Abstract
This article is based on 18 months of ethnographic field work in an elementary, middle, and high school cafeteria in the Midwest to analyze how school food service employees (i.e., lunch ladies) challenged and adhered to common portrayals of them in popular culture through the use of emotions. Utilizing Collins’ concept of “controlling images,” this article explores media representations of lunch ladies from television, film, literature and music to describe two reoccurring depictions—“the mother” and “the witch.” Then, by drawing on participant observation and interviews, this article shows how lunch ladies simultaneously challenge and adhere to these controlling images in their everyday work by invoking a range of emotions. Consequently, this article illustrates how lunch ladies can find meaning in this low-status, low-paying occupation, in a society that devalues and underpays feminized occupations.
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