PhD Student to Examine Food at Postgraduate Conference

A PhD student at St Mary's University, Twickenham has organised a postgraduate conference that will examine food and the modern world, to be held in April 2015. Kim Salmons is to host the one-day event, entitled Digesting Modernity: An Interdisciplinary Study of Food, in the Waldegrave Suite at the University’s Strawberry Hill campus on Saturday 18th April 2015. The conference will explore historical, sociological, literary and political contexts of food from the nineteenth century to the present day, both in Britain and abroad. Throughout the nineteenth century food production in England declined and the importation of foodstuffs from the colonies increased. This change in what and how food was eaten created anxieties about the role of women, inherent attitudes towards other races and the European perception of itself as the bastion of civilization. This conference aims to bring together new and established views on how food can contribute to Modernist Studies. Postgraduate students interested in submitting papers for the conference are encouraged to examine food within literature, art, history, film, theatre or theological studies. Abstracts of about 300 words should be sent no later than Friday 30th January 2015 in MS Word format to Kim Salmons at kim.salmons@btinternet.com. The conference fee is £25 per person, including lunch, tea and coffee, with a discounted price of £15 for members of the British Association of Modernist Studies.