Gastro-Constitutionalism and Gender

Talk by Mathilde Cohen, Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut and 2024-2025 research-fellow at the Paris IAS (FIAS program), as part of the workshop Gender, Law and Political Economy: convergences and divergences organized by Sciences Po Paris.

Conferences in English.

Presentation

Mathilde Cohen proposes the concept of "gastro-constitutionalism" to "articulate the role of food in shaping constitutional norms and, reciprocally, the role of constitutional norms in shaping agricultural, cooking, and eating practices The argument builds upon the social science literature on the related notions of 'gastro-politics', 'gastro-nationalism', 'gastro-diplomacy', and 'gastro-nativism'. These ideas have been offered to conceptualize the use of food in politics and culture to advance ideas about what defines a community and who belongs or does not belong to it."