Eating Is an English Word [Hardcover]

Eating is generally understood as a human need that people satisfy in diverse ways.Eating, however, is also an English word. Other languages, using other words, order reality differently: they may fuseeatingwithbreathing, or distinguishchuparfromcomer. Anthropologists flag such differences by leaving a few oftheirwords untranslated, but what language dowethink in? This isn’t necessarily English.Wemay be linguistically closer to those whose practices we study:them. Against this background,Eating Is an English Wordargues that social scientists should let go of the dream of universal concepts. Our analytical terms had better vary. Annemarie Mol and her coauthors exemplify this in a series of material semiotic inquiries into eating practices. They employ terms likelekker,tasting with fingers,chupar,schmecka,gustar, andsettling on an okay mealto explore appreciative modes of valuing. Welcome, then, to spirited stories about satisfied stomachs, love for a lamb, juicy fruit treats, and companionable lunches and dinners.USThis book explores ways of appreciating eating, with the authors using lessons from their first language, even when writing in English—thus mixingusandthem.Annemarie Mol is Professor of Anthropology of the Body at the University of Amsterdam and author ofEating in TheoryandThe Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice, both also published by Duke University Press.“To eat.Comer.Lekker. Tasty.Schmecka.Gustar. Don’t reach for your dictionary to find equivalencies. Instead, read and digest this engaging book to appreciate how different wording points to different worlding around food and eating! Annemarie Mol and her multilingual collaborators challenge us all to confront the analytical limits of English’s hegemony as ‘our’ academic language.”