Between Famine-taboo and Intentional Trauma: Political and Metapsychological Implications of Famine

Abstract

From the recognition of an original situation of helplessness and dependence on the other to which the child is structurally subjected, it is pointed out that the appeasement of hunger - considered a fundamental need - culminates in the consolidation of alterity as a place of reference and addressing, in the erogenization of the own body, the constitution of the Self, and the potentialization of desire's becoming. Therefore, hunger and the failure of the appeal to the other are potentially traumatic experiences that produce serious and lasting social and psychological vulnerabilities. Thence, frustrating the expectations of hunger's satiety, especially in childhood, produce a kind of moral pain, which is correlated to the weakening of trust the other. With Josué de Castro, the inescapable political aspect of hunger, which is merged with its psychological and physical implications, is reinforced. From his ideas, the existence of a historical intention of the Brazilian state to ignore, deny, and even provoke hunger is emphasized. As a keen reader of Freud, the author uses psychoanalytic drive theory as a conceptual operator to think about hunger. Following Castro's contribution, Ferenczi is brought up to support the intentional and political nature of hunger trauma.