The politics of hunger: a permanent emergency in Argentina

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

The sociological assessment of the food problem as a social issue allows for identifying those means of integration and regulation by which the hunger problem may be overcome, relieved, reconfigured or deepen. Food policies have affected the living conditions and reproduction of many different social groups who have been experiencing unemployment and impoverishment since 1970. This paper aims to provide an exhaustive mapping of those food programs implemented in the district of General Pueyrredón, province of Buenos Aires, between 1983 and 2020, and analyze their presence in the target population’s biographical stories.

Materials and Methods:

This is a qualitative. The mapping reconstruction was based on a literature review of primary (official documentation) and secondary (academic research) resources as well as in-depth semi-structured interviews with technicians and professionals designing, managing, and implementing these programs between 1983 and 2020. To analyze the influence of such programs in the target population, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted within the oral history approach from the biographical method framework. Through theoretical snowball sampling, 22 people working at the municipal, provincial and national levels, and 45 recipients aged 18 to 30 years, 31 to 55 years, and over 56 years, were interviewed to determine intergenerational relationships. The Atlas Ti software was used for analysis and interpretation.

Results:

Between 1983 and 2020, the Senate passed an emergency food bill in 1984, 2002, and 2019. Twenty-eight food interventions were carried out to complement the nutrition of impoverished social groups. There were up to seventeen of them at one time. The palliative and temporary nature of such interventions is reflected in their names since they are referred to as “assistance”, “emergency”, “aid”, or “complementary”  programs.

Discussion:

Argentina’s food policy is based on multiple and simultaneous “direct assistance programs” that, far from operating on the structural causes of food production, distribution, supply, access and consumption, act on an ongoing emergency. For those biographical stories still living in poverty and belonging to the population that has benefited from social policies since 1980, the state complementary feeding assistance is non stop due to both the simultaneous implementation of several programs and their consecutive coverage period.

Keywords
social policies; food programs; emergency food; recipients; social issue