Kitchenspace: Women, Fiestas, and Everyday Life in Central Mexico Women, Fiestas, and Everyday Life in Central Mexico

"This beautifully written book focuses on women's experiences in kitchenspace, an understudied social space in Mexico and throughout the world. Turning the pages of the book, I felt as if I were savoring a creation... The book documents the creative ways in which women deal with poverty and tears in family and community bonds in the context of migration and globalization. Like artists, the women in this book use objects and symbols to tell us to pay attention to the role of food in social life; their words and experiences have the effect of reminding us of important understandings we have mislaid or forgotten." Christine Eber, Associate Professor of Anthropology, New Mexico State University "In her book Kitchenspace, Maria Elisa Christie provides rich and compelling stories of social relationships and community celebrations focused on the everyday geographies of women's work and leisure... Christie weaves a tapestry of one unique corner of the world that will resonate with anyone intrigued by food as a gravitational center of human life... Kitchenspace is a major contribution to Latin American studies and to scholarship on relationships between humans and the natural environment. Written in lucid prose, this is an important read for students at all levels... The value of this book will continue to prove itself year after year, as scholars from seemingly disparate corners of academia turn to its sophisticated methodology and thought-provoking interpretations of the spaces where cooking happens, every day." - Emma Gaalaas Mullaney, Agriculture and Human Values Journal