Convenors
Davide Sparti, University of Siena
davide.sparti@unisi.it
Clelia Viecelli, University of Siena
clelia.viecelli@unisi.it
Natural wines and artisanal agri-food products are ideal ethnographic objects of study since they allow social researchers to cover and explore each step of their creation due to the small-scale size of their sites of production, as opposed to large-scale operations where some areas of the production process remain difficult to reach and investigate for outsiders. In this sense, the larger wine industry is a perfect example of the challenges faced by ethnographers, where a certain level of confidentiality and reliance on external sources and actors make the ethnographic fieldwork difficult to carry out.
In this session, we want to focus on the production of small-scale, artisanal wines (the so called «natural» wines) and agri-food products that derive their value and corresponding judgments of quality from their peculiar taste, which in turn is the result of a unique combination of environmental, technical, and socio-cultural factors (what is also termed «terroir»). We are particularly interested in two sets of arguments that are interrelated and provide a new line of inquiry into this field of study.
On the one hand, we want to explore how the concept of «singularity» (Karpik, 2007; Siniscalchi, 2010) applies to the production of artisanal natural wines and agri-food products, as opposed to the idea of «typicality» which is the founding principle of national and European frameworks of quality (such as the systems of wine appellations). What does it mean that natural wines are praised for their singularity (their unique qualities that are the direct consequence of an artisanal mode of production), but they struggle to be classified as «typical wines» by the existing national system of denominations? What happens when singularity is faced in wine and food tasting sessions? How is it assessed, communicated, and judged?
On the other hand, we would like to use the outcome of in-depth-interviews and life stories to focus on the political and ecological implications of the production of these artisanal agri-food products: what is at stake when winegrowers and farmers decide not to rely on synthetic substances and expose themselves to an increased number of risks (for example by refusing to use sulfites in the winemaking process), especially in this current age affected by climate change? Risk, uncertainty, and unpredictability seem to shape the everyday working activities of these producers (Krzywoszynska, 2005).
We welcome researchers and PhD students from the fields of anthropology, sociology, geography, and cultural studies who have an interest in these interdisciplinary themes to propose case-studies where ethnographic research methods have proved essential to tackle these realities.
Open questions
- What does it entail to investigate the production of handcrafted wines and agri-food products using ethnographic methods?
- How can ethnographic research methods be applied to the study of the production of judgments based on a «singular» taste?
- How can the «singularity» (as opposed to «typicality») of such wines and food products be analyzed as a crucial sensorial category for those involved in their production and consumption?
- What are the main epistemological challenges attached to the study of commodities whose values rest on unfolding ecological relations and an alternative aesthetics?
Keywords
singularity; taste; ecological relations; soil; terroir; natural wines; artisanal food; senses.
Sub-disciplines or cross-disciplinary areas of concern
heritage studies; social geography; political ecology; anthropology of food; anthropology/sociology of wine; environmental studies.
References
Barrey, S., Teil, G.
2011 «Faire la preuve de l’”authenticité” du patrimoine alimentaire», in Anthropology of Food, 8. https://doi.org/10.4000/aof.6783
Karpik, L.
2007 L’économie des singularités. Paris: Gallimard.
Krzywoszynska, A.
2015 «Wine is not Coca-Cola: Marketization and taste in alternative food networks», in Agriculture and Human Values, 32, pp. 491–503.
Paxson, H.
2012 The life of cheese: Crafting food and value in America. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Siniscalchi, V.
2010 «Regimi di singolarità e politiche della ripetizione», in La Ricerca Folklorica, 61, pp. 125–134.
Teil, G., Hennion, A.
2004 «Discovering quality or performing taste? A sociology of the amateur», in M. Harvey, A. McMeekin, A. Warde (Eds.), Qualities of food, pp. 19–37. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.
West, H. G.
2016 «Artisanal foods and the cultural economy: Perspectives on craft, heritage, authenticity and reconnection», in J. A. Klein, J. L. Watson (Eds.), The handbook of food and anthropology, pp. 406–434. London: Bloomsbury.
Convenors’ bios
PhD at the European University Institute, fellow of the Collegium Budapest as well as of the Humboldt Stiftung (Goethe Universität Frankfurt and FU Berlin), Davide Sparti is the author of twelve books, three edited volumes and 150 articles dealing mostly with the epistemology of the social sciences, with matters of identity and recognition, and with the practice of improvisation. After having taught at the universities of Milano, Bologna and Lugano (Switzerland), he is currently professor at the University of Siena and at the Sant’Anna school for advanced studies in Pisa. He is co-founder and member of the editorial board of the journal Studi Culturali.
Clelia Viecelli is the Chair of the program in Food, Sustainability, & the Environment at The Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy, where she teaches courses on the anthropology of food and the history of Italian food. Since January 2024, she has also been a postdoctoral researcher working on a project on the sociology of taste led by the Universities of Siena and Trento, Italy. For her PhD from the University of Southampton, UK, she conducted ethnographic fieldwork among female natural winegrowers in Italy. She has published on natural wines from an anthropological perspective. Her research interests focus on wine, food, gender, and human-nonhuman relationships.