Working Group on the Ritual Year
The WG reports on the conference ‘Mediating differences through food memory: Several approaches on Regional Cultural Identity’ and announces new books.
The Scientific Conference of the Research Center for Heritage and Cultural Anthropology (RHeA) Mediating differences through food memory: Several approaches on Regional Cultural Identity, 5th edition, Timisoara, June 30, 2023, West University (hybrid).
West University of Timișoara, through the Research Centre for Heritage and Cultural Anthropology (RHeA) and in collaboration with the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences have organized, in 29 – 30 June 2023 the scientific conference Mediating differences through food memory: Several approaches on Regional Cultural Identity (hybrid). The above-mentioned scientific event represented the fifth edition of the yearly international conference of RHeA research center, event which, starting 2019 aims to promote not only the exchange of ideas, but also the framework for exchanging best practice examples addressing regional cultural heritage. Previous editions of the conference were linked to current topics in Romanian Humanities, such as the Centenary of the Banat region, the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak and its impact, Romanian schools of ethnology, food and communism.
Considering the latest research carried out by the West University of Timișoara and the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences within the projects A Romanian Digital Repository on Food: Turning Heritage Knowledge Towards Society (PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-5092 – funded by the Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development, and Innovation Funding) and Cultural Adaptation and Integration of Immigrants in Bulgaria (ДН 20/8-11.12.2017 – funded by the National Science Fund of Bulgaria), the conference aimed to explore the role of food memory and regional culinary traditions in mediating differences and creating a sense of cultural identity. Thus, conference papers focused on regional food practices and culinary traditions as important elements of cultural identity which have a long history and cultural significance. Passed down from generation to generation, these practices shape the ways in which people understand and experience their cultural heritage. However, in the context of globalization and migration, the relationship between food and cultural identity has become more complex, as people negotiate their identity within new cultural and social contexts. Thus, conference participants have presented papers revealing how food memory acts as a regional cultural identity indicator, such as home cooking, food and its social feature, seasonal food, taste of home abroad / food parcels. Among these participants were several Ritual Year WG and SIEF members: Petko Hristov, Ivaylo Markov, Violeta Periklieva, Desislava Pileva, Otilia Hedeșan, Cosmina Timoce – Mocanu, Diana Mihuț.
New books published by the RY WG members
See New Publications in the pdf of this Newsletter:
• Evy Johanne Håland, Women, Pilgrimage, and Rituals of Healing in Modern and Ancient Greece: A Comparison.
• I. A. Sedakova (ed.-in-chief), A. B. Ippolitova (ed.), Balcano-Balto-Slavica and Semiotics.
Diana Mihuț
