Food, Drink and Civilisation
23 June 2016, 12:00 am

Event Information
Open to
- All
21-23 September 2016
The conference will adopt a cross-cultural, inclusive and
multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing in scholars from sociology,
anthropology, history, theatre, philosophy, literature and art, in order
to enhance our understanding
of the ways in which human engagement with food and drink, in terms
of production and consumption, use and abuse, aesthetics and ethics,
rhetoric and politics, shape their sense of self and other, and order
and define their world. In exploring points of convergence
and divergence across different times and cultures it will raise
questions about what we mean by civilisation and whether there can ever
be a single core model.
When: 21-23 September 2016 |
Eating and drinking are frequently described as 'habits' or forms of etiquette indicating a sense of what it means
to be civilised or uncivilised. The preparation and serving of food and drink figure prominently in Norbert Elias's understanding of civilisation as a process. Archaeologists have focused on the origins of food production and domestication. Anthropologists
since Frazer's Golden Bough have focused on cooking, cuisine, feasting and
sacrifice as a key to cultural comparison. Scholars in different
disciplines have explored notions of commensality, position, inclusion and exclusion as markers of status and individual
and collective (self-)identity.
- Full programme information for the international conference on Food, Drink and Civilization is now available at
-
Registration open
- Contact for queries is tzu-i.liao.10@ucl.ac.uk
The conference is organised by CREDOC, UCL's Centre for Research into Dynamics of Civilisation