U Tokyo Liberal Arts Program

What kind of food did you eat today? The choices of what and how do you eat reflects an individual’s preference. They are also affected by the norms and perceptions that are widely shared by their society. These norms and perceptions about food are not fixed. New interpretations have been added to them or have been reconstructed with the changes of politics, economy and societies of each era. In these lectures, I am going to refer to the people of different classes and positions in modern and current India. The arguments will include, searching for food, conflicts involving food and oppositions concerning food. The investigations will include:

・What kinds of arguments were there during the colonial period?

・How religion and class identification were concerned with these arguments?

・How the rise of nationalism had an impact on the state of eating?

・How the arguments concerning food have been changed in the economic growth and political changes in recent years?

　 I hope we will be able to reconsider our own choices of food through these investigations. These lectures will give us a chance to think about the backgrounds and the meanings of our choices.