Zachary Nowak
Biographic Data
| ID | 1341179 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Zachary Nowak |
| GIVEN NAMES | Zachary |
| FAMILY NAME | Nowak |
| SIGNATURE | NOWAK Z |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard University Press |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6241-1214 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Experiences University Students Related When Studying Abroad and Acculturating into a New Foodscape
The purpose of this study was to identify experiences gained from acculturating into the Italian food culture by American university students studying abroad in Italy. The Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) guided focus group discussions with students during the fall of 2022. A total of five groups with 29 students participated. The primary influence on acculturation experiences was intrapersonal as reported in beliefs and knowledge towards events happ…
In Search of Abundance
Assessing the Effects of Semester-Length Study Abroad with the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale
There is a vibrant literature dedicated to evaluating the effects of international education experiences on the students who participate in them. While much discourse centers on the development of “(inter) cultural competencies,” research on assessment suggests that these competencies develop over a longer period of time than most abroad programs last, hindering educators’ ability to attribute their development to these programs. In this paper, w…
(Re)Mapping the Columbian Exchange. Suggestions for an Updated Cartography
Following Christopher Columbus’ voyages and the ensuing colonization of the New World by Europeans, a massive multidirectional transfer of biota, diseases, technology and humans occurred between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas. This transfer, known as the Columbian Exchange, is often depicted on maps as a simplified, bidirectional, Atlantic-centred transaction between the Americas and Europe. This paper highlights the shortcomings of such cartograp…
The railway panopticon
Ecological Deviance
The literature on public sex environments spans a number of disciplines, including public health, queer geography, and urban planning. Ethnographic, spatial, and epidemiological approaches have predominated but heretofore few researchers have dedicated much attention to the actual plants that provide cover for sex as well as other non-conformist activity in urban green spaces. We draw on recent work in environmental history and political ecology …
Disciplining Polenta
This article begins with a parody, a fictitious set of regulations for the production of “traditional” Italian polenta. Through analysis of primary and secondary historical sources we then discuss the various meanings of which polenta has been the bearer through time and space in order to emphasize the mutability of the modes of preparation, ingredients, and the social value of traditional food products. Finally, we situate polenta within its bro…
Theorising the Natural Archive
This article discusses the use of the 'natural archive' (for instance, ice cores, pollen samples, dendrochronology) to supplement historians' traditional, documentary sources. It first explores the way insights from the archival turn have forced historians to interrogate not only their sources' provenance, but also the sources of those sources: the origins of the archives themselves. This critical approach to archives - looking at archives as obj…
The Strange Flight of the Peacock
A common Chinese proverb—“A peacock flies southeast”—could describe the normative idea of the southeasterly spread of agriculturalists as a trend in historical China. Indeed, northwest China was the least attractive place to agriculturalists because of its much harsher climatic conditions. Previous research on the historical northwesterly movements of Chinese farmers has relied on isolated case studies and suggested a variety of causes. This stud…
A Transnational Fiasco
Recent research on authenticity in food products has highlighted the importance of place. I use the example of wine called Chianti – once made in both central Italy and northern California – to reframe the discussion of how authenticity is constructed. I show that both versions of Chianti were dynamic, not stable, products that were the results of networks of capital, geographies of production, and consumer desires. I explain the transoceanic vin…
Representing Italy Through Food
Italy has long been romanticized as an idyllic place. Italian food and foodways play an important part in this romanticization – from bountiful bowls of fresh pasta to bottles of Tuscan wine. While such images oversimplify the complex reality of modern Italy, they are central to how Italy is imagined by Italians and non-Italians alike. Representing Italy through Food is the first book to examine how these perceptions are constructed, sustained, p…
Something Brewing in Boston
In this article, I describe the partial forward integration of turn-of-the-twentieth-century Boston breweries. I argue that both brewers and saloonkeepers used the fluid market in capital lending as a lever of power. An analysis of the minutes of three breweries and their loan records, covering more than ten years, reveals that saloonkeepers were often delinquent in repaying their annual loans and brewery owners only infrequently threatened to ca…
The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy (1614)
(2014). The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy (1614): By Giacomo Castelvetro; Translated and Introduced by Gillian Riley. Food, Culture & Society: Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 516-518
Folklore, Fakelore, History
This article evaluates the creation myth of the pizza margherita as presented by those texts which presume to describe its history, as well as an alternative possibility for the story's genesis. It begins with a description of the contested historiography of Italian unification, then examines evidence for the veracity of the story, concluding with some questions about the assumed boundaries between folklore and history
Sowing Change
Culinary Capital
(2013). Culinary Capital: By Peter Naccarato and Kathleen Lebesco. Food, Culture & Society: Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 518-520
The Strange Flight of the Peacock
A common Chinese proverb—“A peacock flies southeast”—could describe the normative idea of the southeasterly spread of agriculturalists as a trend in historical China. Indeed, northwest China was the least attractive place to agriculturalists because of its much harsher climatic conditions. Previous research on the historical northwesterly movements of Chinese farmers has relied on isolated case studies and suggested a variety of causes. This stud…
Ecological Deviance
The literature on public sex environments spans a number of disciplines, including public health, queer geography, and urban planning. Ethnographic, spatial, and epidemiological approaches have predominated but heretofore few researchers have dedicated much attention to the actual plants that provide cover for sex as well as other non-conformist activity in urban green spaces. We draw on recent work in environmental history and political ecology …
A Transnational Fiasco
