Geographies of Hunger: polyvocalising the histories of geographical knowledge production

Abstract

ABSTRACT Josué de Castro was a twentieth-century Brazilian public intellectual, politician and activist scholar, with a rich publication record in the fields of nutrition, anthropology, sociology and human geography, notably in the geography and geopolitics of hunger. This book, written by Archie Davies, is the first English-language book on the fascinating life and work of Josué de Castro. It is carefully researched, combining a biographical approach and archival materials, and examines the role Josué de Castro had in the history of geography and specifically in critical geography and political ecology. Davies takes us through Castro’s life, from his birthplace in Recife, Northeast Brazil, his role in International Organisations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, to political exile in France and academic work in the geography department at Vincennes. The book calls for an expansion of the discipline’s transnational and polylingual sense of itself, contributing to pluralising or polyvocalising the histories of geographical knowledge production, and brilliantly provides an alternative history of twentieth-century geography.