The new variant famine hypothesis

Nicola Ansell, Elsbeth Robson, Flora Hajdu, Lorraine van Blerk and Lucy Chipeta
Additional contact information
Nicola Ansell: Centre for Human Geography, Brunel University, E-mail: Nicola.ansell@brunel.ac.uk
Elsbeth Robson: Centre for Human Geography, Brunel University
Flora Hajdu: Centre for Sustainable Development, Uppsala University, Sweden
Lorraine van Blerk: Department of Geography, University of Reading
Lucy Chipeta: Department of Geography, Chancellor College, University of Malawi

Progress in Development Studies, 2009, vol. 9, issue 3, 187-207

Abstract: A number of southern African countries have experienced food crises during recent years. The fact that the scale of these crises has been disproportionate to the apparent triggers of climatic adversity or production decline has led to the suggestion that they are more closely related to the AIDS pandemic, which is at its most extreme in many of the same countries. This hypothesis, developed by de Waal and Whiteside (2003), has been termed ‘New Variant Famine’(NVF). 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 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/146499340800900302 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:prodev:v:9:y:2009:i:3:p:187-207

DOI: 10.1177/146499340800900302

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Progress in Development Studies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().