Personally Speaking talk to explore how common foods define, unite people

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Southerners love to talk about food, their likes and dislikes, regional preferences and their own delicious stories. Food is a common fuel to launch discussion, and it helps cross lines of race, class, gender and region.

“Consuming Identity: The Role of Food in Redefining the South” by Ashli Quesinberry Stokes explores messages food sends about individuals, how they view themselves and how they see others in a Southern culture that loves to eat, share and talk.

Stokes will discuss her book and the “story behind the story” at Personally Speaking on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at UNC Charlotte Center City. This is the first of the 2017-18 Personally Speaking series, which features faculty from UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences discussing their books and how they came to write them.  

Open to the public without charge, the program will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be followed by a reception and book signing. Register online.

New parking changes have been adopted for this fall semester at UNC Charlotte Center City. UNC Charlotte faculty, staff or students should click on this link, read carefully to the bottom of the page and follow the instructions.

For the general public, instructions on downloading a complimentary event pass for individuals who register to attend will be emailed shortly before the event.

Stokes is an associate professor in communication studies and director of UNC Charlotte’s Center for the Study of the New South. She coauthored “Consuming Identity” with Wendy Atkins-Sayre of the University of Southern Mississippi.