Books by Michael Owen Jones

Tackles topics often overlooked in foodways. Michael Owen Jones explains how we communicate through what we eat, the connection between food choice and who we are or want to appear to be, the ways that many of us self-medicate moods with foods, and the nature of disgust.

Concentrating on the work of one man, woodworker and chairmaker Chester Cornett, Jones not only describes the tools and techniques employed by Cornett but also his aspirations and values. Cornett sought to cope with the problems of his life, Jones maintains;

The first book of its kind, Putting Folklore to Use provides guidance to folklorists but also informs practitioners in other fields about how to use folklore studies to augment their own studies.

The author discusses the most obvious symbolic aspects of organizations - corporate logos, office sizes, use of titles - as well as focusing on the more subtle aspect of expressive forms of symbolism such as storytelling, institutional jargon and workplace personalization, among others.