Paprika, Foie Gras, and Red Mud: The Politics of Materiality in the European Union

181 Pages·2016·2.445 MB·English

by  Zsuzsa Gille

PAPRIKA, FOIE GRAS, AND RED MUD
Global Research Studies is part of the Framing the Global
project, an initiative of Indiana University Press and the
Indiana University Center for the Study of Global Change,
funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Advisory Committee
Alfred C. Aman Jr.
Eduardo Brondizio
Maria Bucur
Bruce L. Jaffee
Patrick O’Meara
Radhika Parameswaran
Heidi Ross
Richard R. Wilk
PAPRIKA, FOIE GRAS, AND RED MUD
THE POLITICS OF MATERIALITY
IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
ZSUZSA GILLE
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington and Indianpolis
This book is a publication of The paper used in this publication meets
the minimum requirements of the Ameri-
Indiana University Press can National Standard for Information
Office of Scholarly Publishing Sciences–Permanence of Paper for Printed
Herman B Wells Library 350 Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA Manufactured in the
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Cataloging information is available
© 2016 by Zsuzsa Gille from the Library of Congress
All rights reserved 978-0-253-01938-7 (cloth)
978-0-253-01946-2 (paperback)
No part of this book may be reproduced 978-0-253-01950-9 (ebook)
or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the
publisher. The Association of American
University Presses’ Resolution on Per-
missions constitutes the only exception
to this prohibition. 1 2 3 4 5 21 20 19 18 17 16
To my children, Shara and Ábel,
and to the victims of the 2010 red mud disaster.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Hungary and the EU in the
Political and Scholarly Imagination . 1
1. The 2004 Hungarian Paprika Ban . 19
2. The 2008 Foie Gras Boycott . 45
3. Th e 2010 Red Mud Spill . 69
4. Neoliberalism, Molecularization,
and the Shift to Governance . 93
Conclusion: The Materialization of Politics . 112
Notes . 137
References . 147
Index . 163
vii
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thought this book would be easy to write. I certainly had written
about the three case studies and I certainly had an argument, and yet the
intricacies of connecting empirical findings to theory demanded that I
let this book ferment, as one would a barrel of good wine. Over the years
I was sustained in many ways—intellectually, financially, and emotion-
ally—by many people and organizations. Without them the book would
not have matured as I now see it has. For intellectual sustenance, inspira-
tion, and constructive comments on the cases and the thesis, I owe the
most gratitude to colleagues and mentors: Martha Lampland, Rachel
Schurman, Nicky Gregson, Michael Burawoy, Michael Goldman, Saskia
Sassen, Elizabeth Dunn, Katherine Verdery, Michael Kennedy, Yuson
Jung, Melissa Caldwell, Gyula Kasza, Jacob Klein, Harry West, Neringa
Klumbyte, Krisztina Fehérváry, Andrew Szasz, Michael Bell, Peter Jack-
son, Dace Dzenovska, and the Unit for Criticism collective at the Uni-
versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—especially Lauren Goodlad,
Michael Rothberg, and Jesse Ribot. Over the past few years, I benefited
greatly from conversations and passionate debates with, as I affectionately
refer to them, my “fellow fellows” of the Framing the Global endeavor at
Indiana University, Bloomington, especially Rachel Harvey, Hilary Kahn,
Michael Mascarenhas, Prakash Kumar, and Faranak Miraftab. I learned
the most, however, from exchanges with my former student who has now,
in a role reversal, become a mentor of sorts to me: Diana Mincyte. In ad-
dition, my arguments gained more precision from constructive criticism
ix