Faith Saeerah
LOOKING THROUGH THE KITCHEN WINDOW:
A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF DOMESTIC
FOODWORK RESEARCH AND OPPRESSION
Background & Significance
Foucault’s interpretation of the term
discourse “as a system of representation”
whereby language and its use embedded in
historical context is understood to produce
meaning and knowledge” (Hall, 2004, 345-7)
is used in this research to explore
oppression. Oppression is an injustice
experienced by social groups that functions
as an aspect of daily social life that includes
both individual and systemic acts. Social
groups in this context are defined
relationally as “a collective of persons
differentiated from at least one other group
by cultural forms, practices or ways of
life” (Young, 1990, 57). Queer, ethnoracial,
and class identity is specifically analyzed in
domestic foodwork discourse, in addition to
its intersections. Intersectionality refers to
the idea that social groups need not be
homogenous with rigid categories, but can
comprise of different identities from a
multitude of experiences.
Cultural imperialism involves “the
universalization of a dominant group’s
experiences and culture, and its
establishment as the norm” (ibid, 66), and will
be used to demonstrate how identities and
their intersections are made invisible through
current domestic foodwork discourse.
Violence can be understood as being
inherently tied to this, as it is the otherness
and invisibility of these groups that suffer this
type of oppression that makes violent acts
against them acceptable.
Food Systems & Society
Research Brief May 9, 2018
This research addresses how the microcosm of
domestic foodwork discourse confronts the
oppression of intersectional identities because I
want to illuminate how discourse can work to
highlight or reproduce oppression so that we may
think more deeply about its impact on society.
Introduction
The kitchen has long been a site of study and contention
within academia as a means to understand the intersections
between food, gender, and power in the domestic realm.
Researchers have most often used foodwork in the home as
an avenue for highlighting gender oppression in what I call
domestic foodwork discourse. Although domestic foodwork
research is often used to highlight the subordination of
women, it often reinscribes oppression in the process,
through the exclusion of race, class, and gender identities
that do not fit the dominant narrative. The norms of the
middle-class, white and cisgender bodies, and their
subsequent heterosexual relationships are created by
discourse which involves both the language we use and the
way that we use it. Discourse is inherently tied to social
justice as it dictates how we think and talk about oppression
and justice. Thus, to conceptualize inclusive research we
must highlight the existence of intersectional identities.
Positionality: the intersection of queer identity with race and
class is personally important to me, as I yearn for all parts of
my identity as a bisexual woman of color to be represented
and acknowledged in the communities that I am a part of.
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Faith Saeerah
Methods & Methodology
This research intends to unearth how
domestic foodwork discourse maintains
the status quo and/or contributes to its
transformation using critical discourse
analysis and queer theory. Just as early
domestic foodwork research investigated
women’s subordination via oppressive
gender roles, this thesis highlights how
queer identity can transform and resist
gender norms through discourse change.
Although deconstructing the gendered
subjectivities that both define and limit us
will play a substantive role, it must be
acknowledged that these same
subjectivities also serve as the method
through which we encourage “political
transformation” (McCann, 2016, 238).
Thus, theories of “doing gender”,
“undoing gender”, and “redoing
gender” are applied to better understand
how discourse addresses queer identities.
RQ1: Critical discourse analysis and
queer reading practice is applied to
academic articles about domestic
foodwork that discuss gender to highlight
how intersections of queer, ethnoracial,
and class identities are confronted.
RQ2: Existing research is analyzed based
on the changes discovered above with
recommendations on how oppression can
be better addressed. Research that
focuses on privileged identities are
reimagined in their research scope and
discussion to better understand how
neglecting oppressed identities has
implications for future work.
Food Systems & Society
Research Brief May 9, 2018
Results, Analysis, & Contribution
RQ1: In what ways has domestic foodwork research
addressed categories of oppression?
Using Kemmer’s (2000) critique on domestic foodwork
research, I found that progress has been made in research
addressing different life stages, household structures, and
geographical contexts in addition to the role of men and
masculinity within foodwork. Articles tended to focus on
dominant categories of gender, race, and class creating a
limited view of how foodwork is organized in a wide range
of households. The erasure of individuals who do not fit the
Anglo-American, white, heterosexual, cisgender, and
middle-class mold limits the ability of researchers to
accurately portray how domestic foodwork is done, and
how discourse within research and in general can move
forward to be more inclusive.
RQ2: What research approaches and strategies would
facilitate greater inclusion within domestic foodwork
discourse?
The effects of cultural imperialism are incredibly apparent
in the research investigated above. Despite huge research
gaps, several studies demonstrated progress toward
greater inclusivity. The use of cross-cultural methodology,
degendered categories, insights into how class impacted
research results, and the use of a spectrum instead of rigid
opposing categories to describe foodwork roles were all
beneficial examples used by research to be more inclusive.
The revealing of these research gaps hopefully
demonstrates how the language we use and the way we
use it can be the difference in creating space for social
change or creating space for violence. To engage in social
change and move toward egalitarian imaginings of how
domestic foodwork can be enacted, these invisible
identities must be addressed. Recommendations for future
research include 1) using gender inclusive language, 2)
employing a spectrum or scale instead of rigid dual
categories when referring to gender, 3) acknowledging the
identities of research subjects, and 4) employing a greater
focus on how power and socioeconomic status drive
power and inequity.
References for this brief can be provided upon request.
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