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Accepted Paper:
'It is a nourishment, not just for the stomach'. The centrality of food in the experience of forced migrants
Donatella Schmidt
(Università di Padova)
Giovanna Palutan
Drawing from ethnographic data derived by a still ongoing research, our paper aims to explore the symbolic meaning of food for refugees and migrants in-transit living in urban encampments and in reception centers for women in Rome
Paper long abstract:
Drawing from ethnographic data derived by a still ongoing research, our paper aims to explore the symbolic meaning of food for refugees and migrants in-transit living in urban encampments and in reception centers for women in Rome. The aim is to foster reflection on ways in which they experience and rely on food in a context of uncertainty and temporary settlement (Palutan and Schmidt 2020). Through observation of food practices and the collection of narratives of privileged witnesses, we like to emphasize the interpretation of tastes, norms and classifications as dynamic categories, which are not defined once and for all. Some key questions may guide our reflection: how can food be a collector of memories and at the same time a mediator of different cultural horizons? How can emergency food turn into a tool of conviviality? How can it be a means of creative inclusion? Finally, how can it affect daily experiences in constructive terms? Referring to seminal works (Mintz 1996, Cullen Dunn 2011, Coleman 2011, Lewis 2014, Counihan and Siniscalchi 2019), our paper has the ambition to provide new insights in the interplay between the symbolic aspect of food and forced migration