Matters of taste: Food, eating, and reflections on ''the body politic'' in Tuareg society

Journal/Book: J Anthropol Res. 1996; 52: Univ New Mexico, Anthropology Dept, Albuquerque, NM 87111. Journal of Anthropological Res. 61-83.

Abstract: In this article, I am concerned with two issues: to understand how power relations are embodied in beliefs, statements, and practices about food preparation, eating, and the body; and to determine how to represent these statements and practices in nonessentialist terms. The article explores how notions of strength/fragility, activity/passivity, and purity/pollution are used to construct represent and contest social distinctions in contexts of ritual, sociability, and politics within a stratified, seminomadic rural community of Tuareg in Niger, West Africa. I analyze reflections about food, conversation during eating, and more general food-connected practices as these relate to concepts of body and social origin Food habits, I argue, are reflected in both traditional and changing social categories, and these social categories are evidenced in food as well as in other contexts which symbolically refer to eating and the body: for example, color and texture tastes, use of material cultural items such as utensils in food preparation, the etiquette of commensuality, and weaponry use in animal sacrifice, meat preparation, and armed conflict.

Note: Article S Rasmussen, Univ Houston, Dept Anthropol, Houston, TX 77004 USA

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