Observatory for Research and Practice on Food Systems and Social Reproduction

Feminist scholars have demonstrated the invisibility of women's reproductive labour (or social reproduction - SR), performed in bearing and raising children, maintaining households and socially sustaining and guaranteeing the daily reproduction of the labour-force. SR theories highlight that capitalist forms of production necessarily rely on devaluing reproductive activities through inequalities drawn along lines of gender, race, class and citizenship status. Without this un(der)paid labour there would be no production or accumulation. This argument extends beyond domestic labour, pointing to the large reservoir of unwaged labour and 'cheap natures' (i.e. low-cost food, energy and raw-material) that sustains the life process, whilst also generating value for capital. This conformation of labour and distinctions between what is productive and reproductive work, permeate in our current Food Systems which are increasingly commodified, are concentrated in the hands of a few powerful corporations, financialised and extractive.

Academically and in policy-making, we still tend to study different aspects of food separately and often policies to improve food systems focus on a particular part of the problem, such as increasing yields or improving diets. Whilst this approach has led to major insights and development of expertise in specific fields, solutions rarely have an impact beyond their own discipline and carry the risk of worsening problems considered 'out of scope'. The main innovation presented by this research, is that by using a Social Reproduction lens, the body of knowledge and practice developed by the fellowship will incorporate what is beyond prevailing Food Systems literature and policy. Therefore, it contributes to design and implementation of transformative actions that tackle the underpinning causes of the triple burden of malnutrition - the coexistence of undernutrition, obesity and micro-nutrient deficiencies - and the socio-economic and environmental inequalities perpetuated by current food systems.

Anchored in the notion of a continuum between socio-political-economic trends between Global South and Global North and located in the political economy contexts of SA, GH and the UK, the research carried out by the Observatory aims at unpacking the food systems-social reproduction nexus. Using a participatory, interdisciplinary and technology-based approach, the Observatory broadly conceptualises female, racialised and working-class reproductive labour to include un(der)paid reproductive work, but also abject forms of food labour performed outside of the institutional domain of the market, namely, subsistence farming or maintenance of homestead gardens, environmental stewardships, work in food solidarity networks. A SR lens is based on the idea that to understand how we sustain our lives from one generation to the next, we need to unpack how different parts of the economy and society relate to each other. Therefore, SR is well suited to help us develop a more holistic understanding of the ways we produce and consume food. In particular, this can highlight how unpaid work and the work performed in the informal sector, are fundamental to shaping the ways food is produced, distributed, sold and consumed.

The Fellowship will study the production, supply and consumption of selected food sectors in SA and GH (high-end horticultural products destined the UK markets), the UK (food manufactured goods - confectionery, drinks and beverages- exported to SA and GH). Anchored in co-creation, the research will provide the case-studies that help to answer the following research questions:
1) What are the social reproductive costs of the current ways in which food is produced and consumed?
2) How do households, communities and states manage and care for food work and food consumption related health burdens?
3) What is the role of the private sector and the state in promoting or hindering better labour and food consumption