Observatory for Research and Practice on Food Systems and Social Reproduction

女权主义学者证明，妇女的生殖劳动(或社会再生产)是看不见的，在生育和抚养子女、维持家庭以及在社会上维持和保障劳动力的日常再生产方面发挥了作用。SR理论强调，资本主义生产方式必然依赖于通过按性别、种族、阶级和公民身份划分的不平等来贬低生殖活动。没有这种无偿劳动，就不会有生产或积累。这一论点超越了国内劳动力，指出了大量无薪劳动力和“廉价自然”(即低成本的食品、能源和原材料)，它们维持着生命过程，同时也为资本创造价值。这种劳动形态以及生产和生殖工作之间的区别，渗透在我们当前日益商品化的食品体系中，集中在几个强大的公司手中，这些公司是金融化的和采掘业的。在学术和政策制定方面，我们仍然倾向于单独研究粮食的不同方面，而改善粮食系统的政策往往侧重于问题的特定部分，如增加产量或改善饮食。虽然这种方法带来了在特定领域的重大洞察和专业知识的发展，但解决方案很少产生超出其自身纪律的影响，并存在恶化问题的风险，这些问题被认为是“超出范围”的。这项研究提出的主要创新是，通过使用社会生殖镜头，研究员开发的知识和实践主体将纳入主流食品系统文献和政策之外的内容。因此，它有助于设计和实施变革性行动，以解决营养不良的三重负担--营养不良、肥胖和微营养缺乏共存--的根本原因，以及当前粮食系统长期存在的社会-经济和环境不平等。基于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体的概念，并位于南澳、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-社会生殖关系。天文台采用参与性、跨学科和以技术为基础的方法，将女性、种族主义和工人阶级生殖劳动概念化，包括低薪生殖工作，但也包括在市场体制领域之外从事的卑微形式的食物劳动，即自给自足的农业或宅基地花园的维护、环境管理、粮食团结网络中的工作。SR镜头基于这样一种想法，即为了理解我们如何维持一代又一代人的生活，我们需要揭示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，这可以突出无偿工作和非正规部门的工作如何对塑造食品的生产、分配、销售和消费方式至关重要。研究员将研究特定食品部门在SA和GH(面向英国市场的高端园艺产品)、英国(食品制成品-糖果、饮料和饮料-出口到SA和GH)的生产、供应和消费。以共同创造为基础，这项研究将提供案例研究，帮助回答以下研究问题：1)目前食物生产和消费方式的社会生殖成本是多少？2)家庭、社区和国家如何管理和照顾与食物工作和食物消费有关的健康负担？3)私营部门和国家在促进或阻碍更好的劳动力和食物消费方面的作用

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