Slow Living

(Paperback)

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Speed is the essence of the modern era, but our faster, more frenetic lives often trouble us and leave us wondering how we are meant to live in today's world. Slow Living explores the philosophy and politics of 'slowness' as it investigates the growth of Slow Food into a worldwide, 'eco-gastronomic' movement. Originating in Italy, Slow Food is not only committed to the preservation of traditional cuisines and sustainable agriculture but also the pleasures of the table and a slower approach to life in general. Craig and Parkins argue that slow living is a complex response to processes of globalization. It connects ethics and pleasure, the global and the local, as part of a new emphasis on everyday life in contemporary culture and politics. The 'global everyday' is not a simple tale of speed and geographical dislocation. Instead, we all negotiate different times and spaces that make our quality of life and an 'ethics of living' more pressing concerns. This innovative book shows how slow living is about the challenges of living a more mindful and pleasurable life.

Reviews

'Highly original, exciting and timely, 'Slow Living' really brings to the fore current academic and popular debates about postmaterialism and new traditionalism. In thinking through food, lifestyle and politics, it brings a unique contribution to the literature about globalization -- there is certainly no other book like it' Dr. David Bell, Sociology Department, Manchester Metropolitan University 'Slow Living examines the international Slow Food Movement from a cultural studies perspective as a case study of a broad socio-political practice aimed at a more deliberate, sustainable and pleasurable existence. It is a cutting-edge book that raises important questions about modern social movements and globalization' Carole Counihan, Professor of Anthropology, Millersville University and author of Around the Tuscan Table: Food, Family and Gender in Twentieth Century Florence 'An intelligent analysis of the stresses of contemporary society' Saturday Guardian 'Slow food can be read as part of a wider phenomenon ... involving a new culture of taste: a taste for genuine food and a taste for life involving much more than just food-tasting.' The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Vol 14, No 2, June 2008 'This analysis of 'slow living' is the first book-length study of the now international Slow Food movement.' Anthropological Notebooks, No 2, 2007

Author Bio

Wendy Parkins is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, University of Otago, New Zealand. She is the editor of Fashioning the Body Politic: Dress, Gender, Citizenship. Geoffrey Craig is Senior Lecturer in Political Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He is the author of The Media, Politics and Public Life.