{"id":37538,"date":"2026-07-26T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/article\/table-as-social-language-food-norms-al-jahiz-kenanah\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:00:00","slug":"table-as-social-language-food-norms-al-jahiz-kenanah","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/article\/table-as-social-language-food-norms-al-jahiz-kenanah\/","title":{"rendered":"The Table as a Social Language: Food and Norms in al-\u01e6\u0101\u1e25i\u1e93"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Abstract<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Published in French in the journal <em>Mots et mondes. Revue d&#8217;\u00e9tudes litt\u00e9raires, linguistiques et sociolinguistiques<\/em> (Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh), in the issue &#8220;Nourriture et signification : pratiques, discours et formes&#8221; (Food and Meaning: Practices, Discourses and Forms) edited by Rajaa Babalahcen (vol. 2, no. 1, 2026, pp. 99-116), this article by <a href=\"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/chercheur\/faisal-kenanah\/\"><strong>Faisal Kenanah<\/strong><\/a>, Senior Lecturer in Arabic Studies at the University of Caen Normandy, analyses food in the Abbasid period as a social and discursive phenomenon through the <em>Kit\u0101b al-Bu\u1e2bal\u0101\u02be<\/em> (<em>The Book of Misers<\/em>) by al-\u01e6\u0101\u1e25i\u1e93 (d. 255\/868).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In large cities such as Baghdad and Basra, the table was a codified space: explicit invitations, expected reciprocity, care in presenting dishes, management of leftovers, Friday gatherings, and the communal Ramadan meals in which non-Muslims also took part. Accepting invitations without ever returning them, rationing portions, refusing to invite, or bringing along a &#8220;guest&#8217;s guest&#8221; all appear as social faults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Al-\u01e6\u0101\u1e25i\u1e93 turns these practices into a satirical device. The miser, the central figure of the book, tries to evade the obligations of sharing while keeping the prestige of hospitality. To shed light on these scenes, the author draws selectively on Marcel Mauss (gift and counter-gift), Roland Barthes (food as a system of signs) and Pierre Bourdieu (table manners as instruments of distinction between elites and commoners, between city dwellers and Bedouins).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, the article highlights the role of language: by cataloguing the abundant vocabulary used for &#8220;those who eat badly&#8221;, al-\u01e6\u0101\u1e25i\u1e93 shows that at the table, naming is already judging. <em>Adab<\/em> literature thus develops a satirical anthropology of taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The article is freely available on the <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34874\/PRSM.mm-vol2issI.12459\"><strong>journal website<\/strong><\/a> (DOI 10.34874\/PRSM.mm-vol2issI.12459).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37531,"template":"","class_list":["post-37538","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"date_tournage":"2026-07-26","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Table as a Social Language: Food and Norms in al-\u01e6\u0101\u1e25i\u1e93 - Pluriel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/article\/table-as-social-language-food-norms-al-jahiz-kenanah\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Table as a Social Language: Food and Norms in al-\u01e6\u0101\u1e25i\u1e93 - Pluriel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abstract Published in French in the journal Mots et mondes. 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