Commensality And de-Othering: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Dialogue Through Foodways

Abstract

This research constitutes a qualitative participatory action project in which I interrogate the role of foodways among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the production of group subject formation and intergroup perceptions. The impetus for this project is based on an interest in sustainable peace building and conflict management in a Middle Eastern and North African context. The question that predicated the research project is: Will recognition of shared aspects of religio-cultural symbolism and ritual centered on food in an Abrahamic context facilitate deothering processes among Muslims, Christians and Jews? Further, this research operationalizes commensality as a lens through which the efficacy of exposure to the shared ritual and symbolic aspects of foodways in the context of the relatedness of the Abrahamic faiths might be assessed. The finding of this research shows that it is commensality and the affective and effective processes inherent in it that is productive and efficacious. Commensality may be defined as the act of people sharing food and drink together at the same table. It seems that it is through the affect of the dialogic, performative phenomenon of sharing food, drink, and talk, together that de-othering processes were effectuated among the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish interlocutors that participated in this project.