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 402
- Downloads 20
The Cultural Consumption Barometer. A case study of communication in statistics in Romania
The Cultural Consumption Barometer is one of the most important studies carried out by the research team of the National Institute for Cultural Research and Training, starting with 2005. The Cultural Consumption Baromet...
Memory between old and new media. Rethinking storytelling as a performative practice to process, assess and create awareness of change in the world of secondary orality
Storytelling is old, but in our digital age its means are new. When an event of huge cultural significance occurs (such as the sinking of the Costa Concordia, the “Occupy Wall Street†Protest, or the coming of Boat...
Local differentiation of ski resorts by nearby consumers: Saint-Pierrede-Chartreuse and Sept-Laux: Two periurban ski resorts near Grenoble
Nowadays, the economic model of ski resort is perturbed by new pressure on lodging and development of short stays. Suburban resorts are particularly facing these new challenges. This article considers them as labor...
The polyphony of values and the value of polyphony
While human communication is inherently symbolic and thus potentially vague, ambiguous and polyphonic, there is a growing emphasis on certainty, accuracy and consistency in everything contemporary organizations say and...
Ethical Aspects of Gender Stereotypes in Romanian Advertising
In this paper we aim at arguing that the advertising agencies – as significant organizations in the field of public communication – should follow the example of business corporations that are voluntarily using ethic...