Negotiating Cultural Boundaries: Food, Travel And Consumer Identities

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Статья. Опубликована в Consumption Markets & Culture, Vol. 13, No. 2, June 2010, 133–157
Аннотация: This study addresses the role of food in boundary crossing and maintenance processes in the context of short-term mobility. We utilize an identity and practice theory approach to understand the ways travelers relate to food in the encounter with the cultural different Other. The study was conducted through interviews with 28 American consumers after a 10-day trip to China. A semiotic data interpretation revealed the ways the informants made sense of their cultural experience in China through a continuous process of categorization of foods. Counter to the expectations of food consumption as the site of boundary crossing, we find that consumption of food abroad becomes a symbolic project of maintaining boundaries with the Other and sustaining a sense of home. The encounter with the Other through food caused anxiety and alienation, which consumers dealt with by consuming familiar, western foods that enabled the maintenance of an embodied sense of comfort and a familiar sense of home. We further suggest that lack of local cultural capital and marketplace mythologies about the Other as factors that shaped and elevated the negative experience during travel.

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This article was downloaded by: [NEICON Consortium] On: 7 May 2010 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 781557263] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 3741 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Consumption Markets & Culture Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713455353 Negotiating cultural boundaries: Food, travel and consumer identities Fleura Bardhi a; Jacob Ostberg b;Anders Bengtsson c a Marketing Group, College of Business Administration, Boston, USA b Centre for Fashion Studies, Stockholm University School of Business, Stockholm, Sweden c Protobrand Sciences, Boston, USA Online publication date: 21 April 2010 To cite this Article Bardhi, Fleura , Ostberg, Jacob andBengtsson, Anders(2010) 'Negotiating cultural boundaries: Food, travel and consumer identities', Consumption Markets & Culture, 13: 2, 133 — 157 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/10253860903562148 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10253860903562148 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Consumption Markets & Culture Vol. 13, No. 2, June 2010, 133–157 Negotiating cultural boundaries: Food, travel and consumer identities Fleura Bardhia*, Jacob Ostbergb and Anders Bengtssonc a Marketing Group, College of Business Administration, Boston, USA; bCentre for Fashion Studies, Stockholm University School of Business, Stockholm, Sweden; cProtobrand Sciences, Boston, USA Downloaded By: [NEICON Consortium] At: 14:45 7 May 2010 Consumption, 10.1080/10253860903562148 GCMC_A_456
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