Recent research on authenticity in food products has highlighted the importance of place. I use the example of wine called Chianti – once made in both central Italy and northern California – to reframe the discussion of how authenticity is constructed. I show that both versions of Chianti were dynamic, not stable, products that were the results of networks of capital, geographies of production, and consumer desires. I explain the transoceanic vin…
Folklore, Fakelore, History
This article evaluates the creation myth of the pizza margherita as presented by those texts which presume to describe its history, as well as an alternative possibility for the story's genesis. It begins with a description of the contested historiography of Italian unification, then examines evidence for the veracity of the story, concluding with some questions about the assumed boundaries between folklore and history
Theorising the Natural Archive
This article discusses the use of the 'natural archive' (for instance, ice cores, pollen samples, dendrochronology) to supplement historians' traditional, documentary sources. It first explores the way insights from the archival turn have forced historians to interrogate not only their sources' provenance, but also the sources of those sources: the origins of the archives themselves. This critical approach to archives - looking at archives as obj…
Culinary Capital
(2013). Culinary Capital: By Peter Naccarato and Kathleen Lebesco. Food, Culture & Society: Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 518-520
The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy (1614)
(2014). The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy (1614): By Giacomo Castelvetro; Translated and Introduced by Gillian Riley. Food, Culture & Society: Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 516-518
Folklore, Fakelore, History
This article evaluates the creation myth of the pizza margherita as presented by those texts which presume to describe its history, as well as an alternative possibility for the story's genesis. It begins with a description of the contested historiography of Italian unification, then examines evidence for the veracity of the story, concluding with some questions about the assumed boundaries between folklore and history
Sowing Change
Representing Italy Through Food
Italy has long been romanticized as an idyllic place. Italian food and foodways play an important part in this romanticization – from bountiful bowls of fresh pasta to bottles of Tuscan wine. While such images oversimplify the complex reality of modern Italy, they are central to how Italy is imagined by Italians and non-Italians alike. Representing Italy through Food is the first book to examine how these perceptions are constructed, sustained, p…
Something Brewing in Boston
In this article, I describe the partial forward integration of turn-of-the-twentieth-century Boston breweries. I argue that both brewers and saloonkeepers used the fluid market in capital lending as a lever of power. An analysis of the minutes of three breweries and their loan records, covering more than ten years, reveals that saloonkeepers were often delinquent in repaying their annual loans and brewery owners only infrequently threatened to ca…
A Transnational Fiasco
Recent research on authenticity in food products has highlighted the importance of place. I use the example of wine called Chianti – once made in both central Italy and northern California – to reframe the discussion of how authenticity is constructed. I show that both versions of Chianti were dynamic, not stable, products that were the results of networks of capital, geographies of production, and consumer desires. I explain the transoceanic vin…
Theorising the Natural Archive
This article discusses the use of the 'natural archive' (for instance, ice cores, pollen samples, dendrochronology) to supplement historians' traditional, documentary sources. It first explores the way insights from the archival turn have forced historians to interrogate not only their sources' provenance, but also the sources of those sources: the origins of the archives themselves. This critical approach to archives - looking at archives as obj…
The Strange Flight of the Peacock
A common Chinese proverb—“A peacock flies southeast”—could describe the normative idea of the southeasterly spread of agriculturalists as a trend in historical China. Indeed, northwest China was the least attractive place to agriculturalists because of its much harsher climatic conditions. Previous research on the historical northwesterly movements of Chinese farmers has relied on isolated case studies and suggested a variety of causes. This stud…
Disciplining Polenta
This article begins with a parody, a fictitious set of regulations for the production of “traditional” Italian polenta. Through analysis of primary and secondary historical sources we then discuss the various meanings of which polenta has been the bearer through time and space in order to emphasize the mutability of the modes of preparation, ingredients, and the social value of traditional food products. Finally, we situate polenta within its bro…
(Re)Mapping the Columbian Exchange. Suggestions for an Updated Cartography
Following Christopher Columbus’ voyages and the ensuing colonization of the New World by Europeans, a massive multidirectional transfer of biota, diseases, technology and humans occurred between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas. This transfer, known as the Columbian Exchange, is often depicted on maps as a simplified, bidirectional, Atlantic-centred transaction between the Americas and Europe. This paper highlights the shortcomings of such cartograp…
The railway panopticon
Ecological Deviance
The literature on public sex environments spans a number of disciplines, including public health, queer geography, and urban planning. Ethnographic, spatial, and epidemiological approaches have predominated but heretofore few researchers have dedicated much attention to the actual plants that provide cover for sex as well as other non-conformist activity in urban green spaces. We draw on recent work in environmental history and political ecology …
Assessing the Effects of Semester-Length Study Abroad with the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale
There is a vibrant literature dedicated to evaluating the effects of international education experiences on the students who participate in them. While much discourse centers on the development of “(inter) cultural competencies,” research on assessment suggests that these competencies develop over a longer period of time than most abroad programs last, hindering educators’ ability to attribute their development to these programs. In this paper, w…
Experiences University Students Related When Studying Abroad and Acculturating into a New Foodscape
The purpose of this study was to identify experiences gained from acculturating into the Italian food culture by American university students studying abroad in Italy. The Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) guided focus group discussions with students during the fall of 2022. A total of five groups with 29 students participated. The primary influence on acculturation experiences was intrapersonal as reported in beliefs and knowledge towards events happ…
In Search of Abundance
Sociology (9 works) · Geography (8 works) · Archaeology (7 works) · Culinary Culture and Tourism (6 works) · History (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · History (4 works) · Political science (4 works)