The Geopolitics of Hunger and NGOs
Joseph Lee, T'04 Spanish, Duke University
Fall 2003
The founder
of Tufts' Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy declared, "Nutrition
is not a discipline, it is an agenda." So, too, however is the work for hunger -- from Stalin's "terror-famine"
in Ukraine to Milosevic's ban on 27 staple
foods in Kosovo Albanians' shops. This course will explore the politics of hunger from complicity
in how food stamp and welfare policies are created to intra-household food
distribution to the purposeful creation of famine for political and even genocidal
ends.
[4]
There are no longer natural famines. Politics, very simply, affect hunger.
Of course, "this finding is no longer shocking," as have noted Ellen Messer
and Laurie DeRose in relation to the political use of food aid; however, we
will seek a deeper study and a better understanding of the politics at play.
With 786 million food poor people in the world, these questions transcend disciplines
and continue to be paramount, even if sometimes ignored, in politics and policy.
To
best undertake this exploration the class will be divided into five
interlocking segments:
1.
The
global causes of hunger -- famine caused by politics or by population and
environmental factors. This
fundamental discussion begins the class with the polemic of how politics affect
the perception of hunger.
2.
The
mechanics of using hunger for political ends. This section, which could be titled "how to do things with
hunger," uses specific examples to illustrate how hunger has been and is being
used for geopolitical goals.
3.
The
political aspects of humanitarian aid and the emergence of the "new
humanitarianism," we will explore how those working against hunger find
themselves in precarious positions of complicity with prolonging conflict, lost
neutrality, and government manipulation.
4.
Rights
to food and their manifestation through food stamps and welfare programs, what
shapes the public policy against hunger and is there a universal human right to
food? Is there are dark side to
food banks?
5.
The
power of image and invisibility in working both for and against hunger, "famine
denied is famine concealed," but what role do the media
play? How is image used against hunger?
How is image manipulated for hunger and power?
Additionally, several professors will be asked to bring their own
insights and research to the class.
Intra-class dynamics will include small amounts of outside research in
the form of finding related current events, presentations of the material by
groups, and discussion.
Welcome and Course Details
- Monday, September 1,
2003, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.: Welcome and
Introduction to the Class
- Participation: Throughout the class
small groups will present our reading, begin discussions, and share
findings. In order to
participate effectively, readings must be done before class. This avoids the rote reiteration
of readings and allows instead for analysis, criticism, and further
thought.
- Attendance: One of the 12 classes
may be missed without penalty; however, any additional absences require a
two-page paper analyzing the readings for each absence turned in by
the following class.
- Assignments and Grading: This is a pass/fail 1/2-credit house
course. A five-page final paper on a related topic of your choosing
is due on the final day of class. Grades will be determined in the following manner: 70%
final paper, 15% participation, 15% presentation(s).
- Contact Information:
jose.lee@duke.edu (e) http://www.duke.edu/web/ddha/geopolitics/ (w)
- Introductions
- Division of class into
groups for the Marx/Malthus debate in following class -- argue the side
with which you do not agree.
- View (part or all) of
1968 CBS Special Report "Hunger in America"
Segment One: How
Politics Affect the Perception of Hunger
- Monday, September 8,
2003: The Beginning Argument: [Neo-] Marx versus [Neo-] Malthus, plus
why everything is political (post-structuralism abridged).
- Malthus,
Thomas. An Essay on the Principle of Population. Project Gutenberg
Etext, 2003. <http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03/prppl10.txt>.
Read Chapters I and II. (10 pages)
- Fish, Stanley. "There's
No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It's a Good Thing, Too." There's No
Such Thing As Free Speech. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Pages 102-119. (17 pages)
- Fish, Stanley.
"Condemnation Without Absolutes." New York Times 15 Oct. 2001:
A19. (2 pages)
- Seaton, Richard M.,
comp. Hunger in Groups: An Artic Experiment. Chicago:
Quartermaster Food and Container Institute for the Armed Forces.
Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command, U.S. Army. QMFCIAF Report
No. 34-62. Interim Report: August 1962.
