Commensality

The development of this research project from 2006 to 2010 has
produced solid data regarding the development of Numidian civilization at Althiburos and its immediate surrounds. The excavation at the capitolium area has provided a complete sequence for the first millennium BC, which attests a smooth cultural continuity during this whole period. The data indicate that the human community that dwelt at Althiburos was already fully sedentary in the most ancient phases, and that iron was used at least from the 8th cent. BC. From the 4th cent. BC onwards the site actually acquired urban traits, as shown by the existence of an impressive defensive wall. We have also deepened our knowledge on the funerary monuments and customs of the Numidian period, and we have produced relevant data on the posterior evolution of the city, especially on the chronology of the capitolium and the use of the space during the Late Antiquity and Medieval times.

Riassunto: La commensalità e l'antropofagia sono metafore significative che permettono di comprendere il potere, i conflitti e la violenza nell'Africa subsahariana. Sono strettamente legati all'immaginario della stregoneria, che continua a proliferare in tutti i settori della vita sociale e accompagna i processi di urbanizzazione e modernizzazione. La stregoneria e le immagini di banchetti antropofagici rappresentano un tentativo di spiegare e addomesticare eventi storici traumatici, come la colonizzazione e la schiavitù, l'urbanizzazione e rapidi cambiamenti sociali, economici e politici, attraverso accomodazioni creative che coinvolgono la cosmologia, la nozione di persona e le relazioni sociali, ma allo stesso tempo favoriscono la diffusione della violenza e della paura. Parole chiave: Stregoneria; Politica del ventre; Stato postcoloniale; Violenza; Mutilazioni. Abstract: Commensality and anthropophagy are significant metaphors that allow to understand power, conflict and violence in Sub-Saharan Africa. They are closely linked to the imagery of witchcraft, which continues to proliferate in all sectors of social life and accompanies the processes of urbanization and modernization. Witchcraft and images of anthropophagic banquets represent an attempt to explain and domesticate traumatic historical events, such as colonization and slavery, urbanization and rapid social, economic and political changes, through creative rearrangements that involve cosmology, notion of person and social relations, but they favour, at the same time, the propagation of violence and fear. Introduzione Mangiare-mangiare qualcosa o mangiare qualcuno-è un'immagine potente per pensare il potere, la sofferenza, la violenza, le paure e i conflitti negli stati postcoloniali dell'Africa subsahariana, in quanto rappresenta un immaginario di predazione costitutivo della vita quotidiana e della cosmopolitica. L'atto di mangiare si esprime in forme diverse: nell'estetica centrata sul lusso e sul corpo, utilizzata dagli Stati postcoloniali per affermare il proprio potere; nel piano dell'immaginario, popolato da immagini di organi mangiati, svuotati  Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (PPCIS/UERJ)-Rio de Janeiro-RJ-Brasil.

The aim of this paper is to assess the importance of class differences in contemporary Poland by studying the effect of social position and mobility on the commensal practices. For this purpose, the author applies Pierre Bourdieu's multidimensional class model and argues that class effect may be disaggregated into three components: cultural, economic and social capital. Using data from a survey conducted in 2017, he finds support for three hypotheses. First, commensality is more typical for people with higher endowments of economic and cultural capital, but is not related to educational mobility/immobility. Second, commensality is correlated with social capital and social networks and thus potentially conducive to social advantages. Third, commensality goes together with culinary openness and cosmopolitan taste that foster it. Contrary to the thesis of class dissolution, class differences are still operative in contemporary societies.

"The present paper pretends to be an approach to the Phoenician’s social implementations
mechanism in the Iberian Peninsula area. Through the study of the initiatives taken by
the temples and the aristocracy in their interaction with the natives, we´ll see in which way
and measure these relations affected the social native forms as well as the Phoenician´s."

