Oct 17: Slow Death

At the end of the article by Guthman and Dupuis, having already established the way in which industrial food hacks our bodies to produce profits and in turn predisposes us to metabolic disease, they raise the question of desire. If this food is so unhealthy, why do we desire it? We know from the example of the Orozco family in Food, Inc. that low income families working multiple low waged jobs often lack the time or money to eat otherwise. But what makes this food not just a necessity but desirable? 

Berlant picks up this line of thought to explore what she calls "lateral agency" in which our need for upward mobility (or what we could call "forward agency") is overwhelmed by our need for a mental health break and a sense of comfort. Lateral refers to a "stepping aside" from our forward motion towards a goal as a form of self-care. How does her argument contribute to our understanding of the rise in metabolic disease as a systemic problem rather than one of personal agency and responsibility?

Do you have a food that you hate to love? How does it fit into the rhythms of your life and what is its comfort value for you as a form of lateral agency? Or alternatively, how does the article on Prison Spread illustrate Berlant's idea of lateral agency?

Remember to include a quote from the readings for today in your post.

3 points for post, 2 points for response.