Navigating entangled shame: Examining the sociomaterialities of food assistance programs

ABSTRACT

In the United States, individuals in precarious circumstances navigate numerous programs to supplement their food access. These programs operate in relation to stigmatizing discourses about poverty and food insecurity. This paper explores the sociomaterial meanings of food assistance, including SNAP, food pantries, and nonprofit food distribution. Using qualitative methods, we introduce the notion of entangled shame. This concept describes how discourses about poverty, material agencies, and (in)visibility collide to produce shame. Last, we identify methods of challenging and alleviating entangled shame. Results illuminate possibilities for centering dignity in food assistance programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Food assistance
• food insecurity communication
• sociomateriality
• nonprofit food organizing
• social class

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 SNAP also cannot be used on vitamins, medicine, alcohol, tobacco, hygiene products, or pet supplies. Allotments are calculated using a household’s monthly net income and expected food costs (USDA, 2021).

2 WIC is restricted to foods such as baby food, whole-grains, vitamin C-rich fruit juice, fruits, tofu, vegetables, eggs, milk, cheese, peanut butter, beans/peas, and canned fish (USDA, n.d.).