From Hunger Abroad to Hunger in Our Own Backyard: A Reflection on Applying Anthropology to Campus Food Insecurity

ABSTRACT In the mid‐2010s, food insecurity in higher education gained traction as both a concern of universities and a topic of research for scholars. In this contribution to SAFN's 50‐year anniversary, I reflect on how food anthropologists have studied college student hunger over the past decade. Based on a review of SAFN member works, discussions with colleagues, and my own experience studying student food insecurity, I explore how the anthropological view, including ways of asking questions, developing studies, and interpreting data, represent a unique contribution to this field. Broadly, anthropologists seek to balance ethnographic storytelling with historic, political‐economic, and structural understandings of the root causes and consequences of campus hunger and the changing dynamics of the U.S. social safety net and the U.S. college student population. Moving forward, anthropologists must “study up” to the administrative level, to where systems of structure and power lie, in order to make structural‐level recommendations and changes to campus food systems that ensure food security for all students.