Joby Williams

Ironies of waste in the specialist cheese industry
Supervisor: Nicky Gregson

My research focuses on the waste generated during the production, distribution, retail and consumption of speciality cheeses.

I trace the circulation of cheese throughout these processes, and offer a critique an academic literature that excludes or ignores those items and resources that slip through a paradigmatic commodity chain or network. I consider the social and cultural forces that lead us to deem certain items "successful" products – and therefore worthy of discourse – and consigns others to the bin.

This research is part of the ESRC-funded Waste of the World project.

Research interests

Material culture
Organic / "Ethical" foodstuffs
Sites of transgression in retail

Previous Research

MA Material and Visual Culture, UCL (2006). Dissertation: An Ethnographic Appraisal of Specialist Cheese Consumption
BA Hispanic Studies, The University of Nottingham (2001). Dissertation: The Role of Women in Red in Pedro Almodóvar's 'Todo Sobre Mi Madre'

Contact Details

Email: ggp07jcw@sheffield.ac.uk