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Eating is generally understood as a human need that people satisfy in diverse ways. Eating, however, is also an English word. Other languages, using other words, order reality differently: they may fuse eating with breathing, or distinguish chupar from comer. Anthropologists flag such differences by leaving a few of their words untranslated, but what language do we think in? This isn't necessarily English. We may be linguistically closer to those whose practices we study: them. Against this background, Eating Is an English Word argues that social scientists should let go of the dream of universal concepts. Our analytical terms had better vary. Annemarie Mol and her coauthors exemplify this in a series of material semiotic inquiries into eating practices. They employ terms like lekker, tasting with fingers, chupar, schmecka, gustar, and settling on an okay meal to explore appreciative modes of valuing. Welcome, then, to spirited stories about satisfied stomachs, love for a lamb, juicy fruit treats, and companionable lunches and dinners.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction. Contrasting Words / Annemarie Mol
1. Language Trails:
Lekker and Its Pleasures / Annemarie Mol
2. Mixing Methods, Tasting Fingers: Notes on an Ethnographic Experiment / Anna Mann, Annemarie Mol, Priya Satalkar, Amalinda Savirani, Nasima Selim, Malini Sur, and Emily Yates-Doerr 41
3.
Chupar Frutas in Salvador da Bahia: A Case of Practice-Specific Alterities / Mattijs van de Port and Annemarie Mol 61
4. Talking Pleasures, Writing Dialects: Outlining Research on
Schmecka / Anna Mann and Annemarie Mol 77
5.
Joaquín Les Gusta: On Gut-Level Love for a Lamb of the House / Rebeca Ibáñez Martín and Annemarie Mol 94
6. Settling on an Okay Meal: An English Eater between Appeals and Apprehensions / John Law and Annemarie Mol 110
Conclusion. Differences and Appreciations / Annemarie Mol 125
Acknowledgments 139
Notes 141
Bibliography 167
Contributors 183
Index 187
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Annemarie Mol is Professor of Anthropology of the Body at the University of Amsterdam and author of
Eating in Theory and
The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice, both also published by Duke University Press.
Zusammenfassung
This book explores ways of appreciating eating, with the authors using lessons from their first language, even when writing in English—thus mixing us and them.
