Writings
PUBLICATIONS
- Editorial "Space Cookbook: Mission to the Future" in Science Fiction Studies - Special Issue located in the section titled "Roundtable:SF in the Kitchen" - an examination of International Space Station foodways, alternative food technology/sources, and speculative fiction URL LINK for https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/abstracts/a147.htm#roundtable
- Book Review for Dying to Eat: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Food, Death, and the Afterlife (Candi K. Cann, ed. University Press of Kentucky, 2017) Digest: A Journal of Foodways and Culture; Vol 7 No 1 (2019): Winter 2019-2020 URL LINK for .pdf https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/digest/article/view/30252
- Parade History (URL LINK for www.ParadeHistory.com) Twenty plus essays about parades, processions, marches, walks, demonstrations, promenades, motorcades, pilgrimages, and related festive events in California and worldwide. Includes numerous fieldwork photos and some secondary topics related to science fiction, environmental awareness, cultural appreciation, protests marches, and so on.
- H-NET academic humanities site for celebration studies (Editor/writer/photo archivist 2017-2019) with article links on H-Net Celebration (2017-2019) OR URL LINK to H-NET academic humanities site. Photo and written essays that cover ethnography, satire, anthropology, folklore, film studies, material culture, law and other perspectives as it relates to a variety of topics. Topics explored include:
- outer space
- social movements
- commercial and movie screen parodies
- trademarked costumes
- phenomenology
- nudity and utopian ideas
- material culture
- cultural symbolism
- specific fieldwork with Hare Krishna Festival of Chariots, Topless Day Parade, Japanese Nisei Week Grand Parade, Annual Bridge USA Natsu Masuri - Japanese mikoshi parade, Kingdom Day parade, Women's March...
CONFERENCES
Abstract: Should white collar workers worry about advanced technologies such as AI and robotics leading to job displacement, or rather, should they be excited that mechanical collaborators are on the forefront ready to bring improvements to jobs? Depending on the perspective, one might envision a more efficient, productive, and profitable workplace with humans sharing the workload with machines. In contrast, one may refer to labor history where automated processes enabled employers to eliminate jobs, and at times, employ workers with less skill and knowledge for less money. While there is no certainty about the future of work, we can still look to science fiction stories to help us imagine a workplace of the future and what consequences may ensue. In this paper, I will discuss workplaces in which drones, biosensors, neural implants, bioengineered bodies, and robots shape the office workplace of the future leading one to raise questions about ethical liability, surveillance intrusiveness, and human behavior adaptation. Some of the science fiction stories to be discussed include: “Nuke My Jobbot” (Emma Ross Munro), “Dead Space for the Unexpected” (Geoff Ryman), “Stable Strategies for Middle Management” (Eileen Gunn), Severence streaming series (Dan Erickson), and various office robot stories.
Abstract: The end of the world, or Earth as we know it, does not mean we have to stop salivating over food and beverages we once enjoyed. In some science fiction storytelling where things have fallen into TEOTWAWKI times, also known in prepper lingo as the end of the world as we know it, characters often reminisce about what was once easily prepared, purchased, and consumed for sustenance and enjoyment. In this paper, I will examine a few science fiction stories in which food and beverages are a vehicle for memories in apocalypse, post-apocalypse, and post-earth living scenarios. For example, in the movie adaptation of the book by Cormac McCarthy, The Road, a can of Coke is a nostalgic reminder of life before the onset of daily climate devastation and dangerous living. In "Bread of Life," a short story by Beth Cato, bread sold on a space outpost is a reminder of one's past cultural and culinary experiences on Earth before the alien invasion. The video game adapted into a tv series, The Last of Us, is another example of foodways that reminds one of a time before quarantines and fear of humans commandeered by a mutant fungus. In these and other science fiction stories, I'll discuss familiar food and beverages that appear to reflect characters' past identities and way of life, now only accessible through memory or unexpected, surprising circumstances.
