ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with the foundational premise that the persistence of hunger and poverty is not merely a consequence of food scarcity but rather a manifestation of structural inequalities and systemic failures. Hunger is the ongoing result of the global corporate capture of the food system, alongside neoliberal policies and cultural, political, and economic conditions, which perpetuate hunger, particularly among women, people of color, and marginalized communities in the Global North and Global South. Employing a critical modernist approach, this chapter delineates four key areas of critical health communication (CHC) scholarship: hunger discourse, identity, and materiality; organizing hunger and hunger solutions; hunger systems, policy, and politics; and culture-centered approaches to hunger. In doing so, the chapter illustrates the transformative potential of CHC to address the root causes of hunger.
