Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8188-3878

Date Available

8-20-2025

Year of Publication

2025

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Anthropology

Faculty

Dr. Sarah Lyon

Faculty

Dr. Lisa Cliggett

Abstract

This dissertation offers a critical ethnographic examination of hunger and charitable food programs (CFPs) in rural Eastern Kentucky, situated within the broader political economy of welfare retrenchment and neoliberal governance in the United States. Through multi-sited fieldwork spanning food pantries, mutual aid networks, state and federal partner agencies, and the regional food bank system, I analyze how hunger is experienced, managed, and framed by clients, volunteers, and organizational staff.

This work uses qualitative methods to weave the lived experiences across intersecting charitable food systems; this dissertation contributes to economic anthropology by illuminating the relational and political dimensions of hunger in the US. It challenges dominant narratives of individual responsibility, revealing hunger as a structurally produced, morally charged, and deeply relational condition shaped by state withdrawal and institutional design. Ultimately, this work calls for reimagining hunger relief beyond scarcity management toward justice-oriented models that address the political and social roots of food insecurity.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.421

Funding Information

Awards and Grants

  • Dissertation Research Enhancement Award, University of Kentucky. $1200 awarded in support of dissertation research, 2023
  • Center for Equality and Social Justice (CESJ) Research Fellowship, University of Kentucky. $5000 awarded in support of dissertation research, 2022
  • Susan Abbott Jamieson Award, University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology. $2000 awarded in support of summer research, 2021
  • Food Connections Grant, University of Kentucky. $3300 awarded in support of exploratory research, 2020
  • Hochstrasser Scholarship, University of Kentucky. $2000 awarded in support of exploratory research, 2020
  • James S. Brown Award, University of Kentucky Appalachian Center. $1000 awarded in support of exploratory research, 2020

Download

Share

COinS