Black Hunger: Food and Politics of U.S. Identity

Abstract

Watennelon, fried chicken, chitlins, and Aunt Jemima all bring to mind images of African American culture. It is these images and the culinary creations of black women that Doris Witt's book Black Hunger: Food and Politics of U.S. Identity focuses on. The book's title sends a message to the reader that the main thrust of the book will surround physiological hunger. Yet, the reader soon discovers that the nature of this association with hunger focuses primarily on power and control. By exposing the subordinate social positioning of African American women the author exposes the reader to how the symbolic use of food has been utilized to construct the social identity of black women. She argues that through the use of groups, such as white corporate America, upper class white females, and male dominated black power, this constructed idea of black women has been reconstructed and maintained.