Research article2009Peer reviewedOpen access
The new variant famine hypothesis: moving beyond the household in exploring links between AIDS and food insecurity in southern Africa
Ansell, Nicola; Robson, Elsbeth; Hajdu, Flora; van Blerk, Lorraine; Chipeta, Lucy
Abstract
The New Variant Famine hypothesis is helpful in drawing attention to the effects of AIDS in diminishing both food production and capacity to purchase food, but it focuses more intensely on the household level than many other theories that seek to explain food insecurity, which tend to emphasise the integration of peasants into a capitalist market economy, and the functioning of markets and institutions. The household level focus also characterises much research on the impacts of AIDS. In this article we argue that the effects of AIDS on food security are not confined to the household level, and that an NVF analysis should also consider processes operating within and beyond the household including social relationships, relations of age and gender, colonial inheritance and contemporary national and international political economy. Recognition of these processes and how they interact with AIDS may offer greater scope for political mobilisation rather than technocratic responses.
Keywords
AIDS; food security; new variant famine; southern Africa
Published in
Progress in Development Studies
2009, Volume: 9, number: 3, pages: 187-207
Publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
UKÄ Subject classification
Human Geography
Publication identifier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/146499340800900302
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/41620