Do Thais Eat Dogs? Thai Migrant Workers in Israel and the Dog Meat Eating Myth
Keywords:
this article, based on ethnographic research conducted in Israel’s rural periphery and on critical media analysis, I argue that the dog eating myth has very little to do with the Thai culinary preferences in Thailand or Israel, and was actually formulated by the Israelis so as to relegate the Thais, members of the new global class of cheap laborers, into a specific social position in the Israeli power-structure so as to justify their economic exploitation. Thus, dog meat was singled out as the basis for this derogatory myth because of the meaning and social positions attributed by Israelis to dogs. Key words: Thai migrant workers; dog meat; Israel; food stereotypes
Abstract
Israelis accuse Thai migrant workers, who make for the bulk of the workforce of Israeli agriculture, for eating the flesh of Israeli pet dogs. However, eating dog meat is unacceptable in Thailand, while the accusations of eating dog meat in Israel have no material support. Why then are Israelis so adamant that the Thai migrant workers systematically hunt and eat their dogs. In this article, based on ethnographic research conducted in Israel’s rural periphery and on critical media analysis, I argue that the dog eating myth has very little to do with the Thai culinary preferences in Thailand or Israel, and was actually formulated by the Israelis so as to relegate the Thais, members of the new global class of cheap laborers, into a specific social position in the Israeli power-structure so as to justify their economic exploitation. Thus, dog meat was singled out as the basis for this derogatory myth because of the meaning and social positions attributed by Israelis to dogs.
References
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Shoham, Shahar (2017) Pickers and Packers: Translocal Narratives of Returning Thai Agriculture Labour Migrants from Israel. MA thesis, Berlin: Humboldt-Universität.
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Smooha, S. (2008) The mass immigrations to Israel: A comparison of the failure of the Mizrahi immigrants of the 1950s with the success of the Russian immigrants of the 1990s. Journal of Israeli History, 27(1), pp.1-27.
Somnasang, P., Moreno, G. and Chusil, K. (1998) Indigenous knowledge of wild food hunting and gathering in North-East Thailand. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 19(4), 359-365.
Tambiah, S. (1969) Animals are good to think and good to prohibit. Ethnology, 8(4), 423-459.
Trupp, A. (2015) Agency, social capital, and mixed embeddedness among Akha ethnic minority street vendors in Thailand's tourist areas. SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 30(3), 780-818.
Wu, F. (2002). The best ‘Chink’ food: Dog eating and the dilemma of diversity. Gastronomica, 2(2), 38-45.
Adams, C. (1998) Eating animals. In R. Scapp and B. Seitz (Eds.), Eating Culture. Albany: State University of New York Press. Pp. 60-75.
Avieli, N. (2011) Dog meat politics in a Vietnamese town. Ethnology: An International Journal of Cultural and Social Anthropology, 50,1: 59-78.
Avieli, N. (2018) Food and Power: A Culinary Ethnography of Israel. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bartram, D. V. (1998) Foreign Workers in Israel: History and Theory. International Migration Review, 32 (2), 303-325.
Cohen, E. (1999) Agricultural workers from Thailand in Israel. In R. Nathanson and L. Achdut (Eds.), The new workers, wage earners from foreign countries in Israel. Jerusalem: Hakibbutz Hameuchad [Hebrew]. Pp. 155–204.
Cohen, A. Kurlander, Y. (2023) Agriculture as a Site of Trafficking in Persons, Modern Slavery and Forced Labor: Between Migrant Recruitment and Worker Rights. Law, Society & Culture, 1: 239-264.
Fessler, D. M. and Navarrete, C. D. (2003) Meat is good to taboo: Dietary proscriptions as a product of the interaction of psychological mechanisms and social processes. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 3(1), 1-40.
Fiddes, N. (1991/2004) Meat: A Natural Symbol. London: Routledge.
Harris, M. (1998) Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture. Long Grove: Waveland.
Kaminer, M. (2019) By the Sweat of Other Brows: Thai Migrant Labor and the Transformation of Israeli Settler Agriculture. PhD dissertation, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
Khazoom, A. (2003) The great chain of orientalism: Jewish identity, stigma management, and ethnic exclusion in Israel. American Sociological Review, 68(4), 481-510.