The Giant’s tomb of Pala ’e Sulzaga, Bonorva (SS) - The tomb of Pala ‘e Sulzaga (Bonorva, SS) has been found badly damaged: Roman Age and sub-contemporary activities had deprived its structure. Research focused on structural details and on the front plaza, which was enclosed by a single semicircular row of blocks. A single construction phase has been identified, dating to the Recent Bronze Age; the tomb was certainly in use during the same phase. At the end of the Final Bronze Age (phase 4 of nuraghe Tres Nuraghes, present conference), the plaza underwent restoration.

Title: Cooking with offenders to improve health and wellbeing. Abstract: Purpose: This paper demonstrates the benefits of cooking one-to-one, alongside commensality (eating together) for improving offender/ex-offender health and well-being, measured in terms of improved social skills, cultural competencies and successful resettlement. Design/methodology/approach: Fieldwork conducted over nine months included; participant observation of lunch times (n = 56), cooking one-to-one with trainees (n = 27), semi-structured interviews (n = 23) and a 'photo-dialogue' focus group with trainees (n = 5) and staff (n = 2). Findings: Commensality is beneficial for offender/ex-offender health and wellbeing. Further, preparing, cooking, serving and sharing food is a powerful means of improving self-esteem and developing a pro-social identity. Research limitations/implications: The original focus of the research was commensality; it was during the study that the potential for cooking as an additional tool for health and wellbeing emerged. A future longitudinal intervention would be beneficial to examine whether the men continued to cook for others once released from prison and/or finished at the RS. Practical implications: Everyday cooking to share with others is an invaluable tool for improving self-worth. It has the potential to build pro-social self-concepts and improve human, social and cultural capital. Social implications: Cooking lunch for others is part of strengths based approach to resettlement that values community involvement. Originality/value: Cooking and eating with offenders/ex-offenders is unusual. Further hands-on cooking/eating activities are beneficial in terms of aiding self-confidence and self-respect, which are vital for improving offender/ex-offender health and well-being. Introduction This paper reports on the benefits of cooking for offender/ex-offender health and well-being at an independently run rural resettlement scheme (RS) that works with men released for work experience on temporary licence (ROTL) from the local prison every day and others in the community referred through the local probation team, collectively referred to as trainees. The RS is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), currently the only one of its type in the country, now in its 4th year. It works with men from the resettlement wing of the local prison who are coming to the end of their prison sentences and offers through the gate support, alongside training in a range of occupations (for example construction, landscaping, market gardening and woodworking). Trainees also engage in what might be considered more craft based activities such as art, pottery and woodturning.

El presente trabajo analiza las implicaciones de la progresiva generalización de la fotografía en la investigación arqueológica española, entre 1860 y 1939. Comenzamos valorando la imagen fotográfica en tanto que documento, la creencia en su veracidad, sus posibilidades y limitaciones. Analizamos los diferentes usos de los que ha sido objeto y, a continuación, las consecuencias de su incorporación al discurso arqueológico, su incidencia en la elaboración de hipótesis, el establecimiento de estilos y tipologías, la generalización del método comparatista, el difusionismo, el incremento de la difusión de los hallazgos, la creación de un marco mundial de discusión arqueológica o la paulatina concienciación de un patrimonio histórico y monumental español. Todo ello, en un período que significó la propia institucionalización de la Arqueología española, un proceso dialéctico situado entre 1860 y 1939 y marcado fundamentalmente por las discontinuidades y la heterogeneidad.

The appearance of the brailed rig and loose-footed sail at the end of the Late Bronze Age revolutionized seafaring in the eastern Mediterranean. In the first visual representation of a naval battle in the Egyptian records, the battle at Medinet Habu, both Egyptian and ‘Sea Peoples’ ships are portrayed as employing this new rig on warships which are nearly identical in structure and design. This fact suggests some level of previous contact between the invading mariners and those responsible for designing and constructing Egypt’s ships of war. This paper examines the evidence for the development of the brailed rig in the eastern Mediterranean, and explores the possibility that the Šrdn of the Sea, one of the ‘Sea Peoples’ who appeared in “battleships in the midst of the sea” off of the Egyptian coast a century earlier, may have played an integral role in the transference of that technology to the Egyptians.

