Gendered and Ecological Struggles in Southern Africa: Land and Seed

Abstract

Situating feminist investigations of food in Southern Africa within a broader discussion of the ecological crisis and the appropriation of nature reveals important connections between ecological and women’s struggles. This article draws on ecofeminist scholarship regarding ecological struggles pertaining to land and seed in order to explore the politics of food and its relation to women, nature and society in Southern Africa. It highlights that inherited and assumed ideas of nature have a direct bearing on the dominant conception of food. The article emphasises that feminist agencies are often silenced in food struggles and food scholarship despite the gendered nature of foodwork and women’s defence against nature’s appropriation. In concluding, the article invites us to see food in its totality and develop a new food logic.