Hunger, Politics(s) and development cooperation in 21st Century Guatemala. A critical view from Anthropology

Abstract

Anthropology's relationship with nutritional issues has been a constant in Guatemala since the mid-20th century. This text addresses the critical analysis of policies and strategies carried out in the last twenty years of the fight against hunger. The various approaches are paralleled by the discourse of figures, which gives an account of failures, and the scarce presence of anthropology and cultural approaches. Possible causes of failure are presented here, including the limited role given to ethnographic studies and the role of culture. It is argued that in the planning of actions, aspects such as tradition and occurrence have weighed more than the available evidence. We need to rethink the strategic scope of the actions, which includes having social scientists in the design and evaluation processes -and not only in the criticism-, but assuming that they will be of no use without a decisive bet from the economic point of view.