‘At the Distribution of Maize’, representing a moment in 1905 when US-imported maize was distributed to peasants in Romania after the famine of the preceding year. Romanian artist Stefan Luchian. Wikipedia.
Join us on November 5 at 12:30pm Pacific Time for an online Sawchen Lecture. Focusing on the theme of ‘dissent’, CENES welcomes Dr. Alex Drace-Francis from the University of Amsterdam.
Title: “Mămăligă as Metahistory: Between Subordination and Revolt”
Abstract: Dr. Drace-Francis will be drawing on the traditional Romanian trope of the ‘non-/explosive’ corn mush as a common trope in discussions about the limits of collective dissent/popular revolt in 20th century Southeastern Europe. The talk proposes a trajectory through the cultural and political history of maize in the region, first an ‘escape crop’ (James Scott) and then a means of control and neo-enserfment of local populations aradoxically during periods of independence. What is the relation between ‘national’ foods and historical agency and what is the political significance of a formula that plays on the conjunction between ‘culture’ (crop) and the testing ground for cultural insurrection and insubordination?
About the Speaker
Dr. Drace-Francis’ research covers the modern social and cultural history of southeastern Europe, with focus on transnational perspectives on cultural nationalism in modern Eastern Europe and beyond. He has written and produced books, articles and translations on travel writing from Eastern Europe, and on Balkan/Southeast European regional identities, historiography and literary history. His most recent monograph, The Making of Mămăligă (2022) is a longue-durée transnational history of the popular cornmeal dish known as mămăligă in Romania and Moldova, and similar dishes from Serbia and Bulgaria. It surveys the arrival, cultivation, consumption and commodification of maize in the Balkans from Ottoman times to the eve of World War I, as well as the cultural meanings of mămăligă in Eastern European literature, art, film, folklore and cuisine.
How to Attend
This lecture will be hosted online over Zoom on November 5 at 12:30pm Pacific Time. Please register here in advance for this meeting.
