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Study Groups
 

Introduction

The BSA Food Study Group joined forces with the Scottish Colloquium on Food and Feeding (SCOFF) in 1994. The group aims to encourage the sociological analysis, both theoretical and empirical, of all aspects of food production and consumption.

The Food Study Group holds hour long seminars and longer, themed, events throughout the UK. The aim is to provide a forum for stimulating debate amongst academics, practitioners and others interested or involved in social science research on food, diet and eating.

Forthcoming Events

London Lunch and Seminar Series 2008

All meetings are held on Mondays, starting with coffee at 11.15am and ending in time for a late lunch at a local restaurant. Seminars are free for study group/BSA members to attend. Please contact Libby Bishop (tel:  01206 872664) for further details or to reserve a place. All meetings are held at the University of Westminster.

  • 15 September: Rebecca O’Connell will present on:  The Negotiation of 'Kincorporation': the social relations of childminding viewed through food.  Childminding is popularly characterised as childcare in a home- or family-like environment.  Part of Rebecca's doctoral research focussed on mealtimes as a vehicle for exploring the social relations which familial ideology at once suggests and obscures.  In this presentation she describes the conditions which led her to adopt this approach and the data generated by it.  Particularly illuminating, was the intersection of class and ethnic practices with the reproduction of family-like relations in these empirical contexts.

The seminar is free to attend and will take place at the University of Westminster.  It will be followed by lunch at a local restaurant.  Coffee 11.30am, presentation starts 11.45am, lunch 1.15pm.  To book a place please contact Libby Bishop or Wendy Wills.

  • 8 December: Jakob Klein, SOAS Food Studies Centre, will talk about his work in China. 

Edinburgh Meetings 2008

All are welcome to attend SCOFF's informal lunchtime meetings, held at the University of Edinburgh.  Members are invited to share ideas and discuss their research and other activities or topics related to the sociology of food.  Periodically, meetings also feature brief presentations from people doing work in the area.  Please bring your lunch; SCOFF provides tea/coffee and biscuits.  Non-members are welcome to join us to find out more about the group.

  • Friday, 12 December 2008 - Ed Harris, University of Edinburgh, 'Exploring localism in alternative food networks: eating locally and eating well in Fife, Scotland'
  • Friday, 19 September 2008 - Laura Nisbet, University of Edinburgh 'Retail provision and accessing healthy food in remote Scottish island communities'

Please contact Sue Gregory (tel: 0131 650 6199) or Debra Gimlin (tel: 01224 272771)  for further details, to reserve a place or to discuss ideas for future meetings/speakers.

 

Please visit our Past Events page for further details of our activities.

Annual Report

The Food Study Group Annual Report for 2008 is now available.

Joining the Group

New members, including students, are very welcome to join the Group. To put  your name on the Food Study Group mailing list please contact Wendy Wills or download and complete this form.

Contact the Convenors

Offers of help, venues or ideas for future events are always welcome. Please forward relevant/appropriate reviews of books/articles for inclusion on this site. Links to other organisations also considered.

 

Dr Wendy Wills

Centre for Research in Primary & Community Care (CRIPACC)

University of Hertfordshire

College Lane

Hatfield

AL10 9AB

Tel: 01707-286165

Send an email.

 

Dr Debra Gimlin (co-convenor, Scotland)

Department of Sociology

University of Aberdeen

Aberdeen

AB24 3QY

Tel: 01224-272771

Send an email.

 

Dr Susan Gregory (co-convenor, Scotland)

Research Unit in Health, Behaviour and Change

University of Edinburgh

Teviot Place

Edinburgh

EH8 9AG

Tel:  0131 650 6199

Send an email.

Links to Relevant/Current Research

Food Stories is an interactive website, designed primarily for KS3 and KS4 citizenship and geography students.  It traces the changes that have taken place in the UK's food culture over the last century.  Students can play with colourful animations and listen to audio interviews from the British Library Sound Archive to investigate the ways in which food relates to identity, cultural diversity, the environment, technology, farming, shopping, travel and much more.

 

The Association for the Study of Food and Society is a multidisciplinary international organisation dedicated to exploring the complex relationships among food, culture, and society.  The ASFS publishes a useful list of course outlines with bibliographies on topics relevant to the sociology of food, food anthropology, agriculture and society etc, which some members might find useful.

 

'Changing Families, Changing Food' Programme

Funding: Leverhulme Trust 2005-2008

The University of Sheffield

Tel: 0114-2226283

Further information about this programme of research is available here.

Send an email.

 

Parents' and teenagers' conceptions of diet, weight and health: Does class matter?

Funding: ESRC: 2006-2008

The University of Hertfordshire and the University of Edinburgh

Tel: 01707-286165

Send an email.

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