Odivelense Halal Project

Food as a public policy for social inclusion and educational integration for the local muslim community

Abstract

The focus of this article is the analysis of the sociocultural and educational impact established by the Halal Project of the Municipality of Odivelas which, involving the local muslim community, implemented in an un precedent way, an halal diet throughout its entire public school network. Seeking to outline and determine the sociocultural and educational benefits of this public policy for the targeted students and their families, medium-term ethnographic fieldwork was carried out. The anthropological investigation of this work resulted in meetings with the Odivelas City Council, with the Halal Institute of Portugal, participatory visits to school establishments and informal interviews with the families of the students covered, as well as the owners of local halal butchers. The analytical reflection of this project proves to be relevant for the anthropological discussion on halal food in Portugal, contradicting the scarce existing disciplinary studies on it, having food as its central point to work on social, identity and religious issues.