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- Höijer, Karin
(författare)
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Contested Food : The Construction of Home and Consumer Studies as a Cultural Space
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Education about and for the home has been part of the Swedish education system for over one hundred years, and Home and Consumer Studies (HCS) has been compulsory for all pupils since the common nine-year school system was introduced in 1962. For all this time food has been a central theme, however we know very little of what food means in this context. The aim of this thesis was to seek to understand the construction of food in HCS. This thesis consists of four papers that explore food in HCS from the perspective of teachers and pupils, the role of the classroom and how food in HCS is part of a larger cultural context. Observations and focus group interviews were used to collect data. The material consists of field notes from 13 days in three HCS classrooms and transcripts of focus group interviews with 25 HCS-teachers and 20 pupils. The analytical methods used were based on social constructionist assumptions which were supplemented by theories on culture, space and spatiality. Results show that teachers constructed both pupils’ homes and society in general as deficient in relation to health. Their role, as public health commissioners, was to educate pupils about food on issues such as health and sustainability. Pupils relied on their personal experiences from home to make sense of food in HCS. To them, home was the authentic place for food where everyday life took place. Food in HCS on the other hand was de-authenticised and sometimes hard to make sense of. This meant that there was a limited shared understanding between pupils and teachers. A spatial analysis of the HCS classroom as a learning space for food showed that past ideologies and traditional power geometries were built into the physical layout and social relationships constructing the room. Food in HCS was found to reflect cultural values of the surrounding society at the same time as a specific HCS cuisine emerged. Food in HCS was thus constructed as contested in interaction between food, pupils, teachers and classroom as well as in relation to a wider context.
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| 2. |
- Neuman, Nicklas, 1987-
(författare)
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Stories of masculinity, gender equality, and culinary progress : On foodwork, cooking, and men in Sweden
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The general aim of this thesis is to use foodwork and cooking in Sweden as a way to better understand theoretical questions about men and masculinities. Paper I discusses how an increased public interest in elaborate cooking and gastronomy in Sweden, a country with a cultural idealization of gender equality, could explain why men in Sweden assume responsibilities for domestic cooking without feeling emasculated. Papers II, III and IV draw on interviews with 31 men from 22 to 88 years of age and with different levels of interest in food. Paper II shows how domestic foodwork and cooking are associated with ideas of Swedish progress in terms of gender equality and culinary skills. Paper III demonstrates further that domestic cooking is not only a responsibility which men assume, but also a way of being sociable with friends, partners and children. Thus, both papers II and III challenge the idea that men only cook at home if they enjoy it. The data rather indicate that domestic foodwork responsibilities are a cultural expectation of men in Sweden, ingrained in desirable masculine practices. Paper IV explores men’s responses to media representations of food. The interviewed men responded to these representations with indifference, pragmatism, irony, and at times even hostility. In general, the responses are based on gender and age-differentiated taste distinctions and notions of masculine and culinary excess. Paper V uses a mix of texts (81 online texts and two magazines) and observations from the food fairs GastroNord (2014 and 2016), Mitt kök-mässan (2014) and the chef competition Bocuse d’Or Europe (2014) complemented with pictures and videos. I argue that a Swedish culinary community that promotes Swedish culinary excellence is constructed by drawing on preestablished national (self-)images. This culinary community is constructed as open and tolerant, with ethical concerns for the environment and for nonhuman animals. Its culinary icons are represented by chefs in whites and the leading restaurants. In sum, this dissertation provides empirical and theoretical contributions to both food studies and gender studies that critically scrutinize men and masculinities. Food-issues are permeated by gender, both in people’s everyday life and in the gastronomic elite.
