We Are What We Eat, We Were What We Ate

We Are What We Eat, We Were What We Ate

Hala N. Barakat

Department

Cairo Papers in Social Science

Abstract

In recent years, the food question has been a central concern for politicians, economists, international organizations, activists and NGOs alike, as well as social scientists at large. This interest has emerged from the global food crisis and its impact on the environment and the political economy and security of the global south, as well as the expansion of scholarly studies relating food issues to agrarian questions with the objective of developing theoretical frameworks that would allow for a critical analysis of the current food issues at historical, cultural, social, political and economic levels. In this context, Cairo Papers organized its 2016 symposium around the food question in the Middle East. Papers in this collection address the food question from both its food and agricultural aspects, and approach it as the site of political and economic conflicts, as the means of sociocultural control and distinction, and as the expression of national and ethnic identities.

Publication Date

2017

Document Type

Book Chapter

Book Title

The Food Question in the Middle East

Editors

Malak S. Rouchdy; Iman A. Hamdy

ISBN

9781617978098

Publisher

American University in Cairo Press

City

Cairo

First Page

7

Last Page

23

Series

Cairo Papers in Social Science 34(4)

Keywords

food, NGOs, social scientists, food crisis, environment, political economy, security, global south, Middle East, agriculture

We Are What We Eat, We Were What We Ate

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