Afin de lutter contre certaines maladies telles que l’obésité, le diabète ou encore les troubles cardio-vasculaires, les pouvoirs publics ont mis en place ces vingt dernières années des politiques de prévention sanitaire visant à la transmission de normes nutritionnelles aux populations, et ce dès le plus jeune âge. Une alimentation plus saine, considérée comme « plus bénéfique », est supposée maintenir les individus en meilleure santé tout au long de leur vie. Or ces normes peuvent être considérées différemment d’une famille à l’autre, selon l’ensemble plus large des normes sociales dans lesquelles elles sont prises....

La présente contribution vise à préciser les aspects géographiques et chronologiques liés à l’apparition, au développement et au déclin d’un type de construction en pierre sèche localement appelée « torre ». Ces édifices monumentaux, qui présentent une forme de tour tronconique, sont élevés selon un cahier des charges architectural précis, et trouvent leur strict équivalent en Sardaigne avec les milliers de nuraghi monotorre du Bronze ancien et moyen. La publication du détail du maigre corpus des torre de Corse, ainsi que la révision des données chronologiques fournies par les fouilles et les prospections opérées ces cinquante dernières années, seront également l’occasion de souligner l’importance prise par ces monuments dans l’évolution de la construction du discours archéologique depuis les années 1960 et les travaux de Roger Grosjean.

El origen de los Arevacos es un extracto del libro Karuo el secreto ibero, por el cual Enrique Cabrejas o Enric Cabrejas nos relata de modo llano su experiencia personal con lo extraordinario de un descubrimiento. El 21 de Abril de 2012 consiguió lo que parecía imposible: Descifrar la escritura ibérica. El hallazgo más relevante de la cultura universal en nuestro país de los últimos tiempos, sin lugar a dudas. Un hito en la historia de la escritura sin precedentes. Desde este mismo instante la obra Karuo de Enrique Cabrejas lo convierte en un referente destacado a nivel mundial en historia y lingüística. Los innumerables datos, explicaciones, pruebas y significados que nos reporta nunca conocidos antes, son una referencia obligada para todos aquellos que quieran comprender la historia, la lengua antigua e incluso también la moderna de nuestro país o para quienes en el futuro deseen estudiarla e investigarla en profundidad, más si cabe desde el mundo académico.

Beads made out of faience appear in various shapes which are rarely very characteristic for a single period or region. The so-called openwork bead (also called lantern bead) of the Late Bronze Age may represent an exception because of its morphological uniqueness. Hence implications on contacts and trade relations might be deduced from the distribution of these beads. I will discuss the following points: the distribution of the openwork bead in the Central/Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East, the archaeological contexts, the origin of the bead type, the implications of scientific analysis and the question of local and foreign production in vitreous materials in Middle and Late Bronze Age Italy. It will be demonstrated that the openwork bead should be considered a Mycenaean type, and consequently that it might be as useful as ceramics in providing evidence for Mycenaean influence in Northern Italy.

En esta tesis se abordan las prácticas de comensalidad entre los qom (tobas) de Mala' lapel (Colonia Aborigen San Carlos), localizada en el centro-sur de la provincia de Formosa (Chaco argentino). Los modos de obtención, distribución, preparación y consumo de alimentos, los diversos tipos de comensalidad y las relaciones entre comensalidad y alteridad son algunos de los temas presentados en este trabajo. Se concluye que las comensalidades qom no sólo están asociadas a la construcción positiva de lazos de parentesco y la proximidad afectiva entre parientes sino que ellas también dejan ver las tensiones entre grupos familiares y los conflictos interpersonales. Por lo tanto las comensalidades entre los qom muchas veces no son deseadas ni disfrutadas y tienden a ser evitadas o incluso rechazadas.

