and hierarchies are created and reproduced. As such(prenomina l), it has drawn much attention from the anthropological circle with the anthropology of pabulum becoming a legitimate additionalization. Here, an regard anthropologist attempts to look into a comparative degree memorize of East and westbound with a incomplete focus on what, why, where and how plurality eat. British anthropologist and historiographer dirt daintiness (1919 ? ), Emeritus William Wyse Professor of accessible Anthropology at St. mob College of the University of Cambridge in the UK, is acknowledged as wiz of the nigh varied intellectuals of contemporary times, especiall(a)y in his contri plainlyion to explicate the twisted view that the West has of East-West differences. Famous for his fieldwork carried out in Gonja (northern Ghana) and a series of studies in West Africa that proceedsed from it in the mid-fifties and early on 1960s, treat used his knowledge of Africa to telephone line the culture of that clean with that of Eurasia, an area which, as he explains, genuine in a assorted direct! ion after the rise of cities and writing caused by the Bronze Age ?revolution?. In his much new-fashioned publications, discreetness has broadened his comparisons to embrace food and flowers, such as in Cooking,Cuisine and Class: A Study in comparative degree Sociology (1982), The purification of Flowers (1993), and, the case in point, delight and Food (1999). In Food and Love, discreetness extends his pursuits into the sphere of culture. Opening with a free burning sermon of the lexicon of such debates in the thought of classic theories such as that of Marxism (Marx?s general scheme of development), as rise as contemporary historical and sociological notions of modernization, airiness goes on to plenty phenomena as diverse and fascinating as the uniqueness of the European family, the development of romantic love, the evolution of national and regional cuisines, the globalisation of Chinese food, and the histories of various taboos on certain types of food and drink, at all times effortlessly ranging from Europe to Asia and to Africa. In a final bracing section challenging controlling relativist conceptions, diplomacy considers the difficulties and complexities of cross-ethnical and comparative analysis, and he picks apart the discredits complex in the genuinely process of representation and symbolic communication. passim the harbour, diplomacy demonstrates that the ethnocentricity of much of occidental scholarship has distorted not unaccompanied the comprehension of the East further also developments in Europes outgoing and present. I belief Food and Love is a genuinely holistic book which the solely flaw is that it could drop dead an even denser book for there are a a few(prenominal) areas Goody touched on that I hope could disconcert been flesh out further. As a student having canvass English belles-lettres for through middle school to gamey school, Goody?s incorporation of classical works such as porphyritic rock?s De Abstinen tia as examples to his statements was both(prenomina! l) surprising and delightful. More importantly, Goody covers a rather vast range of topics under the third main categories of family, food and doubt; and he makes use of a wide array of earlier works conducted by other(a)(a) researchers to build his cases. For example, when put upressing the concept of ?Love, liking and Literacy?, Goody speaks about(predicate) the French mentalité school, the LoDagaa people of northern Ghana, China and japan over the plosive of times from the Middle Ages to the Reformation and renascence to the present. He abstracts nurture from philosophical theories, literary works, fieldworks he conducted previously, as well as published works by other academics. Also, albeit with an almost unconscious emphasis on historical facts, Goody presents his research in different sectors such as social, cultural and a picayune on political consideration. Goody?s curiosity and comprehensive range may seem scare at first, but his eloquence as a generator ma kes his book an handsome read for all intellectuals as this conversion may be a little confusing for those who are not beaten(prenominal) with any of the examples Goody illustrates. Perhaps it really is a book meant for the more intellectually inclined audience. Food and Love, impertinent his ethnographic writings on culture of flowers, deals with a more wicked aspect of bearing. But in my opinion, one of the most corking bases proposed by Goody, amidst his comparative study of Asia and Europe, is that contrary to what sociologists, anthropologists and historian have assume, the West did not have a special sensitivity towards the development of capitalism or modernization.

He suggested that instead of reproof about the ?uniqueness of the West?, we should rather talk about the uniqueness of Eurasia, and especially about Asia?s considerable contribution. That is, that the idea of stagnant oriental societies, put forward by Marx and so many others, is really but a apologue of the West. Similarly, he undermined the claim to the uniqueness of the West and argued that it distorts our [here referring mostly to people of Western traditions] rationality of the past and present not only of the ?others? but also of ourselves. The idea of explaining modernity as the result of supposed Western singularities (like individualism, rationalism and family patterns) has prevented us from having a tardily understanding of the East as well as the West. As such, Goody?s writing is based heftily on comparative studies and he strives to abstain from committing the sin of ethnocentrism and that of leaving any take notions. Remarkably, Goody hardly derails into the trap that many writers fall into tour beguile with the comparative approach ? that is of comparing and contrasting ideas, objects and practices in different cultures but ignores the contest the gives them their meanings. When reading the book, I felt up a constant nagging at the back of my idea as I wondered if Goody?s presentation of a indigenous view is scarce or that it is so profoundly weaved into the context that you could read it without knowing it. That is, while his occasional lift of his fieldnotes in Ghana are a clear trait of this essential perspective from an African culture, other times, I feel as though he is trying to incorporate all the entropy that he has and has slightly neglected this aspect of writing ethnography. Or perhaps ? and this is a high possibility ? I am too young and amateurish to realize their presence. On a more personal note, I found Food and Love a very pleasing read because it showed a crossway between the study of anthropolog y and the study of bill, and produces a very edifyi! ng yet hardly dry piece of work. As a student still exploring the vast possibilities in a college education, Goody has proven to me that anthropology is indeed an all-encompassing field of study and I think it is this drop of anthropological essence that brought life and food color into this otherwise tedious read. In fact, I intend to add Goody?s The Culture of Flowers (1993) and The tameness of the Savage chief (1977) to my reading list. BibliographyGood, Jack. Food and love: a cultural history of East and West. London; New York: Verso, 1998We Are What We Eat. TIME. June 2007. If you require to get a full essay, auberge it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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