Food and the formation of transnational identities : migration, ethnicity and the senses

Abstract

This dissertation used six weeks of fieldwork on Triq Ħal-Qormi, a street with a growing number of African-themed shops, salons and restaurants in the town of Ħamrun, to examine the ways in which food can be used to negotiate and form transnational identities. By approaching this space as a theatre, with key actors and props, this dissertation highlights the ritual dimension of the formation of transnational identities through food. This is done by intertwining the development of two notions. First, the senses, and embodied, non-discursive practices engendered throughout the transnationally produced space of the street. Second, the different meanings defined by the divided space of the restaurant. The dissertation first gives a brief overview of the space of this street. The street is both a space of contestation and sociality and it emerges as a diverse social space that creates multicultural sensescapes reminding people of homes in different countries. The sensescapes revealed in this space unveil the non-discursive elements of these people​’​s identities, displaying diverse space as a process, not a bounded enclave. The focus then shifts to one particular restaurant to explore in more detail the social processes by which food is given different meanings and how this contributes to the construction of transnational identities. The divided layout of the restaurant provides the link between the analysis of space and food because the space of the restaurant is produced to mean different things to different patrons. This is reflected in the different creation and consumption of food within the same space. This dissertation shows that the affective and embodied dimensions of foodways transform across and between boundaries through commensal rituals of eating rooted in memories. Therefore, a sensory analysis of diverse space reveals the processes that underlie the role of food in that space in producing transnational identities.