Pots, Pans, and Politics
UWM professor explores the hidden poli That shelf of cookbooks in your kitchen might actually be a library of political declarations in disguise. In fact, said UWM political science professor Kennan Ferguson, even that collection of notecard recipes from your mother’s church friends makes a political statement about in-groups and community identity. Ferguson is a political philosopher and the author of “Cookbook Politics,” a new book exploring the ways in which collections of recipes actually have a governmental and societal impact. Ferguson was inspired by the work of theorist Jacques Rancière, who argues that politics is the distribution of sensibility – “what we see and don’t see, who counts and who doesn’t,” Ferguson explained.
Take Belize, for example. The former British colony gained its independence in 1981.
Kennan Ferguson
“I was intrigued by the sensibility part of that. What does it mean to have a distribution of the human senses? The cookbook looked like a great way to explore that question in a way that other (philosophers) were ignoring.” Politicking in the kitchen Although a guide to soul food or a how-to in Mediterranean cuisine may not sound like it, Ferguson’s book identifies five ways in which cookbooks are actually vehicles that have not only been shaped by, but also have an impact on, political ideologies and movements. 1. Cookbooks are tools of nationbuilding. Thousands of cookbooks explore cuisines from nations around the world. These guides are just as much a way to showcase regional food as they are to distinguish a country’s culture and political identity. 6 • IN FOCUS • September, February, 2019 2020
“Once a nation becomes independent, nearly always within 10 years, those nation-states have a cookbook,” Ferguson noted.
“Within 10 years they had developed three national cookbooks,” Ferguson said. “People who come to Belize want to eat Belizean food, whereas back when it was a colony, there was English food, Chinese immigrant community food, the Garifuna people’s food, Mayan food – those are all distinct cuisines. A cookbook has to unify them all in some way.” 2. Cookbooks shape our understanding of international relations. Think of the food in France. Picture baguettes purchased at the corner bakery, soft cheeses with fine wine, and dishes cooked with rich cream and butter. It’s an image almost every American holds in their head, even if they have never been to France. It’s all thanks to Julia Child and her nowfamous cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” “Most people in international relations (talk) about President Eisenhower and Charles de Gaulle (French president from 1959-1969). In some ways, what those men did is a lot less important than what Julia Child did, which was to give us an imaginary of France,” Ferguson said. “For Americans, her
