Dr. Kathleen LeBesco Talks Food at University of Melbourne

Kathleen LeBesco, Ph.D., Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives

This August, Dr. Kathleen LeBesco will be a visiting scholar with the Food Matters Research Group at University of Melbourne. “I’m thrilled by the opportunity to talk about my research ‘down under’ in the vibrant world-class food city of Melbourne—also home to some of the world’s greatest food studies scholars,” she says.

About the Lecture

Dr. LeBesco will closely analyze the relationship between old media and new media, the idea of food as a prop for social identity, and the complicated relationship of all things “hipster” to nostalgia and authenticity. Reporting on work she has done with Peter Naccarato, Ph.D., Professor of English and World Literatures, Dr. LeBesco will situate recent, web-based representations of hipster food practices within the broader context of mainstream, American middle class food culture, considering what can we learn about the state of contemporary American food culture when we put it in conversation with the seemingly aberrant world of hipsters and their (oft-maligned) food practices. She will discuss five emerging frames or themes in the digital culture representation of hipster foodways.

Dr. LeBesco is a leading international scholar of food culture and popular
media. Her books with Dr. Naccarato include The Bloomsbury Handbook of Food and Popular Culture (2017), Culinary Capital (2012) and Edible Ideologies (2008). Her earlier works include Revolting Bodies? (2004), The Drag King Anthology (2003), and Bodies Out of Bounds (2001).

Published: July 29, 2019