Cooking Up Inequality: An Ethnographic Study of Racial Hierarchies in Miami's Restaurant Industry

Authors

Judith C. Williams, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Global and Sociocultural Studies

First Advisor's Name

Andrea J. Queeley

First Advisor's Committee Title

Co-Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Gail Hollander

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Co-Committee chair

Third Advisor's Name

Miranda Kitterlin

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Guillermo Grenier

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

race, racism, foodways, labor, gender, intersectionality, whiteness

Date of Defense

3-26-2021

Abstract

Racial inequality is a significant problem in the US Restaurant Industry. In Miami, a tropical tourist destination with a majority Latinx population, restaurants serve as a site of multiculturalism, and are promoted by officials as a place where visitors can enjoy ethnic food and culture. However, these same locations of diversity are also spaces where whiteness is normalized as superior and racial hierarchies ensue. Previous studies have documented racism in the restaurant industry but fail to address the intersectional complexities that arise when race is layered with gender, class, nationality, language, and sexual orientation.

Drawing from a 13-month ethnographic study of restaurant workers in Miami, this dissertation examines the shifting dynamics of racial hierarchies within a majority Latinx workforce. Using interviews, focus groups, participant observation and cultural domain analysis, this dissertation details the lived racial experiences of workers in Miami’s restaurant industry. In my discussion and analysis of these experiences, I argue that in Miami’s restaurant industry, US racial categories of Black and White, have been expanded into a ternary system of Black, White and what I refer to as “White Adjacency”; those whose intersectional position within the racial hierarchy gives them proximity to the power and privilege of whiteness.

Findings from this study also suggest a shift in the racial marking of restaurant jobs in Miami, as ethnocentric Black women are increasingly placed in front of the house, guest facing positions as “Maître Divas” who also serve as the face of the restaurant. This dissertation research contributes to the Anthropology of Race, and Critical Race Theory with an analysis of whiteness and intersectionality in Latinx restaurant labor.

Identifier

FIDC009714

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1863-7600

Recommended Citation

Williams, Judith C., "Cooking Up Inequality: An Ethnographic Study of Racial Hierarchies in Miami's Restaurant Industry" (2021). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4617.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4617