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Subverting Social Customs

The Representation of Food in Three West African Francophone Novels

Bibliographic Data

ID9250475
AuthorsShirin Edwin (corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume39
Issue3
Pages39-50
Publication date2008-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueResearch in African Literatures (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-5210 • E-ISSN: 1527-2044
PublisherIndiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2979/ral.2008.39.3.39
OpenAlexW2043580583
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited5

Food, eating habits, and culinary customs in West African societies are embedded with deep social symbolisms and meanings signifying kinship ties, friendship, political relations, and social status. This symbolism is defined as commensality, which means more than just sharing and consumption of food. Through a selection of West African francophone novels, this paper examines the trope of food, eating, and culinary customs to reveal the ways the novelists employ food items and habits to critique the sociopolitical situations of West African societies. In particular, these novelists delineate their social critique by detailing the subversion of the deeper symbolism of food and eating habits in West African societies

Archaeology · Art · Consumption (sociology) · Ethnology · French · Friendship · Kinship · Literature · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics) · Social science · Sociology · Subversion · Trope (literature) · Anthropology · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Gender Studies · History · Law · Travel Writing and Literature

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Unique citing works2
Citations per year0,4
Citation span2021 - 2026 (6)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 2

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