Challenging the enduring epistemic injustice of eating disorders: Critically re-reading Occupation food insecurity in the Trente Glorieuses with Elsa Triolet and the 1944–1945 ‘Minnesota Starvation Experiment’
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The intersection of food insecurity in occupied France with other risk factors and comorbidities thought to lead to eating disorders has been obscured. So have the profound emotional and functional impacts which occur right across the spectrum of these extremely serious psychiatric conditions, including the most prevalent, yet little-known diagnosis: other specific feeding or eating disorder (OSFED). This article challenges this nexus of neglect. It reveals how historians occlude key psychological impacts of semi-starvation in Vichy France and into the Trente Glorieuses . In the 1944–1945 ‘Minnesota Starvation Experiment’ and recent scientific research, it identifies epistemic injustice whereby testimony of lived experiences, the potential for making sense of them and access to knowledge are prejudicially undermined. Re-reading scientific literature fills some hermeneutic gaps, but Elsa Triolet's literary fiction provides a compelling representation of OSFED and powerfully communicates the impacts of the clinically significant distress or impairment experienced in all eating disorders. Entangling these critical re-readings demonstrates the Humanities’ potential for setting new agendas and for challenging narratives undermining understanding of all eating disorders.
Source: French Cultural Studies
Author: Ruth Cruickshank
Institution: Royal Holloway University of London
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,650
OpenAlex ID: W7117533632