Transnational Culinarians

FORTHCOMING BOOK

Transnational Culinaria: Women of Color and Feminist Food Studies seeks to create an interdisciplinary dialogue that bridges gaps between academic researchers, activists and practitioners. Co-editors of this volume, Farha Ternikar (an interdisciplinary sociologist), Janaka Lewis (literary and Black Studies scholar), and Stephanie Y. Evans (an interdisciplinary historian and Black Women's Studies scholar) along with Foreword author Psyche Williams-Forson (an interdisciplinary American Studies scholar), engage intersectional and Black feminism in research. Accordingly, this volume seeks to fill a gap in Food Studies and feminist literature by bringing together transnational and intersectional scholars of color.

EDITORS

Farha Ternikar

Dr. Farha Ternikar, is Professor and Director of the Women’s Studies Program at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York. She teaches Gender and Society, Food and Culture, and Gender and Feminist theory. She has authored several articles on gender, race and religious identity in the Journal of Ethnic Studies, International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, and Sociology Compass. Her most recent book , Beyond Halal and Hijab, uses the lens of intersectionality to examine how food in addition to social media and wardrobes are important aspects of consumption and identity for Muslim immigrant women. She has also authored “Intersectionality and the Halal kitchen” in Feminist Food Studies (Canadian Women’s Press/ Ed. Elaine Power) and “the Halal kitchen” in Critical Food Studies (Ed. Donna Andrews). Her newest project explores the significance of “halal” biryani for Muslim immigrant communities but also as a reflection of the political climate in India through recipes, auto-ethnography and participant-observation with Muslim Indian immigrant women. Dr. Ternikar sits on the board of the Association for the Study of Food and Society.

Janaka Bowman Lewis

Dr. Janaka Bowman Lewis is Associate Professor of English and Interim Chair of Writing, Rhetoric & Digital Studies at UNC Charlotte with faculty affiliation in Women's and Gender Studies. A Tedx 2021 speaker (UNC Charlotte), Lewis is author of Freedom Narratives of African American Women, Light and Legacies: Black Girlhood and Stories of Liberation, three children's books (Brown All Over, Bold Nia Marie Passes the Test, and Dr. King is Tired, Too!!) and several articles and chapters in Black women's stories, including stories around preparing and sharing food with specific scholarly attention to intergenerational connections between women and girls.

Stephanie Y. Evans

Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans, is a Professor of Black Women's Studies in the Institute for Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Georgia State University. She served as a department chair for twelve years at Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University, and University of Florida. Her research interest is Black women's #HistoricalWellness, intellectual history, memoirs, and mental health. She is author of three books: Black Women's Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace (SUNY, 2021); Black Passports: Travel Memoirs as a Tool for Youth Empowerment (SUNY, 2014), and Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850-1954: An Intellectual History (UF, 2007) as well as lead co-editor of four books including, Black Women and Public Health: Strategies to Name, Locate, and Change Systems of Power (SUNY 2022) and Black Women's Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability (SUNY Press, 2017). She is the curator of the Oldways Africana Soup in Stories (OASIS) collection that explores soup narratives in the African Diaspora. Her current research examines Black women’s tea history in the African Diaspora.

Psyche Williams-Forson | FOREWORD

Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson is Professor and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park. She is an affiliate faculty member of the Theatre, Dance, and Performing Studies, the Departments of Anthropology, African American Studies, The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity. She is a material culturalist who examines the lives of African Americans living in the United States from the late 19th century to the present. Her research explores the ways in which Black people (broadly define) engage their material worlds, especially with food and food cultures as well as historical legacies of race and gender (mis)representation. She has conducted extensive research throughout the United States in this area using intersectionality, cultural studies, popular culture, and more to inform our understanding of these phenomena.