Dr Imogen Bevan, Research Fellow in Social Anthropology at University of Edinburgh and IASH affiliate 2023-24, recently showcased her research on BBC Radio 4 podcast ‘Thinking Allowed’, episode ‘Sugar’. In this episode, Imogen considers the bittersweet nature of sugar consumption and kinship in Scotland. During extensive fieldwork in primary schools, homes and community groups, she traced the values and meanings attributed to sugar – its role in cementing social bonding, marking out special occasions and offering rewards to children, in particular. Far from being a simple and pleasurable choice, she found it often had a fraught, morally ambivalent presence in family life.
Visit here to listen, BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Sugar