In recent years, Peru has transformed from a war-torn country to a global high-end culinary destination. Connecting chefs, state agencies, global capital, and Indigenous producers, this “gastronomic revolution” makes powerful claims: food unites Peruvians, dissolves racial antagonisms, and fuels development. Gastropolitics and the Specter of Race critically evaluates these claims and tracks the emergence of Peruvian gastropolitics, a biopolitical and aesthetic set of practices that reinscribe dominant racial and gendered orders. Through critical readings of high-end menus and ethnographic analysis of culinary festivals, guinea pig production, and national-branding campaigns, this work explores the intersections of race, species, and capital to reveal links between gastronomy and violence in Peru.
By:
María Elena García
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 76
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780520301900
ISBN 10: 0520301900
Series: California Studies in Food and Culture
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 15 March 2021
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"List of Illustrations Preface: Understories Acknowledgments Introduction: Stories of Resurgence and Coloniality Part One: Structures of Accumulation Interlude: Hauntings 1 • Gastropolitics and the Nation Interlude: Eating the Nation 2 • Cooking Ecosystems: The Beautiful Coloniality of Virgilio Martínez Interlude: ""Gastronomy Is a Display Case"" 3 • Staging Difference: The Gastropolitics of Inclusion and Recognition Part Two: Narratives from the Edge Interlude: ""Apega Needs Us to Look Pretty"" 4 • Gastropolitics Otherwise: Stories in and of the Vernacular Interlude: Of Humor and Violence 5 • Guinea Pig Matters: Figuring Race, Sex, and Nation Interlude: Chemical Castration 6 • Death of a Guinea Pig Epilogue. Huacas Rising Notes References Index"
María Elena García is Professor in the Comparative History of Ideas Department at the University of Washington.
Reviews for Gastropolitics and the Specter of Race: Stories of Capital, Culture, and Coloniality in Peru
""The book presents a stunning and innovative analysis of the politics of Peru’s recent gastronomic boom. . . .[it] is at the forefront of scholarly discussions on the topic and deserves a wide readership among anthropologists and food studies scholars working on food, race, and nationalism in a range of geographic settings."" * Gastronomica *