The New Political Communication Unit is hosting an interactive an interactive workshop with Professor Daniel Monterescu from the Central European University on the subject of conflict wines on 19 September 2019. This continues our research focus on identity narratives and how they are produced not just by political leaders but by a range of actors in any country.

The workshop/wine tasting will be based on Prof Monterescu's recent work on gastro-politics that focused on claims of indigeneity through the viticultural field in Palestine-Israel and on the Tokaj trade in historical memory (read about this here and here) and other forthcoming work. You can also check out Monterescu's groundbreaking work about the intergenerational marginalisation of radical voices here. In one piece of great relevance to this workshop Monterescu wrote:

"The discourse of terroir has seeped into Israeli and Palestinian wine culture since boutique wineries emerged in the 1990s, playing a major role in narrating the special history of the land. Terroir thus becomes a political project of establishing a quality space that transcends the capitalist logic of the consumer market.

The Zionist claim, which can be described as “a terroir without people for a people without terroir,” seeks to write out non-Jewish narratives. In contrast to the production of other agricultural commodities, such as olives, wheat, and tomatoes, wine production is framed in the Israeli discourse exclusively in terms of Jewish history. The omnipresence of wine in the Bible and in Jewish tradition, coupled with the Muslim prohibition on drinking it, perfectly pairs the teleological story of wine with hegemonic Zionist motifs: from ancient sovereignty, exile, and return to modern sovereignty, creation, and innovation..."

The workshop is by invitation only.