The Work of Hunger: Security, Development and Food-for-Work in Post-crisis Jakarta
Food-for-work programs distribute food aid to recipients in exchange for labor, and are an important mode of aid delivery for both public and private aid providers. While debate continues as to whether food-for-work programs are socially just and economically sensible, governments, international in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Brock University
2009-10-01
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| Series: | Studies in Social Justice |
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| Online Access: | http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/index.php/SSJ/article/view/1026 |
| _version_ | 1818515418163183616 |
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| author | Jamey Essex |
| author_facet | Jamey Essex |
| author_sort | Jamey Essex |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Food-for-work programs distribute food aid to recipients in exchange for labor, and are an important mode of aid delivery for both public and private aid providers. While debate continues as to whether food-for-work programs are socially just and economically sensible, governments, international institutions, and NGOs continue to tout them as a flexible and cost-effective way to deliver targeted aid and promote community development. This paper critiques the underlying logic of food-for-work, focusing on how this approach to food aid and food security promote labor force participation by leveraging hunger against poverty, and how the ideological and practical assumptions of food-for-work become enmeshed within discourses of geopolitical security. I rely on a case study examination of US-funded food-for-work programs implemented in Jakarta, Indonesia following the 1997 financial crisis. The crisis produced acute food insecurity and poverty in Indonesia, provoking fears of mob violence by the hungry poor and the spread of radical Islamism in the post-crisis political vacuum. Food-for-work programs were, in this context, meant to resolve the problems of both food insecurity and geopolitical insecurity by providing food to targeted populations, employment to those otherwise thrown out of work, and resituating the hungry poor in relation to broader scales of local, national, and global power. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T00:28:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-39a2b38241fa47ca81a86efe74754a6d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1911-4788 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T00:28:37Z |
| publishDate | 2009-10-01 |
| publisher | Brock University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studies in Social Justice |
| spelling | doaj.art-39a2b38241fa47ca81a86efe74754a6d2022-12-22T01:27:27ZengBrock UniversityStudies in Social Justice1911-47882009-10-0131991161009The Work of Hunger: Security, Development and Food-for-Work in Post-crisis JakartaJamey Essex0University of WindsorFood-for-work programs distribute food aid to recipients in exchange for labor, and are an important mode of aid delivery for both public and private aid providers. While debate continues as to whether food-for-work programs are socially just and economically sensible, governments, international institutions, and NGOs continue to tout them as a flexible and cost-effective way to deliver targeted aid and promote community development. This paper critiques the underlying logic of food-for-work, focusing on how this approach to food aid and food security promote labor force participation by leveraging hunger against poverty, and how the ideological and practical assumptions of food-for-work become enmeshed within discourses of geopolitical security. I rely on a case study examination of US-funded food-for-work programs implemented in Jakarta, Indonesia following the 1997 financial crisis. The crisis produced acute food insecurity and poverty in Indonesia, provoking fears of mob violence by the hungry poor and the spread of radical Islamism in the post-crisis political vacuum. Food-for-work programs were, in this context, meant to resolve the problems of both food insecurity and geopolitical insecurity by providing food to targeted populations, employment to those otherwise thrown out of work, and resituating the hungry poor in relation to broader scales of local, national, and global power.http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/index.php/SSJ/article/view/1026hungersecurityfood aiddevelopmentIndonesia |
| spellingShingle | Jamey Essex The Work of Hunger: Security, Development and Food-for-Work in Post-crisis Jakarta Studies in Social Justice hunger security food aid development Indonesia |
| title | The Work of Hunger: Security, Development and Food-for-Work in Post-crisis Jakarta |
| title_full | The Work of Hunger: Security, Development and Food-for-Work in Post-crisis Jakarta |
| title_fullStr | The Work of Hunger: Security, Development and Food-for-Work in Post-crisis Jakarta |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Work of Hunger: Security, Development and Food-for-Work in Post-crisis Jakarta |
| title_short | The Work of Hunger: Security, Development and Food-for-Work in Post-crisis Jakarta |
| title_sort | work of hunger security development and food for work in post crisis jakarta |
| topic | hunger security food aid development Indonesia |
| url | http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/index.php/SSJ/article/view/1026 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jameyessex theworkofhungersecuritydevelopmentandfoodforworkinpostcrisisjakarta AT jameyessex workofhungersecuritydevelopmentandfoodforworkinpostcrisisjakarta |