This is the inaugural year for a new study group at York that focus on conflict and food. The Conflict and Food studies group is an inter-disciplinary, collaborative and knowledge-sharing initiative that explores the intersection of food and conflicts in social, political and intimate settings. It is supported by the York Centre for Asian Research at York University.

The initiative aims to engage with, and unsettle the seemingly discordant relationship between food and the spaces/practices associated with its production and consumption, through further exploration of: the historical and colonial contexts that shaped the contemporary food culture, unrecognized/invisible labour behind food and nostalgia, gender dynamics in domestic versus commercial food production settings, memories of hunger and taste, food production (e.g. land, kitchen) as a site of discrimination/resistance, food insecurity in conflict zones, recipes reinvented or borne out of such conflicts, and food as an indispensable force in peace building.

The intersecting fields of food and conflict studies form a rich and discursive space to unravel the complex and multiple forms of conflict that are closely intertwined with food production/consumption and the everyday narratives/experiences/writings around them.

The organizers are launching this initiative in October with its inaugural event on October 2, 2019. C.S. Lakshmi, a renowned Tamil writer, will speak on Tamil women’s writing and food. All are welcome!

For more information, please contact us at confood@yorku.ca or visit our Facebook page: @conflictandfood.