July 1, 2015 

 

Contacts:

Keith Edgerton, History Department, 657-2895
Carmen Price, University Relations & Communications, 657-2266

 

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES 鈥� Emily Arendt, assistant professor of history at 顶级国产视频, is one of about 20 scholars, academics and creative writers selected to receive a 2015-16 short-term fellowship from the prestigious New York Public Library where she will explore the relationship between food and partisanship during the Early American Republic.

 

Her research, 鈥淢aking Politics Palatable: Food and Partisanship in the Early American Republic,鈥� examines how women participated in the history of politics through various nontraditional approaches such as planning parties and cooking elaborate, politically themed meals.

 

鈥淏y using the kitchen to investigate women鈥檚 support for political activities, my research aims to expand our understanding of what constituted political action in the early national United States,鈥� Arendt, self-described foodie and feminist, said. 鈥淭he New York Public Library has one of the most extensive collections of printed cookbooks in America, so it鈥檚 going to be really fun to get my hands on those.鈥�

 

The four-week fellowship provides a stipend to support travel expenses and four weeks of accommodation, a private working space in library's landmark building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan and full access to the incomparable research collections and online resources available there, as well as the assistance of the library鈥檚 curatorial and reference staff.

 

鈥淭his fellowship is a testament to Emily鈥檚 outstanding promise of research,鈥� History Department Chair Keith Edgerton said. 鈥淪he is continuing a strong tradition of scholarship we in the history program have fostered over the years.鈥�

 

Preference is given to scholars whose work is based on materials in the NYPL research collections, especially when those materials are unique, according to the library鈥檚 website. Fellows are expected to produce a written summary of his or her experience working the collections.

 

Arendt will be there for two weeks in July and two weeks in January.

 

鈥淯ntil you get in there, you never know what you鈥檒l discover,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is very much unchartered territory鈥攈ow food relates to politics. But, I argue that historically women played essential roles in the political landscape鈥攁s party planners, menu creators and cooks鈥攃reating spaces and events that drove partisan politics at both the elite and plebeian levels.鈥�

 

"Investigating the way in which women used the kitchen to engage in political activity will help to explain to what degree domestic activity had on public connotations and the importance of food culture as symbol and ritual in forging partisan political cultures," Arendt said.

 

Cooking in print culture emerged in the United States as a major phenomenon in the late 1700s with Amelia Simmons 鈥淎merican Cookery.鈥�

 

鈥淭his was during one of the most tumultuous periods in American history,鈥� Arendt said. 鈥淧eople are threatening civil war鈥nd you see that reflected in this and other manuscript cookbooks.鈥�

 

She draws upon recipes titled 鈥淔ederal Pudding鈥� and 鈥淓lection Day Cake鈥� as a way to explain the connection between food and politics.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a new way to look at women鈥檚 involvement in partisan disputes through domestic means,鈥� she said.

 

Arendt points to events such as the Revolution of 1800 and the War of 1812, representing times of national duress which were all accompanied by intense scrutiny of familial and political relationships.

 

鈥淭he dialogues that emerged from these deliberations created myriad ways of thinking about gender in the new nation and fashioned the intellectual apparatus necessary for either challenging or reinforcing patriarchal household relations.鈥�

 

Conversations were also sparked about the degree to which women ought to be involved in public life.

 

鈥淭here are many accounts of the history of American politics, but always written from a male perspective and by male participants. This is one way to bring women鈥檚 voices of historical documentation to the surface.鈥