Dotawo 10 (2024): Culinary Practices in Nubia

Cooking vessels hold great potential for the study and understanding of one of the most essential parts of the life of human communities in the past – food preparation. Moreover, changes in culinary practices reflect changes in diet, culinary activities, and thus in population.

A cross-cultural and diachronic view of this crucial component of Nubian life in the past, i.e. culinary practices, will constitute a most fitting addition to Nubiological research. It is therefore our pleasure to invite you to contribute to the thematic volume of Dotawo dedicated to Culinary Practices in Nubia, edited by Stuart Tyson Smith, Rennan Lemos, and Katarzyna de Lellis-Danys.

Below we list topics of interest, although they do not limit the range of possible approaches that may be included in the proposed thematic volume:

– theoretical approaches to cooking pots and foodways (intersectionality of class, function, gender etc.) to provide a methodological base for further discussions;

– contextualisation of cooking vessels (pots in context, cooking facilities) to produce a diachronic understanding of culinary practices in Nubia;

– foodways including residuals in cooking vessels exemplifying how interdisciplinary approaches contribute to the reconstruction of diet, especially when bioarchaeological data are not available (i.e. from Islamic burials);

– physical properties of cooking vessels to define technological choices (or their absence) of potters and possible relations to cooking techniques (i.e. open-fire, ash-pit);

– morphological approaches to cooking vessels to highlight how vessel shapes and decoration can inform us about cultural practices and identity.  

 

Deadline for submitting proposals: Done

Editors’ decision: Done

Deadline for submitting papers: Done

Completion of peer reviewing process: end 2024

Publication: early 2025