A Poetics of Food in the Bahamas: Notes

  • Research Focus: Intentional food practices and journeys of consciousness in The Bahamas.
  • Explores food practices for healing, restoration, and decolonization.
  • Intentional Food Practices: Interactions with food chosen for specific purposes.
  • Journeys of Consciousness: Cumulative events associated with healing and decolonization.
  • Research Questions:
    • Experiences influencing intentional food practices.
    • Daily enacted food practices.
    • Connection between food practices and broader life perspectives.
  • Theoretical Framework: Hybridity, diaspora, creolization, poetics, critique, and aesthetics from the Caribbean.
  • Methods: Ethnography, poetic analysis, constant comparative analysis; interviews with 27 participants.
Committee & Copyright
  • Dissertation by Hilary B. Booker, Antioch University New England, 2017.
  • Committee Chair: Dr. Elizabeth McCann.
  • Dissertation is dedicated to the residents of the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys.
Abstract
  • Explores intentional food practices and journeys of consciousness in a network of people in The Bahamas.
  • Intentional food practices are defined as interactions with food chosen for particular purposes.
  • Journeys of consciousness are cumulative successions of events that people associate with healing, restoration, and decolonization personally and collectively.
  • Key findings suggest a broad variation in people’s intentional practices.
  • The intentions underlying these practices reflect desires for individual and collective healing, restoration, and decolonization in their daily lives.
Bahamian Food Security: Research Context
  • Geography and Climate: Archipelago of 700 islands, close to Florida, considered part of The Caribbean.
  • Ecology and Geology: Calcium carbonate formations; soil types vary, some unsuitable for agriculture.
  • Agriculture and Fisheries: Traditional methods vs. industrial approaches; fisheries are a major resource.
  • Economy: Heavily reliant on tourism and offshore banking; high food import costs.
  • Health: High rates of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), influenced by imported, subsidized food.
Study Purpose
  • Explore intentional food practices, reasons for enactment, and connections to desires for healing and decolonization.
  • Redefine food security based on lived experiences in Nassau.
  • Examine philosophical implications of food practices for individual health.
Theoretical Framework
  • Poetics of Food: Based on the Aesthetics of Everyday Life.
  • Emphasis on experiential specificities, multiple forms of expression, fluidity, transformative orientations, and aesthetic practices as political-economic practice.
  • African Diaspora: Focus on the impact on the Caribbean and its diasporas; explores concepts of Pan-Africanism and Black Internationalism.
  • Foodways: Group-shared systems of ideas concerning food; analysis of intentional food practices.
Research Questions
  • How do food choices reflect commitments to healing and decolonization?
  • What motivates intentional food practices in Nassau?
  • What specific practices are employed?
  • Are these practices related to ideological or philosophical commitments?
  • How are personal values linked to food practices?
Methodology and Research Design
  • Ethnographic approach: relational, reflexive, and transformative.
  • Methods: semi-structured interviews, field notes, personal journal entries, document review.
  • Participant selection: snowball sampling.
  • Data analysis: constant comparison and poetic analytical methods.
Assumptions and Scope
  • Emphasis on experiential specificities and the value of diverse expressions.
  • Focus on transformative practices and aesthetic forms as critical responses.
Researcher Role
  • Emphasis on relational research, acknowledging personal experiences and perceptions.
Chapter Summaries
  • Ch. 2: Literature review on food practices, emerging foodways, creolization, diaspora, and the history of intentional food practices.
  • Ch. 3: Theoretical framework: Caribbean Critique, Poetics, and the Aesthetics of Everyday Life.
  • Ch. 4: Methodology: Ethnography, data collection, and analysis methods.
  • Ch. 5: Findings: Intentional food practices, catalysts, and connections to values and beliefs.
  • Ch. 6: Discussion: Connections to literature on food practices and conscious foodways.
  • Ch. 7: Conclusions: Summary, limitations, theoretical contributions, and future research recommendations.