Ill Fares the Land (E-pub)

Essays on Food, Hunger and Power

The essays collected in this volume expand on one of the major themes of Susan George's work: the role of power in perpetuating hunger. The causes of poverty and hunger are not to be found primarily among the poor and the hungry but rather in their relationships with the powerful - locally, nationally and internationally. Just as poverty lies behind hunger, so injustice and inequality - within and between nations - lie behind poverty. These twelve essays expand that analysis: some deal directtly with food systems, hunger or famine; others ask who determines our assumptions and knowledge about poverty and hunger. All are concerned with the means by which some groups gain ascendancy over others. Whether she deals with biotechnology or the "transfer" of technology, with development research or the ideal university, Susan George demonstrates with characteristic commitment and conviction that the rich and powerful who control the world food system control technology and ideology, scholarship and culture as well. This dangerous hegemony is absolutely central to the horrors of hunger.

Author

Susan George