Je relaie cet appel à communications. Bien cordialement
Christiane Demeulenaere-Douyère
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR RESEARCH
INTO EUROPEAN FOOD HISTORY
C A L L F
O R P A P E R S
2013 COLLOQUIUM
food and major exhibitions
in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Brussels, September 16 – 20, 2013
This is the call
for papers for the 2013 ICREFH-symposium, to be organized in
Brussels, September 16 to 20, 2013. The central theme is the
result of the decision to consider Europe’s food history within
the international context. This theme fits perfectly well in
ICREFH’s aims and practices, i.e. to combine various disciplines
and approaches to study the history of food in Europe since
c.1800. The focus will be on major exhibitions and,
particularly, world fairs. These are events that appeal to
millions of people (visitors, writers, photographers, readers,
and dreamers), produce an ephemeral but yet tangible view of
modernity (displaying new goods and ideas), involve
manufacturers, scientists, municipalities, governments,
journalists, and consumers, are full of ideologies, shape
memories and are places of international communication. Starting
in 1851 (London), world fairs have been organized very
regularly, right up to the present. Seven countries in Europe
have hosted a world fair and most European countries have
participated in one. Moreover, international exhibitions (with a
different status from world exhibitions and dealing with
specific themes like, e.g., electricity, horticulture, arts
& crafts, or hygiene) were organized across Europe.
Food played a crucial role in these events:
visitors ate and drank, officials were offered banquets,
manufacturers displayed their products, and scientists met to
discuss hygiene or up-to-date food preparing. In many cases,
food consumption allowed to achieve a financial break-even
point. Moreover, some nations utilized food and drink to express
(urban, regional or national) identity, whether at home or
abroad. The latter offers the perfect tool to investigate
construction of national or corporate sentiments. In short,
world exhibitions allow the investigation of economic, social,
cultural, and political issues of food, with confrontations and
exchanges within Europe and between Europe and other continents,
which touches upon exoticism, prejudices, innovation,
entertainment, likes and dislikes. In virtually all countries of
the world, abundant source material is available (written
sources like newspapers, brochures, and official reports;
pictures like photos and movies; buildings; or artefacts like
furniture).
Four subthemes are
suggested, but the Organizing Committee gladly welcomes
proposals in other related areas:
- Signs of Americanization: European
countries were eager to display American-like products and
foodways at European world exhibitions. They gladly welcomed new
types of eateries (e.g., the self-service restaurant), food
automats, or street vendors (hot-dogs, e.g.); they displayed US
products (Coca-Cola, Heinz, …) in plants with modern production
processes; they loved modernist advertisements. Were such signs
of Americanization common in Europe? Since when? How did
Europeans manufacturers and consumers react? Did they appreciate
it, and eagerly visit US pavilions? How did European countries
dealt with this “Americanism” at US-world fairs? Did they use US
world fairs to emphasize “Europeanism”?
- Colonial Presence: “colonial villages”
with food and drinks were organized since the early days. How
were these represented, when did colonial food, restaurants and
stalls appear (and disappear), and what precisely was served? To
what extent were colonial goods present in countries without
colonies? How did food manufacturers use the exotic (and what
was considered exotic)? Did visitors react enthusiastically or,
on the contrary, with unease? Did the colonial food displayed
and served at world fairs leave traces in European magazines,
cookery writings and advertisements?
- People Abroad: world fairs attracted
hundred thousands of travellers, whether tourists, businessmen,
officials, or employees. These people needed to sleep and eat:
where and how did they do this? Did restaurants and hotels offer
local specialties, and which ones? Did the hospitality
businesses invented
national/regional cuisines? Were foreign cooks and waiters
enlisted? Who were the staff of ‘ethnic’ restaurants and bars?
Which foreign
cuisines appeared at world exhibitions, when, what was prepared,
and at what price?
- Signs of Social Progress: world
exhibitions were huge leisure events, but at every occasion
(social) science was present. Scientific meetings were organized
about domestic science (education), hygiene (kitchen comfort),
the optimal diet, or water supply, thus disseminating new
insights in foodways. Who participated in these meetings? Where
did these people obtain their knowledge? And which knowledge
(e.g., about calories, vitamins or other new findings) was
presented?
The Organizing
Committee welcomes proposals; 16 papers will be presented, so
selection will be quite strict.
Application Form 2013
ICREFH colloquium
Applications
must be received at the latest by 1 December 2012
NAME:
TITLE:
INSTITUTION:
ADDRESS:
PHONE:
E-MAIL
:
Provisional
title of Paper:
Theme:
Summary
of Topic (max. 200 words):
Signature
Date
à Form to be
sent to Peter Scholliers by e-mail <pscholli AT vub.ac.be>
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Document sans nom
Christiane
Demeulenaere-Douyère
Conservateur général du patrimoine
Section du XIXe siècle
Direction scientifique du site de Paris
Archives nationales
60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois
75141 Paris Cedex 03
Tél : 01 40 27 62 94
Télécopie :01 40 27 66 47
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