• Home
  • Applying to Techne
  • For and about students
  • Contact Techne
  • About Techne
  • PhD Funding 2020
  • Our films
  • Events: Conferences, Workshops, Lectures, Talks
  • Training and support
  • Techne Community

Home » For and about students » Techne Community » Techne Students list » Techne Students 2019-20 » Kristen Bullivant

 

Kristen Bullivant

AHRC Techne funded doctoral student

Designing Sustainable Food Futures: a design anthropological approach to cultural value and culinary capital in shaping ‘sustainable’ diets.

University of Brighton

Year of enrolment: 2019  


This research aims to develop new insights into the ways culture shapes food choices, what a ‘sustainable diet’ can be and who it is for. It will utilise design research methods to engage food producers, consumers and policymakers in the development of new approaches to food, eating, and food cultures. While there have been significant changes in the research discourses surrounding sustainable food consumption, there remain opportunities for research that bridges environmental concerns, the needs of human health and nutrition and how food is valued culturally. Questions of priority and ‘what’s good enough’ (Garnett 2017) point to a disjointed future, with discordant perspectives on ‘sustainable diets’. The cultural subtexts governing these perspectives need to be addressed; looking not only at what we eat but more importantly how we eat.

This study proposes the use of design anthropology, supported by radical and critical design interventions to explore the role of 'cultural value' - the way that food is used in and by society, what is cherished and meaningful, and ‘culinary capital’ - the influences over our food choices, be they socio-economic, gendered or affected by celebrity and online platforms. It will consider the environmental impacts of food-related systems, food policy and politics through the lens of the relationship between food and popular culture. Interventions in the form of a series of dining experiences, performances and exhibition installations will be developed and analysed to identify ways in which rethinking the relationship between culture and food through design can support a more sustainable UK food future.

logos for techne partners with clickable links   Arts and Humanities Research Council   Royal Holloway, University of London   Brunel University, London   Kingston University, London Loughborough University, London    Royal College of Art, London       University of Brighton   University of Roehampton, London   University of the Arts, London   University of Surrey    University of Westminster  

techne is an arts and humanities Doctoral Training Partnership offering PhD funding beginning 2019/2020

Read more about our funding and training   |  Contact us  | Site map