Commensality, the act of eating together, is an important human ritual that benefits beyond the biological need for food and it is well established amongst food studies scholars. At the same time, novel forms of social eating are emerging in urban contexts, especially mediated by new technologies. Yet, ICT-mediated urban food sharing and the moments of commensality they generate have received limited attention to date. In response, this paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork with three urban food sharing initiatives in London - a city which exhibits an active and dynamic urban food sharing ecosystem, to explore the experiences of commensality that are produced. By employing qualitative methods of enquiry, I illustrate how these initiatives go beyond the food offered by engaging with the material and affective elements of cooking and eating together and how they attempt to nurture collective spaces of encounter. Social isolation and loneliness emerge within this research as central drivers for participating in food sharing initiatives. The paper concludes that these collective spaces and the affective qualities that they generate are particularly vital in urban contexts in times of austerity, as these initiatives have capacity to embrace social differences and to facilitate the circulation of ideas and practices of care and hospitality. They operate as provisional bridging mechanisms between people, communities, projects and services, providing the connective tissue in ways which are hard to measure through simple quantitative measures and, as a result, are rarely articulated.

It is widely accepted that food consumption is a major component of feasting. This should also be true of the Aegean Bronze Age. Therefore, food and its role in the execution of a feast should be one of the main focuses of feasting-related studies. Such issues are one of the main concerns of both archaeozoology and the study of Linear B tablets. However, food preparation and consumption, as evidenced by ceramic remains, constitute a field still not properly surveyed, in great contrast to wine drinking. This is partly due to the lack of ambiguity of wine-related vessels among feasting remains. Wine pouring, mixing and drinking vessels are easily recognizable (or at least are thought to be so), something which cannot be said about food serving vessels. However, food preparation vessels, the ordinary cooking pots, are usually easy to identify due to their distinct fabric, shape and frequent burning marks, and I shall focus on them in the discussion that follows. Food serving vessels will be of secondary concern.

"But why are you reaching into your jacket, sir? I detect a glint of metal. Given that you and I are now bound by a certain shared intimacy, I trust it is from the holder of your business cards" (Hamid 184). Mohsin Hamid's novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist is not known as a food novel. The narrative framing, however, consists of a crucial food scene, ordinary at first glance. We encounter a particular mode of community: commensality, or the act of eating together at the same table. Throughout, this concept gains significance not only as an allegory for the entire narrative but also as a powerful symbol of trust, power, and identity. The dinner scene, set in a restaurant in Lahore, features two characters: Changez, a Pakistani analyst turned terrorist, and a nameless American tourist and secret CIA agent-or so we are led to believe. As they are sharing a meal, a kaleidoscope of interrelated aspects arises. The act of sharing bread is disturbed by the paranoid behavior of the American. Can he trust the assortment of delicacies his counterpart chooses for their enjoyment? Changez, on the other hand, controls the situation and his hospitable sincerity. It is not togetherness that we find. Instead, the scene is dense with suspicion and hostility. The characters remain alienated from each other. But through powerful, sensuous cues, the concept of hospitality also includes the reader. It is precisely the intimacy of eating together that has the reader question the grim intentions of either character. I argue that the ambiguity of the food scene firstly fosters uncertainty. Secondly, it forces readers to face their own bias and negotiate how it colors the narrative. Consequently, I seek to show how commensality in fiction can enable identity construction through a tension between inclusion and exclusion.

Social eating initiatives are a mode of food provisioning and eating that have become increasingly popular in the UK. These organisations provide a menu of low-cost meals prepared using food surpluses and deliberately serve food communally to improve social inclusion. Although these community initiatives have grown rapidly in popularity, research into their value from the perspective of participants is currently limited. This article presents data from a concurrent multi-method study conducted across multiple sites of the Nottingham Social Eating Network to explain the emergence of these novel social configurations. The results show this form of commen-sality, or group eating practice, is not simply a consequence of reducing food waste or food insecurity. Instead these initiatives are enacted through a series of intersecting social practices, which include: the restructuration of the shared mealtime; alimentary contribution; and performances of care. The findings provide important insights into the values expressed in these emergent initiatives and are therefore useful for framing social eating in public policy.

