Arap Amerikan Oyunu Food and Fadwa’da Geleneksel Filistin Yemek Kültürünün Korunması

Year 2022, Volume: 17 Issue: 135, 148 - 159, 01.11.2022

Nesrin Yavaş

Abstract

Yemek ve yemek pratiklerinin kültürel miras olarak, UNESCO ve Avrupa Birliği gibi küresel kurumlar aracılığı ile uluslararası arenada boy göstermesi, yemek ve milliyetçilik arasındaki ilişkileri inceleyen bilimsel yazına daha da ivme kazandırmıştır. Ancak, belli yemek ve pratiklerinin millî yemekler olarak sahiplenilme çabalarının, daha kapsamlı, karmaşık ekonomik, kültürel ve siyasi konularla yakından ilişkili olduğunu araştıran bu yaygın yazın, İsrail ve Filistin arasındaki yemek savaşlarına, bu savaşların gerçek tabiatını kavramaktan uzak, üstünkörü referanslar yapmakla yetinmişlerdir. Bu çalışma, Arap Amerikan oyunu Food and Fadwa’da (2012) yemek ve milliyetçilik arasındaki ilişkiler örüntüsünü, geleneksel Filistin yemek kültürünün yerleşik-sömürgeci bir bağlamda korunması konusuna özel vurgu yaparak eleştirel bir inceleme yapmayı amaçlar. İlk olarak Filistin ve İsrail’in belli yemekleri sahiplenme çabalarının altını çizen spesifik bağlamı detaylandırarak bu yemek savaşlarının Filistin topraklarını ve tarihini sahiplenme çabalarından ayrı olarak düşünülemeyeceğini belirtiyorum. Sonrasında, Filistin/İsrail bağlamındaki yemek mirası algısı ile UNESCO’nun 2003 Somut Olmayan Kültürel Mirasın Korunması Sözleşmesi’ndeki kültürel miras olarak yemek algısı arasındaki kavramsal boşluğa dikkat çekiyorum. Son olarak, İsrail’in yemek cephesinde yürüttüğü sömürgeleştirme çabaları karşında, geleneksel Filistin yemek kültürünün korunması ve devam ettirilmesi için, Food and Fadwa (2012) oyununda temsillerini gösterdiğim culinary sumud kavramını, günlük, çok katmanlı, değişken, dinamik, tabana yayılmış, bir strateji ve uygulama, ve aynı zamanda yemek mirasını korumanın “listelenmemiş” bir ifadesi olarak tanımlıyorum. Böyle bir yaklaşım, geleneksel yemek ve pratiklerinin, 2003 Sözleşmesi’nin listelerinde, envanterlerinde ve adaylık dosyalarında bulunmayan alternatif ifadelerinin ve anlamlarının önünü açması açısından önem taşır. Bu nedenle, Food and Fadwa oyununun, Filistin/İsrael bağlamında, yemek kültürünün korunmasını ilişkin söyleyeceği çok şey vardır.

Keywords

Yemek,, milliyetçilik, culinary sumud, İsrail/Filistin sorunu, yemek kültürü koloniciliği, UNESCO 2003 Sözleşmesi, Arap Amerikan tiyatrosu

Safeguarding Traditional Palestinian Food Culture: The Case of The Arab American Play Food And Fadwa

Abstract

Scholarly literature on the relationship between food and nationalism has achieved further momentum with the ascendancy of food and foodways as cultural heritage onto the international arena by way of such global institutions as The European Union and UNESCO. However, extant literature that explores how national claims to certain food items and practices are inextricably linked with wider, complex economic, cultural, and political issues is marked by sketchy references to food wars between Israel and Palestine which are devoid of a comprehensive analysis of their true nature in the context of Israel/Palestine. This article aims to critically examine in the Arab American play Food and Fadwa (2012) the web of relations between food and nationalism in Israel/Palestine, with particular focus on safeguarding traditional Palestinian food culture in a settler-colonial context. Firstly, I elaborate upon the specific context under which Palestinian and Israeli claims to certain food items inextricably linked to claims making to land and history. Then, I attempt to demonstrate the conceptual gap between food as cultural heritage in the context of Palestine/Israel and food as heritage in the context of 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Finally, I offer culinary sumud in Food and Fadwa as a daily, dynamic, constantly shifting, bottom-top, and multi-level strategy and praxis for safeguarding and sustaining Palestinian food culture against Israel’s culinary colonialism, and as a “non-listed” expression of food heritagization. Such an approach opens up new avenues for alternative understandings and expressions of food other than those institutionalized conceptions to be found in the lists, inventories, and nominations of the 2003 Convention. Therefore, Food and Fadwa has much to say about safeguarding food culture in the context of Palestine/Israel.

Keywords

Food, nationalism, culinary sumud, culinary colonialism, Palestinian/Israeli conflict, UNESCO 2003 Convention, Arab American drama., Arab American drama

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