Identity and Ideology in Digital Food Discourse: Social Media Interactions Across Cultural Contexts

by Alla Tovares (Editor), Cynthia Gordon (Editor)

Overview

Exploring food-related interactions in various digital and cultural contexts, this book demonstrates how food as a discursive resource can be mobilized to accomplish actions of social, cultural, and political consequence. The chapters reveal how social media users employ language, images, and videos to construct identities and ideologies that both encompass and transcend food.

Drawing on various discourse analytic frameworks to digital communication, contributors examine interactions across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. From the multimodal discourse of a Korean livestreaming online eating show, to food activism in an English blogging community and discussions of a food-related controversy on Omani Twitter, this book shows how language and multimodal resources serve not only to communicate about food, but also as a means of accomplishing key aspects of everyday social life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350189249
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/19/2022
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Alla Tovares is Associate Professor of English and Linguistics at Howard University, USA.

Cynthia Gordon is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction, Cynthia Gordon and Alla Tovares
1. “Vegetables as a Chore”: Constructing and Problematizing a “Picky Eater” Identity Online, Didem İnanoğlu and Cynthia Gordon
2. The Multidimensionality of Eating in Contemporary Information Society: A Corpus-based Discourse Analysis of Online Audience Reactions to a TV Show About Food, Jana Declercq, Ste´phan Tulkens, and Geert Jacobs
3. Mediatizing the Fashionable Eater in @nytfood #tbt Posts, Gwynne Mapes
4. Constructing Veganism Against the Backdrop of Omnivore Cuisine: The Use of Adjectives and Modifiers in Vegan Food Blogs, Cornelia Gerhardt
5. What if the Customer is Wrong?: Debates About Food on Yelp and TripAdvisor, Camilla Va´squez
6. Mukbang as Your Digital Tablemate: Creating Commensality Online, Hanwool Choe
7. Growing Online: Activist Identities in the “Grow Your Own” English Blogging Community, Nadine Pierce, Isidoropaolo Casteltrione, and Ana Tominc
8. Food, Activism, and Chips Oman on Twitter, Najma Al Zidjaly, Einas Al Moqbali, and Ahad Al Hinai
9. Parmesan and Patriotism on YouTube: Food as Ideology in Today's Russia, Alla Tovares
Afterword: Food, Language, and Social Media: Past, Present, and Future, Alla Tovares and Cynthia Gordon
Index

Editorial Reviews

This pioneering work on online food discourse beautifully integrates fascinating empirical studies with theoretical advances and critical depth. A crucial read for scholars of food, language, and discourse.” —Dan Jurafsky, Professor and Chair of Linguistics, Stanford University, USA

“This volume is a fascinating exploration of digital food discourse, an important aspect of contemporary culture. It investigates food-related ideologies and aesthetics, and considers interesting dimensions regarding how people enact identities and ambiently affiliate around food. It will definitely spark further research ideas in anyone who reads it!” —Michele Zappavigna, Senior Lecturer, School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

“This imaginative collection brings to the table a healthy variety of food-related discourses in diverse cultural and social media contexts, showcasing the intricate relationships between food, identities and (multi-modal) communication. It will unfailingly whet the appetite of scholars and students of digital discourse analysis for further studies on a topic of high visibility and importance in the social media landscape.” —Alex Georgakopoulou, Professor of Discourse Analysis & Sociolinguistics, King's College London, UK

“The fascinating and oft-unexplored relationship between food, language, and social meaning is examined thoroughly. ... It will be of interest to linguists and, as a reflection of the digital zeitgeist, general readers alike.” —Language in Society

From the Publisher