- Chapter One:
Introduction, pages 1-5. (5 pages)
- Chapter Two:
Theoretical Considerations and Test Purposes, pages 6-9. (4 pages)
- Social Effects of
Hunger: Interaction, pages 61-65. (5 pages)
- DeLong, J. Bradford. "The
Real Shopping-Cart Revolution." WIRED 3 (2003): 086. (1 page)
- Visit: Negative Population
Growth. "Malthusian Bicentennial: Celebrating the Bicentennial of
Malthus' Original Population Essay." <http://www.npg.org/projects/malthus/malthus_index.htm>.
- Brunel, Sylvie. "Are There Still 'Natural'
Famines?" The Geopolitics of Hunger, 2000-2001: Hunger and Power.
Ed. Action Against Hunger. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001. Pages
149-155.
- Class debate: Marx
versus Malthus.
Segment Two: Hunger as
Power
- Monday, September 15,
2003: Starvation into Submission -- Historical Precedents
- Conquest, Robert.
"Assault on the Ukraine, 1930-32" and "The Famine Rages." The Harvest
of Sorrow. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Pages 215-259.
- Messer, Ellen. "Chapter
Six: Conflict as a Cause of Hunger." Who's Hungry? And How Do We Know?.
Eds. DeRose, Laurie F., Ellen Messer, and Sara Millman. Tokyo: United
Nations University Press, 1998, 164-179. (16 pages)
- Bring in and be
prepared to talk about a web site about past famines (1980s or earlier)
illustrating the historical use of hunger.
- Monday, September 22,
2003: Hunger as a Contemporary Weapon
- Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations. Rapidly Deteriorating Food Situation in West
Bank and Gaza Strip. 15 Apr. 2002. 30 Jan. 2003 <http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/faoinfo/economic/giews/english/alertes/2002/Sa321Pal.htm>.
(2 Pages)
- "Survey Finds High
Rates of Malnutrition and Anemia in the West Bank and Gaza Strip."
CARE USA. 05 Aug. 2002. 30 Jan. 2003 <http://www.careusa.org/newsroom/pressreleases/2002/aug/08082002_gaza.asp>.
(1 Page)
- Messer, Ellen. Food
Wars: Hunger as a Weapon of War in 1990. Research Report. Providence,
Rhode Island: Alan Shawn Feinstein World Hunger Program, 1991. Pages
1-38.
- Lefort, Pascal. "Sierra
Leone: Food at the Heart of the Conflict." The Geopolitics of Hunger,
2000-2001: Hunger and Power. Ed. Action Against Hunger. Boulder:
Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001. Pages 3-10.
- Sen, Amartya. "Freedom
Favors Development." New Perspectives Quarterly 13 (1996) 4:
23-27. (6 pages)
- Lee, Richard. "Food
as a Weapon." Conference on Bioterrorism and Food Protection. <http://www.litigation.support.ene.com/bioterrorism>.
- Watts, Johnathan.
"North Korea's Stance Unravels Years of Work by Relief Agencies: North Korea
Increases Tension with International Community While Its People Suffer
the Consequences." The Lancet. 361 (2003) 9359: 760.
- Bring in and be
prepared to talk about a web site on a contemporary conflict in which
hunger is being used.
Segment Three: The "New
Humanitarianism" and [Post-] Modern Crises
- Monday, September 29,
2003: Food Aid -- Who is Aided?
- Ignatieff, Michael.
"The Warrior's Honor." The Warrior's Honor. New York: Owl Books,
1997. Pages 109-163.
- Brunel, Sylvie. "The
Birth of Responsible Humanitarianism." The Geopolitics of Hunger,
2000-2001: Hunger and Power. Ed. Action Against Hunger. Boulder:
Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001. Pages 241-244.
- Rubin, Barnett R.
"Foreward: Hunger and the New Humanitarianism." The Geopolitics of
Hunger, 2000-2001: Hunger and Power. Ed. Action Against Hunger.
Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001. Pages ix -- xi.
- Littell, Jonathan.
"Food Aid to Russia: Welcome or Unwelcome?" The Geopolitics of Hunger,
2000-2001: Hunger and Power. Ed. Action Against Hunger. Boulder:
Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001. Pages 283-301.
- Monday, October 6,
2003: Gender, Culture, and the Politics of Intra-household Food
Distribution
- Millman, Sara R. and
Laurie F. DeRose. "Chapter Five: Food Deprivation." Who's Hungry? And
How Do We Know?. Eds. DeRose, Laurie F., Ellen Messer, and Sara
Millman. Tokyo: United
Nations University Press, 1998. 131-160. (29 pages)
- Counihan, Carole.
