Laura Jakob 2020 Transnational Food Studies

Transnational Experiences of Food Cultures in Laos and Germany: A Possible Approach for Nutrition and Consumer Education Master’s Thesis Laura Jakob [email protected] University of Education Karlsruhe Department of Daily Culture and Health Prof. Dr. Silke Bartsch Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 2. Lao-German Relations to Food Studies and Food Culture in a Globalized World ..................................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Lao-German Relationship in the Educational Context ...................................... 3 2.2. Food Studies and Social Sciences in a Globalized World ................................ 6 2.2.1. Nutrition and Consumer Education ............................................................ 8 2.2.2. Sustainability ........................................................................................... 11 2.2.3. Intercultural Competence ........................................................................ 14 2.2.4. Food Communication .............................................................................. 16 2.3. Food Culture from an Academic Point of View ............................................... 21 2.3.1. Lao Food Culture .................................................................................... 26 2.3.2. German Food Culture ............................................................................. 29 3. Empirical Research: Lao-German Presentation of Food Culture .................... 33 3.1. Research Methodology .................................................................................. 35 3.2. Execution of the Empirical Study ................................................................... 36 3.3. Evaluation and Research Results .................................................................. 38 3.3.1. Three Institutions of Food Culture ........................................................... 38 3.3.2. Daily Food Management ......................................................................... 44 3.3.3. Communication ....................................................................................... 48 4. Discussion ..................................................................................................... 49 4.1. Discursive Examination of the Results ........................................................... 50 4.1.1. Food Culture ........................................................................................... 50 4.1.2. Daily Food Management ......................................................................... 55 4.1.3. Communication ....................................................................................... 59 4.1.4. Conclusions for the Discursive Examination ............................................ 60 4.2. Methodological Reflection .............................................................................. 62 5. Conclusion and Outlook ................................................................................. 64 6. References .................................................................................................... 67 7. List of Figures ................................................................................................ 71 8. Statement of Authorship ................................................................................ 72 1. Introduction Food and drink is basis of all human life. However, the academic study of it has only flourished in recent decades and found wider professional acclaim. In a rapidly changing and globalized world the academic advancement of food studies has become more important than ever, as it helps to support and further our understanding of food studies and its myriad of disciplines. The focus of this paper is the transnational experiences of food cultures as well as the communication of food cultures, specifically in the Lao-German context, and how they can be used to give further insight into nutrition and consumer education. This paper therefore poses the research question how students present their everyday eating habits in video form and which elements of their eating culture they address in virtual exchanges. This is executed with a focus on the understanding of food culture by Barlösius and the observance of methods of verbal and non-verbal communication. Specifically, the goal of this master thesis is to examine, based on the background of social studies of food studies and the definition of food culture by Barlösius, the study of how teacher students1 from the Federal Republic of Germany2 and the Lao People's Democratic Republic3 present their everyday eating habits in video form. The focus will be on the elements of food culture that were used for explanation and which topics of food culture the students communicate under the criterion of verbal and non-verbal communication e.g. visual and auditory. The problem statement arises from the academic socio-cultural exchange between students in relation to food cultures as well as the understanding of individual food management in everyday life and how research can be used to shape this exchange and understanding in a positive way and to use knowledge for social and educational purposes. This is subject to the question of how the students want to present their video and what they want to communicate with it, directly and indirectly, or what social identity they want to represent. In particular, the differences and similarities between the two student groups are of focus. The conclusion on the video analysis of the students should also provide information or contribute to the insight into the 1 This term refers to both genders; Only gender-neutral terms are used throughout the paper which correlate to German or Lao terms that tend to specify both genders 2 For convenience from now on referred to as Germany 3 For convenience from now on referred to as Laos 1 communication of student experiences in everyday eating or eating culture and their social background in relation to educational experiences in nutrition and consumer education. Furthermore, conclusions can be drawn for the design of digital and intercultural exchange. To answer the research question, a literature research was carried out, which serves as the basis for the knowledge about the social sciences in food studies, in particular food culture, food communication and intercultural competence. Building on this, a qualitative analysis was carried out of self-produced videos produced by Laotian and German teacher students, who were part of a digital exchange between Technische Universität Berlin in Germany and Savannakhet University in Laos, to see how students reflect their own everyday food habits and how they communicate food culture through the medium of video. Therefore, the paper has been structured into two parts, a theoretical and empirical portion. In the theoretical part, a short excurse into the Lao-German relationship specifically in higher education is given to develop understanding of the academic background of these two countries. Then the role of food studies and social sciences in a continuously globalized world and particularly in the Lao-German context will be examined. Following this, the position of nutrition and consumer education, the academic discourse of food communication, the concept of sustainability and its growing importance as well as the influence of intercultural competence will be looked at. In the last part, the academic definition of food culture by Barlösius and how Lao and German food culture can be defined will be explored. This academic research will pose the base for the empirical understanding later. In the second part of the thesis, the empirical study will be introduced with its research methodology. The execution of the study will be documented, and evaluation and research results presented. Furthermore, a discussion about the empirical research with a discursive examination of the results and a methodological reflection will be made. Finally, in the conclusion the summarization of the paper and an outlook into future research is given. The research in this field will give insight not just for Germany and Laos but on a global scale for the academic field of food studies and in the teaching field of food and consumer education. This paper elaborates the issue in English to reach a vast audience and give due to English as lingua franca and its use in international exchange. 2 2. Lao-German Relations to Food Studies and Food Culture in a Globalized World The theoretical basis for the paper will be conducted through literature research. First, an introduction of Lao-German relationships with a focus on higher education is made, to establish a background for further research. Following this, the definition of what food studies are, especially in the context of social sciences, and where the Lao-German position can be situated, particularly on issues such as nutrition and consumer education, food communication, sustainability and intercultural competence will be of focus. Following this, the academic definition of food culture is researched using Barlösius Soziologie des Essens (Eng.: sociology of food), and Lao and German food culture conceptualized. Various research in the field of food studies has been conducted, especially in the field of food culture and social sciences. However, the current state

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