Date of Award
Spring 5-2-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Jonathan Shannon
Second Advisor
Benny Shaffer
Academic Program Adviser
Marc Edelman
Abstract
This thesis examines how contemporary Chinese artists use food as a medium to explore ritual, trade, politics, and cultural identity. Centering on The Note of Food, an exhibition I curated, it draws on Arjun Appadurai’s concept of gastro-politics and Lu Xun’s nalaizhuyi (“grabbing doctrine”) to analyze how artists strategically appropriate cultural resources amid tensions between East and West, and tradition and modernity. Merging curatorial practice with food and visual anthropology, the project uses exhibition-making as both method and object of inquiry. As a native anthropologist working as both curator and researcher, I propose a model of curatorial anthropology that bridges theory and practice, contributing to debates in anthropology and contemporary Chinese art.
Recommended Citation
Du, Fan, "Intersections: Gastro-politics Aesthetic and Contemporary Chinese Art" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1336
