We Got Our Way of Cooking Things: Women, Food, and Preservation of Cultural Identity among the Gullah

This article examines the significance of cultural practices related to food and women's role in the formation and continuance of these practices in Gullah communities in the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina. I argue that although food preparation, under pressure of dominant cultural p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Gender & society 1995-10, Vol.9 (5), p.535-555
Main Author: Beoku-Betts, Josephine A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African American culture
Communities
Cooking
Cultural Identity
Cultural practices
Culture
Ethnography
Food
Food Preparation
Food systems
Foodways
Gender roles
Georgia
Gullah
Islands
Rice
Sexual Division of Labor
Sexual Inequality
Social life & customs
Social order
South Carolina
U.S.A
Women
Women's role
Womens Roles
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Summary:This article examines the significance of cultural practices related to food and women's role in the formation and continuance of these practices in Gullah communities in the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina. I argue that although food preparation, under pressure of dominant cultural practices, may be viewed as a measure of gender inequality and women's subordination in the household, analysis of the relationship between women and food preparation practices can broaden understanding of the construction and maintenance of tradition in marginalized cultural groups, a neglected aspect of the study of social organization within sociology. The study uses ethnographic data based on field observations and semistructured interviews with 22 women over several visits made between 1989 and 1992.
ISSN:0891-2432
1552-3977
DOI:10.1177/089124395009005003