Observatory for Research and Practice on Food Systems and Social Reproduction

女权主义学者已经证明了妇女的生殖劳动（或社会再生产- SR）的隐形性，这些劳动在生育和抚养孩子，维持家庭以及社会上维持和保证劳动力的日常再生产方面发挥着作用。社会主义社会理论强调，资本主义生产形式必然依赖于通过性别、种族、阶级和公民身份的不平等来贬低生殖活动。没有这种低报酬劳动，就不会有生产和积累。这一论点超出了国内劳动力的范畴，指出大量的无薪劳动力和“廉价自然”（即低成本的食物、能源和原材料）维持着生命过程，同时也为资本创造了价值。劳动的这种形态以及生产性工作和再生产工作之间的区别，渗透在我们当前日益商品化的粮食系统中，集中在少数几家强大的、金融化的、榨取性的公司手中。在学术上和政策制定中，我们仍然倾向于分别研究粮食的不同方面，改善粮食系统的政策往往侧重于问题的特定部分，例如提高产量或改善饮食。虽然这种方法在特定领域带来了重要的见解和专业知识的发展，但解决方案很少有超出其自身学科的影响，并且有可能使被认为“超出范围”的问题恶化。这项研究提出的主要创新是，通过使用社会再生产的视角，该奖学金开发的知识和实践体系将纳入超越现行粮食系统文献和政策的内容。因此，它有助于设计和实施变革性行动，解决营养不良三重负担的根本原因——营养不足、肥胖和微量营养素缺乏并存——以及当前粮食系统造成的社会经济和环境不平等。在全球南方和全球北方之间的社会政治经济趋势之间的连续性概念的基础上，并位于南非，GH和英国的政治经济背景下，天文台开展的研究旨在揭示粮食系统-社会再生产关系。观察站采用参与式、跨学科和基于技术的方法，对女性、种族化和工人阶级的生殖劳动进行了广泛的定义，包括无（低）报酬的生殖劳动，但也包括在市场体制领域之外从事的低贱形式的粮食劳动，即自给农业或维护家园花园、环境管理、粮食团结网络的工作。SR镜头基于这样一种理念，即为了理解我们如何从一代到下一代维持我们的生活，我们需要解开经济和社会的不同部分是如何相互关联的。因此，SR非常适合帮助我们更全面地了解我们生产和消费食物的方式。特别是，这可以突出显示无偿工作和在非正规部门从事的工作如何对形成粮食生产、分配、销售和消费方式至关重要。该奖学金将研究南非和GH（运往英国市场的高端园艺产品），英国（出口到南非和GH的食品制成品-糖果，饮料和饮料）选定食品部门的生产，供应和消费。以共同创造为基础，本研究将提供案例研究，帮助回答以下研究问题：1)当前粮食生产和消费方式的社会再生产成本是什么？2)家庭、社区和国家如何管理和照顾与食品工作和食品消费相关的健康负担？3)私营部门和国家在促进或阻碍更好的劳动力和食品消费方面的作用是什么

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