Gender and Food in Transnational East Asias : Toward a New Dialogue Across Boundaries

Gender and Food in Transnational East Asias illustrates how the production and consumption of food encapsulates the changes that affect social positions of women and men and their relationships with their families, the state, and their work, as well as shapes their gender, sexual, ethnic, and national identities. The transnational movement of food and people between East Asia and the rest of the world is increasingly visible, forming various forces behind the cultural and political constructions of gender politics among and beyond Asian diasporas. By critically engaging with history, practices, and representation of food as a constructive window to articulate gender dynamics in the East Asian region, this volume approaches food as a symbolic and material site where gender roles and identities are imagined, performed, and negotiated. It argues that a critical engagement with practices and representations of food from gender perspectives can enhance our understanding of the society and culture of transnational East Asias.