Women in the Margins: A Culture-Centered Interrogation of Hunger and “Food Apartheid” in the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT Guided by the culture-centered approach to health communication (CCA), this study explores how marginalized US women understand and negotiate meanings related to hunger and health. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with 23 women experiencing deep structural vulnerability. Findings revealed three paradoxical meanings related to hunger: (a) the “abundance versus scarcity” paradox where even though women were consistently short of food, industrially processed food was amply available to them through charitable food venues, (b) the “good food” versus “bad food” paradox, which showed that while women sometimes consumed whatever food was available, taste, healthfulness, and desirability of food were equally important factors, and (c) the “not-eating versus overeating” paradox, which showed how women experienced anxieties around both hunger and obesity; women experienced physiological hunger pangs, but were also concerned about weight-gain and obesity because of the abundance of processed food in their foodscapes. Overall, despite their best attempts at being good health citizens, women were not able choose the foods they wanted to eat because of inadequate government benefits and a lack of “good food” options in food charity settings. These paradoxical meanings reflect contradictions inherent in the neoliberal model of health citizenship, where the focus is on individual behavior change, while the role of governments in facilitating healthy foodscapes is overlooked.