Chapter proposals

Deadline: October 15, 2023

Scholars from a variety of disciplines increasingly investigate how food and foodways, or what we eat, what it means, and why it matters, influence public understanding of culture and society. Communication scholars have much to add to this interdisciplinary conversation since their research attends to food’s communicative elements, including the role of persuasion, symbols, and strategies, in crafting meaning about how food is produced, promoted, and consumed (Cramer, Greene, and Walter, 2011; Frye and Bruner, 2012; Grey, 2014; Stokes and Atkins-Sayre, 2016). Although scholarship about food and communication is growing, there remains a need to understand how food engages (supra)national identity and nationalism in a variety of contexts to convey messages of belonging and pride, and through these, calls to action (see, most notably, e.g. Goodman 2013; Ichijo, Johannes and Ranta 2019; Porciani 2021, also Parasecoli 2022).

In this call, we are looking for abstracts for chapters that address the question of Scottish representation through and around food from devolution (1999) to contemporary and current visions of the future. As Scotland increasingly differentiates itself politically and economically, we ask what foods define Scotland as a UK sub-nation, and how this communicative work helps distinguish it from England, the rest of the UK, and Europe. In this volume, we specifically focus on the role of media, language, and communication broadly in shaping Scotland’s vision about itself and others, addressing a notable gap in discussions around Scotland’s relationship to food. Our discussion contributes to the growing understanding of the role food plays in Scotland’s past, present, and future. The book will offer a perspective that may help shape future discussions around the important connection between food and the question of “national” identity in health, political, economic, and other communication.

Specifically, the volume will ask questions including, but not limited to:

• What is considered “traditional” Scottish food and how has this presentation/definition/cuisine changed, if at all, from devolution to now?
  
• What role has food and drink played in establishing Scotland as a sub-nation post-devolution, as opposed to England and in the wider context of the UK?
  
• How has Scotland been represented through food in its relationship to Europe and the European Union?
  
• How do these national representations intersect with questions of gender, class, and place?
  
• Is Scottish food linked geographically to Scotland or can Scottish food also be a cultural reference? What does Scottish food mean for people outside of Scotland?
  
• Who and how should Scottish food be eaten/produced/sold – and how are these decisions justified?
  
• What other discourses do questions surrounding Scottish food revolve? (health, tradition, history, regionalism, nationalism, identity, tourism, etc.)
  
• How do food branding and promotion contribute to a sense of national identity (ies) and how can this representation change?
  
• Does Scottish national food emerge bottom-up, from eaters and producers, or top-down, from government, cultural, and media institutions? How does this happen? Who is the primary driver of change and how do the stakeholders intersect? 
  
• Is Scottish food local or global or both? What role do social media play in arguing for either?
  
• What role do global media play in representing Scottish food to the Scottish diaspora or its visitors?
  
• How is Scottish food seen and defined in policy?
  
• Is there a role for Scottish food in health advice? If yes, how is this communicated, and to who?
  

We are looking for chapter proposals that examine these and any other related questions in relation to a range of texts, from social media to advertising, policy, film, and more, with a view to establishing an image of what “Scottish food” may mean, from devolution, to now, and with a look toward its futures.

We are particularly interested in including papers from colleagues located in and outside Scotland and the UK and are circulating this call with a global perspective in mind. The papers will form part of an edited collection, for which we are currently in talks with a number of academic publishers who are principally interested in this topic.

If you are interested in this topic and can contribute, please send a 300-word abstract with your proposed paper focus and a short biography (100 words)

To: mishaq@qmu.ac.uk

Subject line: Communicating Scotland Through Food Abstract 

By Sunday, 15 October 2023 

The timeline for this project is as follows:

• Notification of abstract acceptance: 1 November 2023
  
• Book proposal to the publisher: 15 November 2023
  
• Papers due to book editors: April 2024
  
• Final version due to editors, with reviews addressed: June 2024
  
• Submission of the final version of the volume to the publisher: September 2024
  

A note about editors:

Ashli Q. Stokes is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A 20-21 Fulbright scholar, she co-authored Tangled Roots: How Food Communicates Resilience in Appalachia and Consuming Identity: The Role of Food in Redefining the South with Wendy Atkins-Sayre, also co-editing City Places, Country Spaces: Rhetorical Explorations of the Urban/Rural Divide (Peter Lang). Her research exploring intersections between identity, activism, and regions has also been published in journals including the Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, Southern Communication Journal, Public Relations Inquiry, Journal of Public Interest Communications, and Journal of Public Relations Research.

Ana Tominc is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, UK. She teaches and has published in the area of food media and communication, and is the founder of the Conference on Food and Communication (foodcommunication.net). Her edited book, Food and Cooking on Early Television in Europe: Impact on Postwar Foodways, is currently shortlisted for the 2023 Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) Outstanding Achievements Award. She is also President of the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS), 2023-25.

Maryam Ishaq is a Ph.D. student and a teaching assistant at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, UK. She has a background in Nutrition and Food Science and MSc in Gastronomy. Alongside teaching media and digital communication, her research currently explores spatial food networks in Scotland and how discourses around local food are construed by social media influencers on Instagram.