Confronting Hunger in the USA: Searching for Community Empowerment and Food Security in Food Access Programs

179 Pages·2017·6.538 MB·English

by  Adam M. Pine

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Confronting Hunger in the USA
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4 Food insecurity in the US is a critical issue that is experienced by approximately
2 15% of the population each year. Hunger is not caused by an inability to produce
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3 enough food for the population, but is instead a manifestation of federal agricultural
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3 policies that support the overproduction of commodity crops and neoliberal social
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t policies that seek to lower the amount of benefits dispersed to those in need. This
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] book focuses on how four different food-based community programs address both
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g the physical sensation of hunger as well as the political and economic
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Di disempowerment that work against the ability of people experiencing food
n insecurity to mobilize as a political force.
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S Confronting Hunger in the USA argues that most food programs do more to
a, create community among their volunteers than among program participants and
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n tend to reinforce neoliberal understandings of citizenship. Community food
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f programs reach out to the most vulnerable members of society in caring and gentle
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al ways and often use the language of alternative economies to articulate a different
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relationship between the individual and the state. However, the projects in this
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y study act as individual pieces of the state’s insufficient social safety net and are
t only beginning to articulate a new relationship between food and society.
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i Adam M. Pine is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Urban,
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U Environment and Sustainability Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth,
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Critical Food Studies
Series editor: Michael K. Goodman
University of Reading, UK
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4 The study of food has seldom been more pressing or prescient. From the
2 intensifying globalization of food, a world-wide food crisis and the continuing
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3 inequalities of its production and consumption, to food’s exploding media
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3 presence, and its growing re-connections to places and people through ‘alternative
2
t food movements’, this series promotes critical explorations of contemporary food
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] cultures and politics. Building on previous but disparate scholarship, its overall
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g aims are to develop innovative and theoretical lenses and empirical material in
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Di order to contribute to – but also begin to more fully delineate – the confines and
n confluences of an agenda of critical food research and writing.
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S Of particular concern are original theoretical and empirical treatments of the
a, materialisations of food politics, meanings and representations, the shifting
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n political economies and ecologies of food production and consumption and the
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f growing transgressions between alternative and corporatist food networks.
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f For a full list of titles in this series, please visit
o https://www.routledge.com/Critical-Food-Studies/book-series/CFS
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r Careful Eating: Bodies, Food and Care
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i Edited by Emma-Jayne Abbots, Anna Lavis and Luci Attala
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y Food Pedagogies
b Edited by Rick Flowers and Elaine Swan
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a Food and Media
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nl Practices, Distinctions and Heterotopias
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Edited by Jonatan Leer and Karen Klitgaard Povlsen
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Confronting Hunger in the USA
Searching for Community Empowerment and Food Security in Food
Access Programs
Adam M. Pine
Confronting Hunger
in the USA
Searching for Community
Empowerment and Food Security
7 in Food Access Programs
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2 Adam M. Pine
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First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Adam M. Pine
The right of Adam M. Pine to be identified as author of this work has been
7 asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
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0 Designs and Patents Act 1988.
2
y All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
a utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
M known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
4 any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
2 from the publishers.
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3 Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
3: registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
2 without intent to infringe.
t
a
] British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
o A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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e Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
i
D Names: Pine, Adam, 1975- author.
n Title: Confronting hunger in the USA : searching for community
a empowerment and food security in food access programs / Adam M. Pine.
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a, DInecslcurdiepsti boinb:l Aiobgirnagpdhoicna,l Orexfoenre ;n Nceesw a nYdo irnkd, eNxY. : Routledge, 2016. |
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n Identifiers: LCCN 2016001729| ISBN 9781472411198 (hardback) |
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o ISBN 9781472411204 (e-book)
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li Subjects: LCSH: Food relief--United States. | Hunger--United States. |
Ca Food security--United States--Citizen participation. | Community-based
f social services--United States.
o Classification: LCC HV696.F6 P56 2016 | DDC 363.8/830973--dc23LC
y record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016001729
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er ISBN: 978-1-4724-1119-8 (hbk)
v ISBN: 978-1-315-57342-7 (ebk)
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Typeset in Times New Roman
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Contents
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4 List of Illustrations vi
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5 List of Abbreviations vii
3 Acknowledgments ix
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] 1 The Struggle to Build Community and Feed Society 1
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Di 2 Food Security, the Industrial Food System, and Community
n in the US 28
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ia, 3 Creating Community and Empowerment in Community-based
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r Food Programs 48
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C 4 The Emerging Alternative Economies in Community-based
of Food Programs 80
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r 5 Neoliberalism and the Porous Continuum of Care for the
