Food and Power: Eating and the Politics of Inequality

Workshop organized by Mathilde Cohen, Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut and 2024-2025 research-fellow at the Paris IAS (FIAS program), in collaboration with Corinne Mencé-Caster, Professor at Sorbonne Université.

Event closed to the public.

Presentation

Food shapes bodies, pleasures, and communities. Eating one of the most intimate parts of life as food something we not only consume, but also incorporate into ourselves and share with others. It reflects who we are and where we come from. Yet, what we eat is rarely just a personal or cultural choice. Economic interests, policies, laws, and the environmental all shape our diets—often in ways we do not see. Eating is political. Food can reinforce systems of inequality—hunger, malnourishment, and food shaming are obstacles to equal citizenship. But food can also be a site of resistance: a way to reclaim identity, build community, and nourish body and spirit. This workshop brings together scholars from diverse disciplines to explore the some of the most meaningful intersections of food and power.

Co-sponsored by Sorbonne Université.