When Empty Stomachs Become Flattened Identities: Questioning the "Hierarchy of Needs" Discourse Around Food Insecurity

• In Event: Onto-Epistemological (In)Justice, Curriculum, and Schooling

Abstract

Eating breakfast is linked with positive social, emotional, physical, and academic outcomes, and it is a common question for teachers to ask students if they have eaten a morning meal. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (HON) is a popular framework for conceptualizing students’ breakfast consumption and other basic needs, but it can lead to deficit assumptions about children and their families (e.g., that food insecurity implies less-rich social and emotional lives). In this post-qualitative study from a larger project, I draw from a discourse community with six elementary educators to explore the discourses, lived experiences, and affect/emotion that create particular understandings of students’ (un)met basic needs. My analysis works to challenge hegemonic assumptions and center the agency of students and families.

Author

• Emma Minke McMain, University of Arkansas