FROM FAMINE TO FEAST: THE GIVE AND TAKE OF FOOD IN A GLOBAL SUBSISTENCE ENVIRONMENT

Authors

Laurence M. Carucci, Montana State UniversityFollow

Abstract

Food is the primary transactional substance for Enewetak/Ujelang people [Republic of the Marshall Islands] and its production, preparation, consumption and exchange are central to how local people fashion and maintain social relationships and how they construct identities. At the same time, while the constitutive properties of food have remained culturally vigorous, the foods themselves have changed radically under colonialism. In particular, rehabilitation attempts in the post-nuclear testing era on Enewetak introduced extraordinary rapid dietary changes in the community and resulted in the onset of an epidemic of sedentary illnesses. The social practices that relate to food production and consumption are explored in this article providing a lens into the shifting ways in which viable and vibrant identities are managed. A close consideration of these food-related practices also highlights the impact of an emerging scenario of foreign food dependency on the everyday lives of members of this increasingly diverse atoll society.

Recommended Citation

Carucci, Laurence M. (2011) "FROM FAMINE TO FEAST: THE GIVE AND TAKE OF FOOD IN A GLOBAL SUBSISTENCE ENVIRONMENT," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 34: No. 1, Article 1.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol34/iss1/1