The Dictionary of Human Geography

nutritional deprivation on a persistent basis (as
opposed to seasonal hunger, for example).
Definitions of famine are fraught with danger
because (i) cultural, as opposed to biological,
definitions of starvation vary around diverse,
locally defined norms, and (ii) deaths from
starvation are frequently impossible to distin-
guish from those from disease
Nearly all societies have periodically suf-
fered from the consequences of famine. The
earliest recorded famine, which occurred in
ancient Egypt, dates to 4000bce; famine con-
ditions currently threaten parts of the Horn of
Africa and parts of North Korea. The dynam-
ics and characteristics of mass starvation in
modern times have similar structural proper-
ties, however; typically, such famines involve
sharp price increases for staplefoodstuffs,
decapitalization of household assets, gather-
ing of wild foods, borrowing and begging,
pettycrimeand occasionally food riots, and
out-migration. According to the Hunger
Program at Brown University, the trend in
famine casualties has been downward since
1945, but in the late 1980sstateswith a
combined population of 200 million failed to
prevent famine within their national borders.
Hunger, and famine in particular, is intoler-
able in the modern world, however, because
it is unnecessary and unwarranted (Dreze and
Sen, 1989).
Famine causation has often been linked to
natural disasters, population growth andwar,
which produces a reduction in the food supply
(Malthus, 1970 [1798]). But some major fam-
ines (e.g. Bengal in 1943) were not preceded
by a significant decline in food production or
absolute availability, and in some cases have
been associated with food export. Recent ana-
lyses have focused on access to and control
over food resources – sometimes called the
food availability decline hypothesis. Sen (1981)
argues that what we eat depends on what food
we are able to acquire. Famine, therefore, is
a function of the failure of socially specific
entitlements through which individuals com-
mand bundles ofcommodities. Entitlements
vary in relation to property rights, asset distri-
bution,classandgender. Famine is therefore
a social phenomenon rooted in institutional
and political economic arrangements, which
determine the access to food by different
classes and strata (Watts, 1983a). Masspov-
ertyand mass starvation are obviously linked
via entitlements. Mass poverty results from
long-term changes in entitlements associated
with social production and distribution mech-
anisms; famines arise from short-term changes

in these same mechanisms. Famine and

endemic deprivation correspond to two forms

of public action to eradicate them: famine

policy requires entitlement protection to

ensure that it does not collapse among vulner-

able groups (i.e. landless labourers, women).

Chronic hunger demands entitlement promo-

tion to expand the command that people have

over basic necessities (Dreze and Sen, 1989).

Since 1945 India has implemented a success-

ful anti-famine policy, yet conspicuously failed

to eradicate endemic deprivation. China, con-

versely, has overcome the structural hunger

problem (even during the socialist period),

but failed to prevent massive famine in the

1950s.africahas witnessed a catastrophic

growth in the incidence of both mass starva-

tion and chronic hunger (de Waal, 1997).

The role ofstatepolicy and of humanitar-

ianaidfigures centrally in the discussions of

famine and famine causation. While the

public sphere is key in understanding how

and why the right to food and the right not

to be hungry are made effective, the recent

history of famine shows clearly how the state

can use famine and humanitarian aid for

explicitly political purposes. The case against

Stalin and the Ukrainian famine is clear in this

regard, and the catastrophic Chinese famine

of the late 1950s is a compelling instance of

how inept state policies to achieve rapid

industrialization backfired, but also how

an authoritarian state ignored famine signals

and colluded in the deaths of 20 million

people (Becker, 1997). Sen (1981) has argued

that famines rarely occur in societies in which

there is freedom of the press (and in which

states are therefore held to be accountable

in some way). Humanitarian assistance has

also been an object of critique insofar as it

itself becomes politicized (and rendered as a

business), and often fails to be more than a

short-term palliative (rather than assisting in

the rehabilitation and reconstruction of

famine-devastated communities; de Waal,

1997). mw

Suggested reading

Davis (2001).

farming Most literally, the land-based,

human-managed production offoodand fibre

by the transformation of seed into crops and/

or the raising of livestock (the latter of which is

also referred to as pastoralism or ranching).

Farming is of general significance for all social

scientists, because it is the most routine and

widespread way in which humans directly

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_F Final Proof page 240 31.3.2009 1:20pm

FARMING