"Food, Culture, and Gender." The Anthropology of Food and Body:
Gender, Meaning, and Power. New York: Routledge, 1999. Pages 6-24.
- FAO Women and
Population Division, Sustainable Development Department. "Rural Women and
the Right to Food." The Right to Food in Theory and Practice. Ed.
Author. Rome: Author, 1998. Pages 35-39.
Segment Four: A Universal Chicken in
Every Pot?
- Monday, October 20,
2003: Race, Poverty, and Hunger
- Shields, David L. L.
"What Color is Hunger?" The Color of Hunger: Race and Hunger in
National and International Perspective. Ed. David L. L. Shields.
Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1995. Pages 1-11.
- Tingling-Clemmons,
Michele. "The Face of Hunger in America." The Color of Hunger: Race
and Hunger in National and International Perspective. Ed. David L. L.
Shields. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1995.
Pages 15-23.
- Mpanya, Mutombo.
"Stereotypes of Africa in U. S. Hunger Appeals." The Color of Hunger:
Race and Hunger in National and International Perspective. Ed. David
L. L. Shields. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
1995. Pages 25-32.
- Shields, David L. L.
"Race and Poverty in the Psychology of Prejudice." The Color of
Hunger: Race and Hunger in National and International Perspective.
Ed. David L. L. Shields. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, 1995. Pages 35-51.
- Fountain, John W. "In Trenches of a War on Unyielding Poverty." New
York Times 29 Sept. 2002: Section 1/Page 1 Late Edition. (6 Pages)
- Waldman, Amy. "India's
Poor Starve as Wheat Rots." New York Times 02 Dec. 2002: Internet
Article.
- Monday, October 27,
2003: The Politics of Food Stamps and Welfare
- Rank, Mark R. and
Thomas A. Hirschl. "The Food Stamp Program and Hunger: Constructing Three
Different Claims." Eating Agendas: Food and Nutrition as Social
Problems. Eds. Donna Maurer and Jeffery Sobal. New York: Aldine de
Gruyter, 1995. Pages 241-256.
- Schlosser, Eric.
"Behind the Counter." Fast Food Nation. New York: HarperCollins,
2002. Pages 58-88.
- Poppendieck, Janet.
"Introduction." Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of
Entitlement. New York: Penguin, 1998. Pages 1-19.
- Monday, November 3,
2003: Food as a Universal Human Right (or not?)
- FAO. "Extracts from
International Instruments." The Right to Food in Theory and Practice.
Ed. Author. Rome: Author, 1998. Pages 46-48.
- FAO. The Right to
Food in Theory and Practice. Ed. Author. Rome: Author, 1998. Pages
v-ix.
- Eide, Asbjørn.
"The Right to Food: from Vision to Substance." For an Effective
Right to Adequate Food. Eds Marco Borghi and Letizia Postiglione Blommestein.
Fribourg, Switzerland: University Press Fribourg Switzerland, 2002. Pages
27-50.
- Selections and
testimony from the 1976 hearings on a right to food resolution before the
Subcommittee on International Resources, Food, and Energy of the
Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives. (94th
Congress' Second Session: H. Con. Res. 393.)
Segment Five: "A Deep
Pastiche of Images" -- Representing or Denying Hunger
- Monday, November 10,
2003: Image [Power] and the Invisible Famine
- Usherenko, Yakov. How
Soviet Power Put an End to Hunger. Moscow: Novosti Press Agency Publishing
House, 1979. Pages 3-48.
- Kelleher, Margaret.
"Introduction." The Feminization of Famine. Durham: Duke
University Press, 1997. Pages 1-11.
- Kelleher, Margaret.
"Literature of the Bengal Famine." The Feminization of Famine.
Durham: Duke University Press, 1997. Pages 162-210.
- Monday, November 17,
2003: The Politics of Ending Hunger
- Monday, December 1,
2003: Conclusions
- Final paper due -- 5
pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman or Ariel, 1" margins. No late papers accepted.
- Roy, Arundhati. "The
Ladies Have Feelings, So, Shall We Leave It to the Experts?" and
"Power Politics: The Reincarnation of Rumpelstiltskin." Power
Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2001. Pages 1-86.
- Course evaluations