This two-part essay treats a wide range of texts and images related to commensality. My overarching interest is how feasting functions within the political calculus of ancient Western Asian rulers as one of the most popular means to promote internal social cohesion and forge external alliances – either as a way of avoiding military conflict or as a prelude to warring against a third party. In keeping with this interest, I devote an extensive portion of the discussion to the manner in which feasting works: By making a deep impression on his or her guests, the host creates memories of the feast that contribute to the maintenance of the social bonds formed in the act of feasting.

Faced with heightened xenophobia and economic decline, middle class Senegalese in Paris provide a striking example of the ways immigrants reinforce transnational hierarchies as they cling to (post)colonial privilege. This article examines how Senegalese immigrants and their French-born children draw on eating practices to index religion as an axis of social differentiation, producing hierarchies of belonging in France. In the context of escalating anti-Islamic sentiment, even naturalized citizens feel pressure to permanently perform their integration according to the ever-shifting demands of French secularism, as " eating French " is increasingly defined in opposition to the practices of Muslim immigrants from France's former colonies. This article shows how French Republicanism contributes to a tiered form of citizenship through examination of the ways that educated migrants from Dakar and their children adopt the language of secularism to valorize their own eating practices relative to other transnational (Senegalese) migrants. When Mouna Diallo invited me to lunch during Ramadan, I assumed that she did not observe the month of fasting in France as strictly as one might in Senegal. However , when she served the hachis Parmentier that had been warming in the oven, Mouna brought only one plate to the table, apologizing that she could not join me because she was fasting. I complimented her mastery of the French dish, noting that she had developed impressive culinary skills in only three years in Paris. Mouna laughed and explained that this recipe was a staple she had learned in Dakar years ago. Like many middle-class Dakarois, Mouna framed the practices necessary to integrate in France as a continuation of her habits in Senegal premigration. Unlike lower class and rural Senegalese, she had arrived in Paris with French language skills and a university degree that helped her obtain a visa and formal employment. In Paris and Dakar, Mouna alternated between French and Wolof languages and ate both Senegalese and French foods. The lives of Senegalese families in Paris encompass French and Senegalese contexts , each associated with its own value-laden interpretations of eating practices.

S’il existe un peuple du Proche Orient ancien avec le
mérite de figurer dans l’histoire à cause d’un exploit
singulier c’est, sans contestation, les Phéniciens. Plus
précisément, son expansion commerciale et coloniale,
qui par voie maritime est arrivée tôt jusqu’à l’Atlantique,
en passant par toute la Méditerranée, ne connaît pas,
dans son contexte, d’équivalent. Par conséquent, c’est
avec justice que presque tous les savants leur
accordent le privilège d’avoir construit un véritable pont
entre les deux extrêmes du Mare Nostrum, mais surtout
entre les vieilles civilisations de l’Orient Prochain et les
cultures, normalement à un stade évolutif différent, des
rives lointaines.

"In this article is presented a proposal of seriation
of bronze artifacts votive groups and hoards from
Nuragic Sardinia, on the basis of statistic-combinatory
analysis, in a chronological span between
Recent Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.
The specimen includes only fully published contexts.
Results show that the frequentation of the
nuragic sanctuaries and the habit of assembling
hoards are well documented phenomena until the
latter phases of Italian Early Iron Age. The
chronological seriation proposed for nuragic contexts
is easily comparable with the Italian continental
sequence, on the basis of several typological
comparisons."

ABSTRACT Although Greek contacts with the Southern Levant during the Iron Age have been studied at length, the matter remains controversial in many aspects. The present study provides an overview of East-West contacts during the first half of the 1st millennium BC, suggesting to divide it into five major periods of contact. These periods, involving a different chronological setting, are characterized by different ‘total contexts’, heavily shaped by geopolitical dynamics. It is suggested that every period of contacts (or their absence) requires a different explanation.