Minjoo Oh
Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
Phone Number: (662)915-3454
Email: minjoo@olemiss.edu
http://socanth.olemiss.edu/2011/10/minjoo-oh/

Key Words:

Research Description: My dissertation examines from a post-colonial perspective the intersection of eating practices and identity, particularly as they are affected by globalization. In the context of current debates around healthy food and fast food, my work suggests that a more inclusive theoretical framework is needed to understand this highly globalized contemporary society and the way we eat in it. I have focused on issues of identity in other contexts. In “Shopping and Postmodernism: Consumption, Production, Identity, and the Internet,” which appears in New Forms of Consumption (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), I assess current theories of consumer identity by discussing practices of on-line shopping. In a more recent article in progress, I have developed a Foucauldian reading of the Confucian self, in which I offer a new type of “microphysics” to understand aspects of East Asian subjectivity.

While I don’t claim to be a food scholar (per se), the subject of food has proved to be a fruitful (no pun intended!) way to think about a variety of social issues. For a project broadly surveying the literature on sociology of food, I co-authored with Dr. Elise Lake, “Sociology of Food” for The Handbook of 21st Century Sociology (Sage Publications, 2006). At regional and national conferences, I have presented several papers around the issue of food such: “Food and Culture: Politics of Place,” “Inventing and Mobilizing Identity through Snack Food,” “Fast Food Frontiers: I’ve got feeling that we are not Kansas any more,” “Global Eating Practices and Eclectic Identity: Intercultural Transformation of the Eastern Asian Block,” “The Boundary of Ethnic Identity and Eating Practice,” “Venerable Home: Fusion Cooking and Nouvelle Cuisine,” and “Human Bites Dog: Gnawing at the Irremediable Other.” These papers will become part of my book in progress tentatively titled, Eating Practices and Identity in Contemporary Society.

Honors Theses:

Caple, Tyler (2019) "Rice Bunnies" in Chia's #MeToo: Discussion of a Feminist Movement under Censorship (full text)

Newsom, Elizabeth S. (2017) On the _(Lu) to the Loo: A Case Study of Public Restrooms in China Since the Chinese Communist Revolution. (full text)

Brandon, Lynam (2017) Dynamic Cultural Specificities: Mediation of Culture and Emergent "Gay" Identity in China. (full text)

Schwalm, Luke Daniel (2011) Bridge over the River Kawaii: Examining the Consumption of Anime and Manga in the United States

Blessey, Charlotte Grace (2007) "Gardening programs in schools: A proposed solution to reverse the consequences of the current American food culture" (full text)

Salu, Jennifer Olufemi (2006) Myths, Stereotypes and Truths: A Critical Look at the Relationship Between Africans and African-Americans. (full text)