Abstract: While festive gatherings bring communities together, it is the foodways of these events that offer an opportunity to garner more insights about culture and people. The paper focuses on the role of food and drinks in multiple community festivals and parades in the Southern California region of the United States pre-pandemic cancellations as they reveal altruistic, entrepreneurial, and cultural beliefs, practices, and influences. Ethnographic methods (i.e., interviews, photography, video recordings, and participant observation in cultural settings) were employed to document what is prepared, shared, and sold, along with inquiries about personal motivation in the Bangladesh Day Parade and Festival, Sikh Baisakhi Celebration, Taste of Ecuador Food Festival & Parade, Little Saigon Westchester Tet Parade, South Bay Greek Festival, Central American Independence Parade, Kingdom Day Parade, East L.A. Mexican Independence Day, Topanga Days Parade, and Torrance Armed Forces Day Parade.
Abstract: Exploring how the meal, a familiar activity in which a person or group of people consume food and drinks during a specific time, is re-imagined in six science fiction stories centered on pandemics and epidemics in various countries. The stories included are Tóxico (movie, Argentina, 2020), #Alive (movie, South Korea, 2020), Perfect Sense (movie, U.K., 2011), The Rain (series, Denmark, 2018), Severance (book, U.S., 2018), and “So Much Cooking” (short story, U.S., 2015). Each of these selected science fiction stories introduce a fictional virus that upturns the world of its characters as it stirs fear, insecurity, suspicion, and other unexpected responses in a world where eating a meal becomes a familiar/unfamiliar experience. I will connect these stories through themes of food ingredients, sharing and commensality, and social behaviors associated with preparation, presentation, consumption, avoidance, and taboo breaking. For example, the theme of commensality and sharing in the movie #Alive about a virus that causes the infected to become zombies is depicted through two non- infected characters preparing and eating noodles while describing how they like to customize the dish. This act suggests the building of friendship, trust, and solidarity. Later, they encounter a man who saves them from an attack in the hallway and generously shares his food and water supply in a time when resources are scarce. Unfortunately, it is a deceptive gesture; the man is attempting to gain their trust so he can feed them to his infected wife. These scenes can also be read as displays of cultural foodways and means to better understand human expectations and characters’ states of mind.
- Office Work of the Future: How Science Fiction Re-envisions Workplace Technology for Maximum Productivity, Invasiveness, and Intrusiveness (Annual Conference of Science Fiction Research / University of Tartu ESTONIA, May 7-11, 2024, Theme: Transitions)
Abstract: Should white collar workers worry about advanced technologies such as AI and robotics leading to job displacement, or rather, should they be excited that mechanical collaborators are on the forefront ready to bring improvements to jobs? Depending on the perspective, one might envision a more efficient, productive, and profitable workplace with humans sharing the workload with machines. In contrast, one may refer to labor history where automated processes enabled employers to eliminate jobs, and at times, employ workers with less skill and knowledge for less money. While there is no certainty about the future of work, we can still look to science fiction stories to help us imagine a workplace of the future and what consequences may ensue. In this paper, I will discuss workplaces in which drones, biosensors, neural implants, bioengineered bodies, and robots shape the office workplace of the future leading one to raise questions about ethical liability, surveillance intrusiveness, and human behavior adaptation. Some of the science fiction stories to be discussed include: “Nuke My Jobbot” (Emma Ross Munro), “Dead Space for the Unexpected” (Geoff Ryman), “Stable Strategies for Middle Management” (Eileen Gunn), Severence streaming series (Dan Erickson), and various office robot stories.
- Food, Nostalgia, and Survival: The Impact of Memory in Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, and Destroyed Earth Stories (2nd International Interdisciplinary Conference - Food and Memory" April 21-22, 2023 organized by InMind Support and led by Professor Wojciech Owczarski – University of Gdańsk, POLAND and Professor Polina Golovátina-Mora – NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Abstract: The end of the world, or Earth as we know it, does not mean we have to stop salivating over food and beverages we once enjoyed. In some science fiction storytelling where things have fallen into TEOTWAWKI times, also known in prepper lingo as the end of the world as we know it, characters often reminisce about what was once easily prepared, purchased, and consumed for sustenance and enjoyment. In this paper, I will examine a few science fiction stories in which food and beverages are a vehicle for memories in apocalypse, post-apocalypse, and post-earth living scenarios. For example, in the movie adaptation of the book by Cormac McCarthy, The Road, a can of Coke is a nostalgic reminder of life before the onset of daily climate devastation and dangerous living. In "Bread of Life," a short story by Beth Cato, bread sold on a space outpost is a reminder of one's past cultural and culinary experiences on Earth before the alien invasion. The video game adapted into a tv series, The Last of Us, is another example of foodways that reminds one of a time before quarantines and fear of humans commandeered by a mutant fungus. In these and other science fiction stories, I'll discuss familiar food and beverages that appear to reflect characters' past identities and way of life, now only accessible through memory or unexpected, surprising circumstances.
