bread as world:
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Bread as World:. Food Habits & Social Relations in Modernizing Sardinia --Carole Counihan. Bosa, Sardinia. Once men grew wheat & women baked bread together in their homes Bread was shared through kin & friendship networks Bread was consumed communally. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Bread as World:
Food Habits & Social Relations in Modernizing Sardinia--Carole Counihan
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Bosa, Sardinia
Once men grew wheat & women baked bread together in their homes
Bread was shared through kin & friendship networks
Bread was consumed communally
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Let’s begin with a premise: Human nature is a product of history &
society (Gramsci, Marx) In Sardinia, people practiced communal
labor & reciprocal exchange Identity was based on group,
lineage, family membership
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Sardinian Context
Geographic isolation, low population density
Tradition of sheep raising & wheat cultivation
Subsistence economy
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Bread…
Is the nexus of economic, political, social, symbolic, and health concerns
78% of diet in 1930s (+ vegetables, cheese, pasta)
Astounding variety & beauty of breads Bread as a symbol of life
“One who has bread never dies”
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Wheat Production
Wheat as major crop until 1960s Concentrated land ownership, but large
landowners rented land to landless peasants for wheat production
Harvest & threshing involved reciprocal cooperation
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Wheat Threshing
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Women
Took grain to mill Collective labor (neighbors, relatives)
for baking every 10-14 days Social communication: “While they
prepare dough & bake bread they make an X-ray of the town,” reinforced social norms
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Baking Bread
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Post World War II Massive cultural & economic change Capitalist agriculture replaced
subsistence production Decline in subsistence agriculture Mechanized agriculture reduced employment Bosa imports consumer goods, & sends
workers to the industrial North of Italy ¾ of the adult populations depends on
government assistance
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Capitalist economic production & market exchange Today Bosans no longer grow wheat Abandonment of wheat cultivation in
1960s dealt a final blow to home baking Today, not one woman bakes bread The 1st bakery opened in 1912 but viewed as
a source of shame Today they buy bakery bread distributed
according to market principles & consume it individually
Modernization Without Development
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Individualization:
Atomization of social relations Reduction of inter-dependence among
people Men’s work groups for threshing Women’s organized labor for baking Men’s & women’s mutual dependence
Decline in gift-giving Decisions & actions become more
independent of community ties
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Distribution of Wheat
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Bosa transformed from a pre-war commercial center to what Counihan now describes as the “end-of-the-road” & as commercially obsolete
Shift from small neighborhood stores that were centers of social relations to large, centralized, self-service stores
Loss of reciprocity as the basis for economic relations
“For a plate that goes, let a plate come back” “My mother always said that if you were baking bread &
a person came to the door, you must always give him [sic] a piece of freshly baked bread”
“A gift of bread…was one of the most enjoyed gifts, and they reciprocated it every time that they lit their ovens”
One of the most important forces in linking people together—reciprocal prestations—is fading away & with it goes people’s interdependence”
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Consumption
Meals are a central arena for family in Italy
Festive consumption took place within the community
People knew who grew the wheat,
Who baked the bread
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Consumption of bread reaffirmed the complimentarily of men & women and of family & society —the locus of identity
Community feast days: Exaggerated consumption at an exceptional time & place Excess consumption brings the community
together, temporarily obliterates social & economic differences, satiates hunger collectively
Demise of community feasts
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The Ethic of Consumption in the World Market
Today “opulent” consumption takes place privately, satisfying the individual, rather than altruistic, communal ends
What happens to humans if they become increasingly separate, losing communal ties?