An Autoethnographic Exploration of Chinese Baijiu and Toasting Rituals

Abstract

Through an autoethnographically focussed gastronomic lens, and within a constructionist perspective, my dissertation explores baijiu and its toasting rituals. Key to that inquiry has been the ways in which my baijiu and toasting narratives ‘fit’ within wider realisations of Chinese socio-culture. Adding to those perspectives have been my lived experiences in China, and in Aotearoa New Zealand. Those locales have provided my work with a reflective space inasmuch as living in Aotearoa New Zealand has literally and figuratively provided distance. That distance has empowered my research, enabling me to question myself and my topic in more objective ways, rather than from a taken-for-granted mind- set. My research reveals not only the cultural dynamics of baijiu and its toasting, but also its spiritual realm. For me, baijiu and toasting signify a potent aide de memoir, transporting me back home, as it did particularly in times of homesickness when I lived in Aotearoa New Zealand. In those ways, my dissertation explores how material items like baijiu and its toasting rituals help people to make sense of their world and, in doing so, embody cultural practices. Within my research I distil my autoethnographic narratives into three central domains, namely: Interaction and the Socio-politics of Engagement; Self-identity and Comfort; and Adaptive Practice.

Within that amalgam, my dissertation contributes to a wider understanding and appreciation of how an individuals’ lived experiences not only contribute to wider cultural narratives, but also themes of identity, being and becoming. Please enjoy your reading journey!