- Southern California Festive Foodways: Altruism, Entrepreneurialism, and Cultural Affirmation (11th International Conference on Food Studies; Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, DENMARK, October 28 -30, 2021)
Abstract: While festive gatherings bring communities together, it is the foodways of these events that offer an opportunity to garner more insights about culture and people. The paper focuses on the role of food and drinks in multiple community festivals and parades in the Southern California region of the United States pre-pandemic cancellations as they reveal altruistic, entrepreneurial, and cultural beliefs, practices, and influences. Ethnographic methods (i.e., interviews, photography, video recordings, and participant observation in cultural settings) were employed to document what is prepared, shared, and sold, along with inquiries about personal motivation in the Bangladesh Day Parade and Festival, Sikh Baisakhi Celebration, Taste of Ecuador Food Festival & Parade, Little Saigon Westchester Tet Parade, South Bay Greek Festival, Central American Independence Parade, Kingdom Day Parade, East L.A. Mexican Independence Day, Topanga Days Parade, and Torrance Armed Forces Day Parade.
- Eating Meals During a Pandemic/Epidemic: How Science Fiction Brings Food Commensality, Culture, and Taboos to the Experience (Living in the End Times: Utopian and Dystopian Representations of Pandemics in Fiction, Film and Culture; Cappadocia University, Mustafapaşa Campus, 50420 Ürgüp/Nevşehir/TURKEY; January 13-15, 2021, Keynote speakers: Kim Stanley Robinson, Larissa Lai, Maggie Gee, Elizabeth Outka, Raffaella Baccolini, and Tom Moylan
Abstract: Exploring how the meal, a familiar activity in which a person or group of people consume food and drinks during a specific time, is re-imagined in six science fiction stories centered on pandemics and epidemics in various countries. The stories included are Tóxico (movie, Argentina, 2020), #Alive (movie, South Korea, 2020), Perfect Sense (movie, U.K., 2011), The Rain (series, Denmark, 2018), Severance (book, U.S., 2018), and “So Much Cooking” (short story, U.S., 2015). Each of these selected science fiction stories introduce a fictional virus that upturns the world of its characters as it stirs fear, insecurity, suspicion, and other unexpected responses in a world where eating a meal becomes a familiar/unfamiliar experience. I will connect these stories through themes of food ingredients, sharing and commensality, and social behaviors associated with preparation, presentation, consumption, avoidance, and taboo breaking. For example, the theme of commensality and sharing in the movie #Alive about a virus that causes the infected to become zombies is depicted through two non- infected characters preparing and eating noodles while describing how they like to customize the dish. This act suggests the building of friendship, trust, and solidarity. Later, they encounter a man who saves them from an attack in the hallway and generously shares his food and water supply in a time when resources are scarce. Unfortunately, it is a deceptive gesture; the man is attempting to gain their trust so he can feed them to his infected wife. These scenes can also be read as displays of cultural foodways and means to better understand human expectations and characters’ states of mind.
INTERVIEW
LINK to 2015 article is subscriber protected currently so I've uploaded pages in slideshow
WRITING SAMPLES to DOWNLOAD
| bookreview-digest-food-tgraham.pdf |
| sfs-futurefood-digitalversion.pdf |
| paradehistory-ecuador-photoessay-compressed.pdf |
| wirefreesoft-black_mirror_and_your_internet_ranking.pdf |
| wirefreesoft-creating_websites_for_visually_impaired.pdf |
| paradehistory-fewpics-environmental_messages_in_parades_and_marches_–_parade_history.pdf |
| paradehistory-altruism_during_sikh_baisakhi_celebration_-_parade_history-fewer_pics.pdf |
| paradehistory-a_worlds_fair_pavilion_moment_at_the_sri_lanka_day_expo_and_parade_-_parade_history-fewpics.pdf |
| h-net-trademarked_costumes_in_parades-_phenomenologically_speaking_|_h-celebration_|_h-net.pdf |
