Who is "deserving" of aid? Subject-formation in Istanbul's food banks

Abstract

This paper focuses on how the food banks, in working to allocate resources appropriately, constantly generate appropriate subjects, the "deserving poor", and through processes of identification and verification, unmask the "undeserving poor". The paper argues that process of identification, which includes practices of identification, registration, and documentation, push the applicants to self-identify and self-register as "the poor". Next, process of verification, which includes practices of categorization, surveillance, and verification, divide the applicants into "deserving" and "undeserving". While the "deserving poor" become the recipients of food aid from the food banks, the "undeserving" are characterized as lazy, greedy, and cunning and attempting to claim more than what they are entitled to. Even though the recipients resist this categorization, the separation is maintained to ensure that the aid is allocated appropriately. What is appropriate, however, is closely related to who is appropriate, which, in turn, is dependent upon who the food bank staff prioritize in terms of age, ethnicity, gender, employment, and marriage status. As such, not only some experiences of poverty and food insecurity are recognized as public problems, but also associations of reproductive and productive labor, public and domestic realm with specific gender roles and identities are reinforced.