Bloomsbury Academic Commensality: From Everyday Food to Feast

About the Author Susanne Kerner is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She has directed a number of excavations in Jordan from different periods and is the author of several publications concerned with social complexity, social importance of food and craft specialisation. Cynthia Chou is Associate Professor and Head of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She is a social anthropologist who has carried out extensive research with the Orang Suku Laut, the sea-nomads of the Malay World. Her research focuses on centre-periphery relations of marginalized ethnic groups in Southeast Asia. Morten Warmind is Associate Professor and Head of Studies of Sociology of Religion at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a specialist in pre-Christian European religions and studies religious change during the Hellenistic times. Product Description Throughout time and in all parts of the world, humans have eaten together socially. Commensality, eating and drinking together, is fundamentally a social activity which creates and cements bonds which define our place in society. Covering prehistoric archaeology, to medieval banquets, to the inaugural dinner of the American President to everyday commensality as we eat in our homes, with friends, in religious ceremonies and as a form of political activism, this rich collection provides a unique exploration of commensality. Scholars from history, archaeology and anthropology have long studied the human practices and material culture and artefacts associated with communal eating and feasting, but until now these critical insights have not been presented in dialogue with one another. Uniquely, this book fuses insights from anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, religious studies and literary scholars to introduce a truly multidisciplinary and inclusive survey of commensality to the present day. From the role of drinking in China to religious taboos to ancient cooking practices, this fascinating volume is indispensable reading for students and scholars of the anthropology, history and archaeology of food. Review The contents of this fascinating volume range from the neolithic to the present, from the intimacies of breast-feeding to the display of political banquets ... Shows the depth and subtlety of insight into human experience that we gain from taking commensality seriously