class diet

[arguchik]

i don't have a lot of time right now, but i wanted to post a link to this article about the cost of healthy eating vs. the buying power of food stamps. this phenomenon is one of the things i'm trying to address in my dissertation: the ways in which bodies (embodied subjects) materialize at the articulation points of various forms of hierarchically structured social difference. that's a jargon-y way of saying that systems of privilege and power reproduce themselves, ensuring continued privilege and power for the dominant group(s)--written in and on the very body of the classed subject. (could also be a raced or a gendered subject--and obviously these factors combine in various ways. nobody is only raced, classed, or gendered, after all.) in this particular context: economic class determines access to "healthy food," with lower economic classes forced by affordibility factors to eat food that's more likely to contribute to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc. the difference in embodiment, in turn, reinforces the privileged position of the "healthy" body. what would it mean, what would it look like, to resist this particular determination of embodiment and class privilege? it's an ironic question: in this case, resistance seems to require class privilege. or radical change...

ideas i would like to flesh out further...pun absolutely intended.

Comments

[ms-violet.livejournal.com]

meant to tell you that i've been thinking a LOT about this post lately.
I live in a lower-middle-class neighborhood, and it's not one of those gentrifying hipster lower middle class neighborhoods where people wear trucker hats and delivery jackets so they can look working class. the only places to buy food around here are Shop n' Bag, Shop Rite and Acme. The best bargain is the Wonder Bread outlet. 2 loaves of Wonder "whole grain white," $2.40. We shop at the Russian immigrant produce market across the street from there and we do pretty well on fruit & veggies. it's amazing how the majority of people around here are really fat and out of shape, as if they're eating more, and my next-door-neighbor's mother just had to have both of her legs amputated because of diabetes.
and this area doesn't have a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or Starbucks. Think it has something to do with image?

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

sorry, meant to reply to this sooner. i am inexplicably awake and unable to sleep tonight, so here i am...

i think it has a lot to do with image--and i assume you mean, do stores base decisions about where to open new locations on their perception of who lives in a particular area, and what their buying habits are. what you're describing is very familiar--the geographies of race and class. if you were to do a geographic analysis of the incidence of environmental hazards/pollution, you'd see the same trend: poor communities and communities of color are far more heavily impacted by pollution, which also increases the risks of diseases like cancer and asthma, among other things. just today there was an article in the seattle papers about a study done at the UW that shows air pollution is a risk factor for heart disease in women. the kind of pollution implicated is a particular size of particle that is put out by diesel engines and coal burning plants. in other words, if you live near a coal burning plant, or in an area with heavy truck traffic, you'll be more at risk. who do you suppose lives in those areas?