Championing Food Studies within the Field of Irish Studies: A Serendipitous Autoethnographic Journey
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6622-3299
Document Type
Theses, Ph.D
Disciplines
Interdisciplinary, History, Culinary Arts, Gastronomy, *Irish Food Studies, Food History
Abstract
Food permeates every aspect of life and society, from birth to death—from the new-born’s first suckle to the food traditions associated with Irish wakes and funerals. Essential for survival, it has historically proven academically elusive, hidden in plain sight. Entangled with the domestic and the feminine, it was traditionally regarded as too mundane and too quotidian for consideration. Depending on how you define it, Irish Studies has somewhere between 50 and 100 years of history as an academic discipline. Food Studies is a more recent academic phenomenon, which has been steadily growing internationally since last decade of the twentieth century. It is only in the last ten years, however, that Food Studies have been introduced into the field of Irish Studies. My role as a lecturer in Culinary Arts in Technological University Dublin and my involvement within the broader scholarly community through various food-related and Franco-Irish associations placed me in the nexus of Food Studies and Irish Studies. This combined with my linguistic and cultural background as a native Irish speaker, immersed from childhood in Irish mythology, storytelling, and songs provided me with the requisite skills and tools to fully exploit this unique nexus.
Using a combination of autoethnography and serendipity, along with Aristotle’s three-pronged approach of ethos, logos, and pathos, I will explore the agentic role I have played, along with others, in introducing Food Studies into Irish Studies. In eight publications between 2014 and 2024, this research discusses food in various elements of Irish culture, as well as the development of the Food Studies field in Ireland. Furthermore, this thesis critically explores the signal moments and the serendipitous meetings with key individuals such as Dorothy Cashman, Eamon Maher, Brian J. Murphy, Rhona Richman Kenneally, Donna Lee Brien, and Lillis Ó Laoire that led to the gradual expansion of Food Studies within the broader Irish Studies field. Major landmarks along the journey include the setting up of the Dublin Gastronomy Symposium (2012–present), the introduction of Gastronomy-themed parallel sessions at the Association of Franco-Irish Studies (AFIS) conferences, and several landmark publications. Additionally, a rich research cluster and community have emerged from these events, resulting in a growing number of food-related publications within the field of Irish Studies. This research is significant as it demonstrates the agentic roles that individuals can play in shaping the intellectual development of an academic field. It also charts how food, once considered too quotidian, has become a powerful lens through which to explore nearly any topic, from class and race to literature and history. Finally, I will assess the research under TU Dublin’s strategic intent consisting of the three pillars of People, Planet, and Partnership.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/wkdz-rn27
Recommended Citation
MacConiomaire, Mairtin, "Championing Food Studies within the Field of Irish Studies: A Serendipitous Autoethnographic Journey" (2024). Doctoral. 40.
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/tourdoc/40
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Publication Details
A thesis submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy to Technological University Dublin, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management November 2024.
doi:10.21427/wkdz-rn27