Abstract
It is an undeniable fact that food maintains and preserves life. Food also serves a deeper and no less significant purpose; being both a repository and forger of memories and identities. Identities are forged through the foods that we eat and our relationships with food. Food connects us with our ancestors and our homeland. Music is often the vehicle through which memories are preserved and shared as well as being an expression of social experiences. Together, food and music preserve and revitalise memories of home and reconstitute identities in foreign locales. To this end, this paper examines the role of music in preserving Jamaican food heritage. It examines how this music creates a multi-textured meaning of what it is to be Jamaican; transfers cultural and food heritage; and preserves diasporic knowledge and heritage across borders. Through semiotic engagement and Cultural Studies textual analysis of a sample of songs, this paper will demonstrate that music remains an important vehicle for connecting people to their identity and culture through food heritage.
Presenters
Nicole PlummerLecturer, Institute of Caribbean Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Education, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Saint Andrew, Jamaica Charmaine Mc Kenzie
Office of Online Learning, The University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Food Heritage, Jamaica, Music, Food Knowledge, Identity, Culture, Cultural Studies
Digital Media
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