Migration, nostalgia and the building of a food imaginary: Mexican migrants at “La Pulga†Market in San Joaquin Valley, California
Journal Title: ESSACHESS - Journal for Communication Studies - Year 2015, Vol 8, Issue 2
Abstract
In the context of transnational migration, ethnic markets function as segmented spaces where migrants as a group may be observed on many levels. Provisioning in the market (as much by immigrants as by natives or long-term residents) as well as the consumption of prepared food in situ compel a multiplicity of social interactions that facilitate knowledge and social relations, including recipes, memories, nostalgia, circulation of products and culinary techniques. In addition, a market can acquire a role as a meaningful transnational space of confluence for a system of relations and representations that help to decipher the complex social reality of subjects involved in a transnational migration phenomenon. With this paper we aim to highlight how a migratory context as well as the collectivization of a sensory experience as seen in an itinerant Mexican food market in California lead to the construction of a food imaginary related to Mexican food when it is disassociated from the original context in which it is produced. Thus, by means of an ethnographic approach, this paper aims to demonstrate how the collectivization of a sensory experience, framed under culinary nostalgia and triggered by the performativity and reflexivity of the subjects that take part in market activity, enables the construction of a food imaginary for the Mexican migrants that are regular clients of an itinerant market in California.
Authors and Affiliations
Doctor José A. VÁZQUEZ-MEDINA| Observatorio de la Alimentación (ODELA), Universitat de Barcelona SPAIN, Doctor F. Xavier MEDINA| Department of Food Systems, Culture and Society Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) & GRIT-EAE, Barcelona SPAIN
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP9196
- DOI -
- Views 355
- Downloads 20
Sports players : the heroes of the mediated sacred sphere
Broadcasted sport is one of the elements of the mediated culture which mobilizes extremely passionate masses. Thus, it can be considered as a mythical expression within current society, since contemporary era is witne...
Project Management and Total Quality Management : Complementary or confused?
Quality management and project management appear as themes of strategic management today. The adoption of the project management constitutes a new way in organizing the production. It helps to cope with the complex...
Concerning at distance: digital activism and social media empowerment between Latin-American migrants in Spain
This paper focuses on developing some important points about the use of social platforms in the life of Latin-Americans in Spain, particularly Mexican, Colombian and Venezuelan migrants. It shows the outcomes of data co...
National Security and new territorialities: the case of the fight against Islamization strategies in prison world
This paper aims to question of the relationship between the phenomenon of "Islamic radicalization" supposed to be a breeding ground for terrorism and the concept of territoriality that suggests the occupation of spaces...
Semiotic analysis of Indian television. Advertisements and its impact on consumers: an exploratory study
Everyday consumers are exposed to a huge and wide variety of advertisements. These advertisements fall into different categories of communication media such as television, print media e.g., magazines and newspapers, cin...