Food is essential. It is at the core of human life and involves the whole of society and all social institutions. In this summer school, we’ll take a closer, interdisciplinary look at the table. What is on the table? What happens around the table? Where does the food come from? Who’s invited to the banquet? And who’s not? During a whole week, we’ll meet in Hamburg to explore the ethics, ecologies, and politics of food and food systems, conviviality and commensality. Wary of disciplinary boundaries, we’ll follow the food through space and time to study its philosophical, anthropological, sociological, geographical, historical, (agro-)ecological, aesthetic and political aspects.
This summer school is addressed to researchers at the beginning of their career (PhD students and postdoctoral researchers) who are currently conducting a research project that revolves around food, ecology, and conviviality.
Organized by: Frédéric Vandenberghe (HIAS/ UFRJ, Brazil), Frank Adloff (University of Hamburg)
Invited speakers:
Reinaldo Funes (University of Havana)
Michiel Korthals (Wageningen University)
Harald Lemke (Universität Salzburg)
Renata Motta (Universität Heidelberg)
Walter Pengue (University of Buenos Aires)
Anette Ruml (German Institute for Global and Area Studies, GIGA)
Ozoz Sokoh (Culinary Writer and Food Historian, Nigeria),
Athanassios Vergados (Newcastle University)
This intensive summer school will bring together PhD students, early career researchers and established researchers in an international, interdisciplinary and interactive learning environment. Lectures, panel discussions and presentations will focus on food, food systems and conviviality from an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective. Eating together and sharing a table will be our starting point. We will investigate how food is produced, distributed and consumed. We will ask critical questions about modernity, capitalism, ecology and food. We will also explore alternatives to our imperial modes of life. Who eats what, where, how, with whom and with what consequences? Following people, discourses and food items, we will see how each plate can be analysed as a›total social fact‹ More generally, our purpose is to stimulate reflection between different disciplines on what we eat, who we are and what we need to do to live together in a just society on a ruined planet. We also want to encourage a more general critical reflection (and self-reflection) on the relations between the economy and ecology, science and technology, ethics and politics.
The format of the summer school: lectures (in the mornings and evenings), presentations (in the afternoons), reading groups and panel discussions for the rest of the day. Participants will give short presentations in the afternoons and will work together in small reading groups. The summer school activities will take place on the premises of the Hamburg Institute of Advanced Studies (HIAS). There will be a cultural program that is all about food as well, including culinary activities. All participants and professors will be hosted together in the same hotel nearby HIAS.
There is no participation fee, and a substantial part of the costs of accommodation in Hamburg and travel will be covered by the organizers. To apply, please send
- a short CV
- a 500 words letter of intention and
- a 500 words abstract of your current research project to summerschool(at)hias-hamburg.de
The deadline for application is May 15, 2025, earlier submissions are welcome.