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v Food Insecure 111
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y 6 Looking for Paths to Food Access and Solidarity 135
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a Bibliography 154
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l Index 167
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Illustrations
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4 Figures
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5 1.1 City of Duluth 5
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: 1.2 Population of Duluth, 1870–2010 6
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e 1.1 Food Distinctions between Ruby’s Food Pantry, SHARE, CHUM,
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and Seeds of Success 12
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a 1.2 Labor Distinctions between Ruby’s Food Pantry, SHARE, CHUM,
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a, and Seeds of Success 13
i 1.3 Participant Experience Distinctions between Ruby’s Food Pantry,
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or SHARE, CHUM, and Seeds of Success 13
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i 1.4 Ideological Distinctions between Ruby’s Food Pantry, SHARE,
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C CHUM, and Seeds of Success 15
of 2.1 Main Federal Food Support Programs. Source: Food Research
y Action Center, State of the States Report, 2008 34
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si 3.1 Selected Participant Demographic Data from CHUM, Ruby’s Food
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ve Pantry, and SHARE 52
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n 3.2 Cooking by Participants in CHUM, Ruby’s Food Pantry, and SHARE 66
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[ 4.1 Alternative Provisioning Strategies used by Participants in CHUM,
y Ruby’s Food Pantry, and SHARE 103
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d 4.2 Other Services that Participants in CHUM, Ruby’s Food Pantry, and
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d SHARE Would Like to See Offered 107
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o 5.1 Characteristics of Food-insecure Participants in CHUM, Ruby’s Food
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w Pantry, and SHARE 126
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Abbreviations
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4 AAA Agricultural Adjustment Administration
2 ABAWD Able-bodied Adults Without Dependents
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3 AFDC Aid for Dependent Children
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3 CAD Community Action Duluth
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t CBPR Community-based Participatory Research
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] CCA Culture Centered Approach
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g CDBG Community Development Block Grant
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Di CHUM Churches United in Ministry
n CSA Community Supported Agriculture
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S DYES Duluth Youth Employment Service
a, EBT Electronic Benefit Transfer
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n EITC Earned Income Tax Credit
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f EWG Environmental Working Group
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al FARA Food Access Research Atlas
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f FFALP Fair Food Access Lincoln Park
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y FNB Food Not Bombs
t FNS Food and Nutrition Service
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r FSRC Federal Surplus Relief Corporation
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i FTS Farm to School
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U GFB Good Food Box
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y GLSLS Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway
b JRLC Joint Religious Legislative Coalition
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e LISC Local Initiatives Support Corporation
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a MFAP Minnesota Food Assistance Program
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nl MNSure Minnesota Health Insurance Marketplace
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NAPS Nutritional Access Program for Seniors
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D NGO Non-governmental Organization
RFP Ruby’s Food Pantry
PRWORA Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
SHARE Self-help and Resource Exchange
SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
SoS Seeds of Success
SSI Supplemental Security Income
viii Abbreviations
TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
TEFAP The Emergency Food Assistance Program
TRoTR Te Runanga o Te Rarawa
USAID United States Agency for International Development
USDA United States Department of Agriculture
WIC The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants,
and Children
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Acknowledgments
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4 This work could not have been completed without the generous support of the
2 Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities that
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3 funded this research through the Abundance and Scarcity University Symposium
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3 (2010–2012) as a collaborative interdisciplinary research project. Special thanks
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t to Ann Waltner and Susannah Smith. In addition, this research was funded by the
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] Center for Community and Regional Research (CCRR) at the University of
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g Minnesota Duluth.
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Di Special thanks to all of the volunteers, participants, and coordinators at Seeds
n of Success, SHARE, Ruby’s Food Pantry, and CHUM who were so generous with
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S their time over the course of this research. Each of these organizations operates
a, with skeletal staff and collectively improve the food security of thousands of
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n residents of Duluth.
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f Thanks are also in order for the colleagues and students at the University of
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al Minnesota Duluth who helped with this research. In the Department of Geography,
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f Urban and Sustainability Studies Kate Carlson, Nathan Clough, Pat Farrell,
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y Randel Hanson and the Sustainable Agriculture Project, Linda Klint, Mike
t Mageau, and Stacey Stark provided support for this work. Elsewhere in the
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r University John Bennett provided immeasurable support. In addition, the students
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i in the Geography Senior Seminar provided a sounding board for this research and
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U Canyon Bachan, Kathleen Hammer, Charles Cochrane, and Aliina Charging
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y Hawk helped to conduct interviews, enter data, and take care of the logistics of
b this research.
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e My biggest debt of thanks goes to Rebecca de Souza—my research partner and
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a constant source of joy—without whom this project would just be a page of random
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nl notes about co-ops, SNAP benefits, and the problem of surplus agriculture
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production. I am blessed to have you in my life.
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