Kurlander, Y. )2022 (On the Establishment of the Agricultural Migration Industry in Israel's Countryside. Geography Research Forum (GRF), 21, 19-34
Kurlander, Y. and Cohen, A. (2022) BLAs as Sites for the Meso-Level Dynamics of Institutionalization: A Cross-Sectoral Comparison. Theoretical Inquiries in Law, 23(2), 246-265.
Kurlander, Y. and Zimmerman, I. )2022( "Suitable Accommodation" for Agricultural and Caregivers Migrants Before and After Covid-19. Hagira, Vol. 12 [Hebrew].
Kushnirovich, N., and Raijman R. )2019) The impact of bilateral agreements on labor migration to Israel: A comparison of migrant workers who arrived before and after the implementation of bilateral agreements. Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI), Ruppin Academic Center
Leepreecha, P. (2005) The politics of ethnic tourism in northern Thailand. Workshop on Mekong Tourism: Learning Across Borders, 25, 1-18.
http://www.akha.org/content/tourismecotourism/ethnictourism.pdf sampled 21/9/23
Maneeprasert, R. (1989) “Women and children first”? A review of the current nutritional status in the highlands. In J. McKinnon and B. Vienne (Eds.), Hill Tribes Today. Bangkok: White Lotus-Orstom, 143-158.
Mauss, M. (2002) The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Abingdon: Routledge.
Niezna, M., Kurlander, Y and Shamir, H. )2021( Underlying conditions: The Increased Vulnerability of Migrant Workers Under COVID-19 in Israel. Journal of Modern Slavery: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Human Trafficking Solutions, 6(2), 133.
Oliver, C. (2023) Mock meat, masculinity, and redemption narratives: Vegan men’s negotiations and performances of gender and eating. Social movement studies, 22(1), pp.62-79.
Raijman, R. and Kushnirovich, N. (2015) Recruitment of migrant workers in agriculture and construction in Israel: The impact of bilateral agreements. Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI), Ruppin Academic Center.
Ram, U. (1993) Israeli Society: Critical Perspectives. Tel Aviv: Breirot. [Hebrew]
Rosenhek, Z. (2000) Migration regimes, intra-state conflicts, and the politics of exclusion and inclusion: Migrant workers in the Israeli welfare state. Social Problems, 47(1), 49-67.
Sahlins, M. (1991) La Pensée Bourgeoise. In Mukerji, C. and Schudson, M.(eds) Rethinking Popular Culture: Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 278-288.
Setalaphruk, C. and Price, L.L. (2007) Children's traditional ecological knowledge of wild food resources: A case study in a rural village in Northeast Thailand. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 3(1), 1.
Shir‐Vertesh, D. (2012) “Flexible personhood”: Loving animals as family members in
Israel. American Anthropologist, 114,3: 420-432.
Shoham, Shahar (2017) Pickers and Packers: Translocal Narratives of Returning Thai Agriculture Labour Migrants from Israel. MA thesis, Berlin: Humboldt-Universität.
Shvarzberg, Z., (2023) Landscapes in migration: The Gardens of Thai Agricultural Migrants in Central Israel. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.
Smooha, S. (2008) The mass immigrations to Israel: A comparison of the failure of the Mizrahi immigrants of the 1950s with the success of the Russian immigrants of the 1990s. Journal of Israeli History, 27(1), pp.1-27.
Somnasang, P., Moreno, G. and Chusil, K. (1998) Indigenous knowledge of wild food hunting and gathering in North-East Thailand. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 19(4), 359-365.
Tambiah, S. (1969) Animals are good to think and good to prohibit. Ethnology, 8(4), 423-459.
Trupp, A. (2015) Agency, social capital, and mixed embeddedness among Akha ethnic minority street vendors in Thailand's tourist areas. SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 30(3), 780-818.
Wu, F. (2002). The best ‘Chink’ food: Dog eating and the dilemma of diversity. Gastronomica, 2(2), 38-45.
Published
2024-04-01
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