Unpublished Work
A Phenomenology of Taste: Brewmasters and the Production of Lived Taste Experience
Using a phenomenological account of perception drawn largely from the work of Merleau-Ponty (1962) and Gibson (1966; 1974), this thesis explores how perceptual experience is created and modified through practices and discourses. The project examines how a specific perceptual experience—the taste of beer—is formed through the practices and discourses of production. It investigates how both the nuanced taste experiences of brewmasters and the less precise taste experiences of their customers are cultivated in relation to a set of production concerns surrounding the manufacture of a consistent brand. Ultimately, it is argued that the production of brands—the urge to produce products which are identical to themselves—is a characteristic of consumer oriented late capitalism which illustrates how mechanical reproduction influences the formation of contemporary sensory experiences and lifeworlds.
The Moroccan Public Oven Project
An undergraduate thesis project based on 3.5 months of participant observation of a single 200-year-old public oven in Rabat’s medina. While public ovens may appear to be simply a local business, this project highlights how public ovens can operate as a ‘community institution’ (Radione 2004: 459), a psuedo-domestic space for men of the neighborhood that parallels the roles and uses of the home. It also highlights how the baker takes on a role as an honorary family member in his customer’s families, a role with a complex set of rights and responsibilities. Ultimately, this project proposes a new model for conceptualizing Moroccan domestic space and the structure of Moroccan neighborhoods.