HUNGER IS THE ENEMY: A BRIEF HISTORY OF FOOD SCARCITY IN THE NORTHEAST OF BRAZIL AND THE ROLE OF THE STATE FIGHTING IT

Abstract

The article employs a literature review of academic works and books, with an emphasis in the work of Josué de Castro and of classic American authors, besides primary sources in the form of the newspaper Jornal Pequeno, to discuss the idea of hunger and its association with the Brazilian Northeast, seeking to understand how this perception was built. The intention was to comprehend the way the state sought, in the early 20th century, to take on an active role in the national food issue, to protect its citizens from hunger and its consequences. Finally, it discusses how some intellectuals sought to publicize the Northeastern famine, so that it would no longer be concealed, or understood merely as the natural and inevitable consequence of the droughts but faced by both the government and society itself. Also, a parallel between Brazil – and its Northeast region – and the United States is made, on account of the image of industrial power and food abundance projected and cultivated by the latter, particularly during and after the end of World War II. It is intended, finally, to understand the trajectory of hunger in the Northeast, the changes in its perception and its recognition as a social problem, to be addressed by government actions, in an admittedly long historical period, extending from the second half of the 19th century until the mid-1960s.