"Tastes Like Freedom": Food, Identity, and Community in Carceral Settings
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Date
2021
Authors
Pak, Bianca
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This thesis explores how food is a mechanism for constructing identity and community in carceral settings. Drawing from the existing literature, I focus my analysis on noninstitutional foodways – the acquisition, preparation, and consumption of food that is not sanctioned by the prison administration. I establish what foodways exist outside of the institutional purview, and then examine how these noninstitutional foodways are sources of identity reclamation and community building. This work is grounded within an interdisciplinary framework that brings in relevant scholarship from a wide variety of social sciences, with the goal of providing a comprehensive point of view. Ultimately, I argue that food is a powerful site for identity and community to be formed and re-evaluated, often times through the mechanism of resistance, within the context of prison.
Description
58 pages
Keywords
Prison, Food, Identity, Community, Eating