Department for European Ethnology, Humboldt University, Berlin.

BMBF-Research cluster Imagined Europeans. Project: The Constitution of the
Homo Europaeus in Nutritional Epidemiology and Food Production.

International Workshop, 3-4 July 2008:

Between Molecules, Materiality, and the Self: Standards in Nutritional
Epidemiology and Food Cultures

This workshop addresses modes of knowledge production, subject
constitution and standardization in research on nutrition and food from
the molecular to the social-cultural level. It brings together on-going
projects from social anthropology, history, sociology and cultural
studies. The aim of the workshop is to present empirical work, develop
theoretical perspectives and to explore the intersections between
nutritional epidemiology and food standardization.

Program:

Thursday, 3 July 2008

16:00 Welcome and Introduction to the Workshop

Session 1: Food and Health as Objects of Biomedical Research (Chair:
Christine Bischof)

Nutrition and health figure prominently in the life sciences ? from
laboratory research and molecular biology, prevention initiatives to large
scale population studies in epidemiology. This session will explore
politics and practices of biomedical research on nutrition and health; it
includes the fields of epigenetics, history of nutrition science and
cancer epidemiology.

16:15 Hannah Landecker, Rice University, Houston/Texas: From Dish to
Diet: Cells, People and Nutrient Media in Epigenetic Models of Chronic
Disease

17:15 - 17:30 Coffee / Tea

17:30 Ulrike Thoms, Charité University Medicine Berlin: From supporting
food production to monitoring health: Nutrional Research at the DIfE,
Potsdam Rehbrücke 1946-1990

18:00 Susanne Bauer, Humboldt University Berlin / University of
Copenhagen: Population Categories and Molecular Markers in Nutritional
Epidemiology

19:00 Workshop Dinner

Friday, 4 July 2008

Session 2: Transformation of ?Traditional? Food Cultures in Europe
(Chair: Susanne Bauer)

This session spotlights traditional and protected food (PGO/PDO) in the
European Union as well as processes of standardization and classification
of food quality. We follow the technologies and practices that labels such
as ?traditional food? are reinventing and rationalizing. We reflect on
different regional examples of regulation in Europe and explore the
complex interplay of law, production, consumers, risk management,
scientific and traditional knowledge on food quality and culture.

10:00 Session Introduction

10:15 Maria France Garcia, L?Institut National de Recherche Agronomique,
Paris: Territorial Nomenclatures and Globalizing Markets: The French Wine
Case

11:15 Atle Wehn Hegnes, University of Oslo: Translating Potatoes ?
Pathways to Protection of Designations of Designations Origin and
Geographical Indications in Norway

11:45 - 12:00 Coffee / Tea

12:00 Felicitas Hartmann, Citymuseum Tübingen / Eberhard Karls
University Tübingen: Food as Global Cultural Heritage

12:30 Stephan Haufe, Humboldt University Berlin: Healthy - Protect -
GMO-free: Modern Food without Modern Technologies?

13:00 - 14:30 Lunch

Session 3: Gouvernementality: Standardization of the Self and Dietary
Habits (Chair: Stephan Haufe)

This session discusses Foucault?s analysis of biopower and
gouvernementality concerning technologies of the self. Within the
discourse on risks, risk factors for certain diseases and population based
risk assessment for standardization and classification of the subject play
a decisive role. The same applies for dietary habits. Empirical research
with case studies on adipositas and cancer demonstrate the circumstances
and effects of standardization and classification. What role do processes
of inclusion and exclusion of the subject play when it comes to the
development of European guidelines and health standards?

14:30 Session Introduction

14:45 Friedrich Schorb, University of Bremen: The History of the Quetelet
Index (BMI) and the Standardization of the Body

15:15 Jörg Niewöhner / Michalis Kontopodis, Humboldt University Berlin:
Preventing Fat Children & Producing Bio-Citizens

15:45 - 16:00 Coffee / Tea

16:00 Christine Bischof, Humboldt University Berlin: Participant
perspectives in the ?European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
(EPIC) - Potsdam Study?

16:30 - 17:00 Discussion and Resumé (Chair: Leonore Scholze-Irrlitz,
Humboldt University Berlin), Comment: Stefan Beck, Humboldt University
Berlin

Contact:
Louise Kreuschner:
Email:
louise.victoria.kreuschner@rz.hu-berlin.de
Phone: 030-2093-3722
Please register before 27 June 2008
BMBF Research Cluster Imagined Europeans
http://www.imagined-europeans.org/

Venue:
Department of European Ethnology
Humboldt University Berlin
Mohrenstr. 41, D ? 10117 Berlin
Room 212
Phone: +030-2093-3703/3704

Concept and Organization:
Susanne Bauer, Christine Bischof, Stephan Haufe, Louise Kreuschner, Stefan
Beck, Leonore Scholze-Irrlitz

Sponsored by the BMBF and Centre Marc Bloch