Dartmouth presentation explores the issue of hunger in America

Posted 04/15/02

Dr. Janet Poppendieck, Professor of Sociology at Hunter College, City University of New York and author of "Sweet Charity?: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement" (Viking, 1998 and Penguin, 1999), will speak Thursday, April 18th, 7:30 p.m. at Collis Commonground, on the campus of Dartmouth College.

Her lecture, titled "Charity, Justice and Social Action: Confronting Hunger in America," will explore issues surrounding government welfare programs, volunteerism and private charity. Poppendieck's book contends that America's drive to end hunger has taken a wrong turn with thousands of well-meaning volunteers on board, and assesses the effectiveness of these home-grown efforts while tracking the shift away from entitlements in the nation's response to poverty and hunger.

Poppendieck's primary concerns, both as a scholar and as an activist , have been poverty, hunger, and food assistance in the United States. She is the author of "Breadlines Knee Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression" (Rutgers: 1986), and numerous articles on hunger, food assistance and public policy.

This talk is sponsored by Dartmouth's Nancy Boehm Coster Public Policy Career Encouragement Program and is co-sponsored by the Tucker Foundation 50th Anniversary Celebration.