This ethnographic study of meat as part of humble daily practices contributes new insights to the existing anthropology of meat eating and its implications. Drawing on the emerging field of design anthropology, the thesis is inspired by Marcus's exhortation to 'follow the thing' (meat) in household shopping, food handling, preparation and consumption practices across national borders. The thesis addresses the following research questions: What are the interconnected rituals and routines in everyday household meat consumption practices in middle-income households in Australia and Indonesia? How do these practices relate to, and negotiate, local histories and regional-global networks? What can design anthropology methods offer in understanding everyday foodways? What insights can a comparison of these practices provide in relation to the circulation of meat? I focus on 18 households in urban Australia and Indonesia because, while culturally distinct, they are connected through a transnational and global meat trade. Drawing on the concepts of improvisation, habitus, intersecting technologies and friction, I find everyday household foodway practices to be shaped by individual habitus as well as knowledge of frictions in the ways that meat is produced and circulated. I consider Indonesian meat purchasing and handling practices to argue that it is for structural, not cultural, reasons that Indonesia is a 'wet' (fresh) meat market. By following meat in everyday usage and routines the thesis reveals unexpected connections and disconnections. I conclude that the increased technical capacity to produce and circulate meat globally needs to sit alongside understandings of local practices and regional networks. Making temporal and spatial links across regions and technical-social worlds, focused on the subject matter of meat, is part of the original contribution of this thesis. Declaration by author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly authored works that I have included in my thesis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.