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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Muslims and Meals: The Social and Symbolic Function of Foods in Changing Socio-Economic Environments
Author:Kifleyesus, AbbebeISNI
Year:2002
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:72
Issue:2
Pages:245-276
Language:English
Geographic term:Ethiopia
Subjects:gender relations
social structure
Argobba
food preparation
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Health and Nutrition
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Religion and Witchcraft
Ethnic and Race Relations
rituals & festivals
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3556990
Abstract:This article is about ideas and practices concerning the production, distribution, preparation and consumption of food among the Muslim Argobba of Ethiopia. Food among the Muslim Argobba of Ethiopia is an essential idiom, both for drawing a hierarchy of in-group/out-group distinctions and for expressing relationships within groups. The in-group/out-group relations are typically expressed in terms of what foods are consumed by the Muslim Argobba and their non-Muslim Amhara neighbours, by the Muslim Argobba and their Muslim Oromo and Adal neighbours and indeed by some wealthy trader Argobba families and poor Argobba peasant households. Food preparation and distribution, on the other hand, express relations internal to the group, either in terms of gender within the household, as in who serves what to whom, where and in what quantities, or in informal exchanges, as in establishing social links among men and women. Nowadays fewer and fewer Argobba are producing the food they consume. The article examines how Argobba consumers have become accustomed to foreign foods and new modes of preparation and distribution and how such changes have also altered the ways in which food has expressed social relations in terms of class, ethnic and gender identity. It investigates the relative importance of the social and symbolic function of Muslim meals, and discusses the material life of cooking and cuisine in changing socioeconomic environments. The article is based on fieldwork carried out in 1989-1991 and 1996-1997. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.
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