Rachel Black
dates de séjour
discipline
Fonction d’origine
Institution d’origine
Fonction actuelle
Institution actuelle
pays d'origine
projet de recherche
Cuisine des mères : Heritage, gender and the construction of culinary culture
The case of the mères lyonnaises offers an exceptional opportunity to explore the changing place of women in French society in the interwar and postwar years. Men have largely dominated the world of French professional cuisine. However, from 1930-1970 there were a number of women in Lyon, France who reached the pinnacles of this profession. These women are frequently referred to as the mères lyonnaises.
This research will use ethnographic and historical methods to explore the gender shifts that have occurred in the construction of a national French culture in the twentieth century—in this case, in the form of cuisine. This project will look at prominent historical
case studies and connect the under-recorded historical presence of women in professional cuisine to the narratives of Lyonnais women currently cooking in professional spheres.
biographie
Rachel E. Black is a member of the Anthropology Department at Connecticut College.
From 2012 to 2014, she has been assistant professor and academic coordinator of the Gastronomy Program at Boston University. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the Università degli Studi di Torino in Italy and a Masters in History from the University of British Columbia in Canada. Black completed a post-doctoral fellowship from 2007-2008 at the Università delle Scienze Gastronomiche in Italy. She has been a lecturer in History and Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and in the Master in Food Systems at the Open University of Catalonia. Black is associate editor for the interdisciplinary journal Food and Foodways and co-editor of the “ food, culture and nutrition” book series for Berghahn Books. She has served on the executive board of the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition for the past six years. Black has conducted ethnographic and historical research on open-air marketplaces in Italy and France, urban agriculture, cooperative agriculture in Northern Italy, and the natural wine movement.
