A joke making the rounds a few years ago went something like this: there are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't. At the time most people, including me, who told this joke did so because we were firmly in the latter camp, but now I'm not so sure. The polarization in this country has become more and more real with every passing day.
I bring this up because when it comes to hunger there seems to be two distinct camps. The first, which I will call the progressive view, is that capitalism by its very nature creates poverty and hunger. The haves and have-nots are, for the most part, stuck in their respective positions and this inequity and inequality are, if anything, growing. It is also axiomatic, in the progressive view, that society and its governments are inherently racist and misogynistic. The second, neoliberal view, holds that we are all born equal, that we have an equal chance to excel and become wealthy. The corollary to this view is that the wealthy are deserving of their wealth and there is something vaguely (and often explicitly) illicit about being poor or hungry. All that needs to happen, by neoliberal logic, is for the poor person to work harder and good things will follow. (Yes, I recognize that both are oversimplifications, but they will do for this review).
This distinction is essential to my review of Feeding the Other because it is firmly in the progressive camp. (Full disclosure: I share this point of view). If your views tend toward the neoliberal you will not get much from this book; having disagreed with its premises, the conclusions de Souza reaches will only annoy you.
What de Souza is getting at here is that, far from being a solution to hunger, food banks are by and large part of the "hunger-industrial complex," which looks something like this: through subsidies and price controls, corporate producers of food make big bank by producing large amounts of food, much of which is highly processed and full of things such as sugar and salt. If there is excess food it is donated to food distribution programs, which is turn give it to food banks and pantries. Well-meaning liberal folks volunteer to do this food distribution without giving much thought to their place in the machine of food inequity and most with their neoliberal biases firmly intact. They are, in the words of the title, serving the "other," those unfortunate, marginalized people who need their charity.
We rarely take a step back and consider the absurdity of a society in which some people are allowed to build yachts the size of small cities while others are allowed to go without food, healthcare, and housing. I am enough of a pragmatist to recognize the utility to a society of incentives to innovation; thus, I believe that some sort of Marxist scheme to redistribute all wealth would be a failure on all levels. However, this idea can mask the fact that great wealth is an obscenity when even one person is without the necessities which make life possible. It is hardly original with me to say that the bare necessities of life are food, clothing, shelter, and health care (in fact, the first time it was stated, as far as I can tell, was by the Buddha several thousand years ago). I would assert that until all four of these are absolutely guaranteed to all persons, wealth is an abomination.
De Souza castigates these neoliberal do-gooders (another disclosure: I volunteer in a food bank), painting them as rather clueless and standing in judgment over those they serve. This is no doubt true; the neoliberal façade is very appealing and seems to explain so much of what goes on in the world. It also absolves us of responsibility for the outcomes of our economic system so long as we do "good works." Of course, the problem of the moment is that people are hungry, so getting food to them is a good thing, no matter the underlying system which created the hunger in the first place. She acknowledges this and prescribes a combination of ongoing food distribution with enlightened advocacy for true food justice.
The odd thing about this book, though, and the reason I could not rate it more highly than I have, is that de Souza herself reeks of privilege and judgment; rather than compassion she wields the weapon of intellectualism and social services jargon to place us all into our categories and determine, as if from on high, who is noble and awakened (all poor people and any person of color) and who are ignorant, well-meaning dupes (all middle-class people, especially the white ones and those who have religious motives for their actions). Don't get me wrong, she may have something of a point—being white and privileged myself, I become more aware each day of my blind spots. But this sort of division simplifies a narrative which is far more complex than she would like to portray. Granted, this book seems to have sprung from a dissertation or thesis, thus the need to tie oneself up in jargon and draw firm conclusions; academia is no place for ambiguity.
De Souza also seems to not realize she is acting from within the patriarchal mindset when she believes she can draw conclusions from what the food bank clients say, as if she has some special insight and can speak for them. Yes, she often reproduces their words, which is a good start, but then uses those words to fill in a thesis she has already spun rather than allowing them to lead to a natural conclusion which may not entirely fit her world view. At one point in her interviews she says of her subject, "...there are many things she does not say...but in how she moves, in her stutter, in her silence, desire, loss, chaos, sorrow, and grief are made clear." It must be amazing to be clairvoyant and given permission to speak for others when they are apparently not self-aware enough to do it for themselves. Of another she states, "Her disorder is the hunger of the mind related to trauma, depression, a life of deprivation, and violence;" de Souza can apparently deduce this from a single, simple interview. This is the arrogance of privilege; the author seems to be wholly unaware she is displaying it.
I also found tiresome de Souza's nearly constant use of sociological jargon; she also seemed to use made up words with some frequency. ("responsibilized"?) In particular, if I had a dime for every time she used the word "discursive" I would have a pocket full of change. I suspect this word has a very specific meaning in her field, but its use here feels vague and communicates very little. A good editor should have asked the author to rewrite this book in more accessible language.
Three other things which fall into the realm of quibbles, but which annoyed me:
1. She states that use of products past the "sell-by" dates somehow benefits the food producers when, in fact, quite the opposite is true. Sell-by dates are largely an invention of food manufacturers and are wholly artificial, not based on any science at all, the hope being that these foods will be discarded and thereby increase sales.
2. She implies that gardening increases food independence and can be a major source of affordable sustenance for those who are hungry. Gardening, while it has distinct psychological and ecological benefits, is a very expensive way to produce a relatively small amount of food. Gardening on a small scale is a hobby; a lovely one which may well have other benefits, but very inefficient as a food source.
3. De Souza endorses her clients' bias toward brand name foods, implying that off-brand food is somehow inferior. This is precisely what the big food producers would like us to believe. At best, name brand foods are exactly the same but pricier; at worst, they represent the most abusive practices in the industry. It is ironic that she uses as an avatar for brand name quality the chicken-producing conglomerate Tyson, a corporation well-known for its abusive treatment of both animals and workers.
I don't want these complaints to detract from the fact that I fully endorse de Souza's basic premise, that food banks are part of the hunger problem unless they openly acknowledge the essentially paternalistic role they play in a deeply unfair society. This, to my way of thinking, is irrefutably true. We must all continue to advocate for a more just society in which we all get what we need without feeling stigmatized, but as full citizens receiving what we deserve and have every right to demand.