Congratulations to alumna Gwynne E. Mapes,’08!
Mapes’s book Elite Authenticity: Remaking Distinction in Food Discourse was published in June 2021 by Oxford University Press in their distinguished Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics series.
Oxford University Press describes the book: “In Elite Authenticity, Gwynne Mapes integrates theories of mediatization, materiality, and authenticity in order to explore the discursive production of elite status and class inequality in food discourse. Relying on a range of methodological approaches, Mapes examines restaurant reviews and articles published in the New York Times food section; a collection of Instagram posts from @nytfood; ethnographically-informed fieldwork in four renowned Brooklyn, NY, restaurants; and a recorded dinner conversation with six food-enthusiasts. Across these varied genres of data, she demonstrates how a discourse of ‘elite authenticity’ represents a particular surfacing of rhetorical maneuvers in which distinction is orchestrated, avowed/disavowed, and circulated.”
Mapes earned a B.A. in English from the University of Mary Washington in May 2008.