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| 3. |
- Adolfsson, Päivi
(författare)
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Food Related Activities and Food Intake in Everyday Life among People with Intellectual Disabilities
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis was to study food, eating and meals in the everyday life of 32 women and men with intellectual disabilities (IDs) who require varying levels of supervision. They lived in supported living (rather independently) or group homes in community-based home-like settings. Observations during 3 days, assisted food records and anthropometric measurements were used to collect data. Dietary intake on the group level showed a varied diet and sufficient intake of all micronutrients, but a low dietary fibre intake. On the individual level, inadequate intake of micronutrients was observed, with many participants being obese, overweight or underweight. Everyday support with food, eating and meals was seen in four praxis: foodwork by oneself for oneself, foodwork in co-operation, foodwork disciplined by staff and foodwork by staff. These four practices resulted in large variations in dietary intake. The first praxis entailed more convenience food and less vitamins, the second and third, more fresh ingredients and high energy intake, and the fourth, low energy intake but rather high intake of vitamins. Sharing of meals was least common in supported living and more common in group homes and daily activity centres. The participants’ social eating spheres consisted mostly of other people with ID and staff members, and seldom other people. Whereas some preferred solitary eating, many participants considered eating together as important, but required staff support in establishing commensality. However, disturbing behaviour, as determined by the staff, could result in solitary eating. In conclusion, supporting the group rather than the individual sometimes created less favourable dietary, eating and meal outcomes. This problem needs to be addressed in order to establish food security at the individual level. In addition, actions should be taken to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities receive sufficient support to meet their individual needs and aspirations.
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| 4. |
- Homlong, Siri, 1959-
(författare)
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The Language of Textiles : Description and Judgement on Textile Pattern Composition
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The present study concerns ways to describe, judge and discuss aesthetic qualities of designed textile patterns. Specific aims were to study how colours and compositions used in Old Amish Quilts can be systematically described, to study how simple and complex patterns in printed textile fabrics are perceived and expressed verbally and to study judgements, concepts and values in relation to designed textile patterns as expressed by schoolchildren, consumers, teachers of textile handicraft and designers.The study design is qualitative in order to collect concepts used by subjects from different user groups when describing textile patterns and of the reasons for their judgements of the designed patterns. A modified Repertory Grid Method was used. Describing colour design and composition using graphic models was also attempted.The experience of aesthetic qualities in designed patterns is complex and not possible to describe using clear-cut concepts. Descriptions and choice of words are part of different language games outside the field of textile design and their contents are found in a dynamic interplay between a number of experiential contexts. The dominant inner contexts of individuals, basic perceptual patterns of apprehension, direct experiences of the surrounding world, and influences from the cultural context all give different and complex structures of attention. Different structures of attention lead to different perceptual choices and different descriptions, judgements, notions and values concerning designed printed patterns.The present study shows that subjects make their judgements on the basis of formal, functional, cultural and emotional contents. These content categories are related to the multiple contexts of different dimensions of experience. For judgement and communication in the process of design and in design education, mutual understanding calls not only for concepts and notions in the field of design, but also consideration of conditions of experience and communication in life.
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| 5. |
- Persson Osowski, Christine, 1978-
(författare)
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The Swedish School Meal as a Public Meal : Collective Thinking, Actions and Meal Patterns
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to study what role the Swedish school meal has as a public meal in Swedish culture. An additional aim is to study the meal patterns of children, including the school meal.An ethnological questionnaire with 192 informants was used to study people’s perceptions and memories of the school meal. The school meal was seen as part of the Swedish welfare state, but also as a second-class meal, which did not live up to the ideal, which was a meal with the same values as a meal served at home.Observations in school canteens (25 hours), interviews with the school meal staff (six informants) and focus group interviews with children in grade 4-5 (seven groups with a total of 52 children) were carried out at three schools in central Sweden. Firstly, the data was analysed as to how the teachers interacted with the children in relation to the pedagogic meal. The teachers took on three different roles: “the sociable teacher role”, “the educating teacher role” and “the evasive teacher role”. Secondly, the children’s understanding of food and meals in the school meal context was analysed. The results showed that the children used ideas from the adult world among their peers in the school meal situation. This included the implementation of institutional commensality, the telling of stories about food and the classification of foods in dichotomies.A questionnaire covering the meal patterns of the children and intake of some snack foods was also distributed to the children attending grade 4-5 at the three schools and their parents. Matched pairs (n=147) were analysed for agreement. Most children had a regular meal pattern, and there was general agreement between child and parent reports, except for sweets and chocolate.The expectations on the school meal are high. At the same time, there appears to be a social construction depicting the school meal in a negative way. In order to come to terms with the negative public view of the school meal, the social construction of the school meal needs to be addressed.
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