| dc.description.abstract | Drawing on a long history of ideas centring around Mexican food, discourse analysis
techniques and identity theories, this study aims to show the representation of authenticity
found in comments on Youtube videos depicting Mexican or Mexican style recipes. We
wanted to know where the discussion on authenticity began, how it was expressed and to
what extent a national recipe was linked to notions of authenticity. We also looked into how
identity was expressed and constructed through the discourse in the comments, and
attempted to explain the emotionally charged responses that we found. We employed basic
quantitative analysis methods to form an annotated corpus of 524 comments that we then
analysed qualitatively, searching for emergent themes and elements that could help us to
answer our questions. We found that authenticity was an important factor in the comment
section of all of the videos regardless of the original creator’s intent – whether they
mentioned the authenticity of the recipe or not. Furthermore, those in the comment section
who were making arguments based on their own authenticity always referred back to
Mexico in order to do so, which confirms prior research. “Mexicanidad” or Mexican identity
was shown to be expressed in sometimes stereotypical ways, and we found that the
commentors often implied that if one could master certain culinary techniques, one could
gain access to “mexicanidad” and, conversely, if a Mexican leaves Mexico, he loses these
skills. Therefore, the authenticity of one’s identity and culinary prowess depends heavily on
connections to Mexico. While Youtube is known for its angry comment section, we found
that nostalgia and family were important when the commentors viewed the recipe in a
sympathetic light. Negative emotional reactions were strongest when commentors reacted
to others who criticised the recipe with no grounding – which could explain the need for
authenticity argumentation. | |
