Paper short abstract:

this paper unpacks the contradictions that explain the uneven conditions of social reproduction of (and through) food. By explaining modalities of access and availability of food in rural areas, it reflects on the tensions of capitalist food system to maintain the social reproduction of rural life

Paper long abstract:

Food systems – and the interplay between food production, marketization and access- are a constituent element of the social reproduction of life. Using a social reproduction framework, this paper problematizes the ontological, epistemological and methodological premises of food system studies in agrarian change. Based on primary data collected during multiple rounds of fieldwork in rural Uzbekistan and using mixed methods, it offers a triple contribution. First, it assesses the inequalities of food security and dietary diversity among different classes of farmers and agrarian wage workers. Along these lines, it argues that individualized food security indicators do not unveil the systemic determinants that explain unequal patterns of social reproduction through nutrition during processes of agrarian marketization. To overcome individual-based theorizations, it expands the investigation to state policies, market drivers and gender norms linked to food knowledge, provision, affordability, and availability. In so doing, it unpacks the contradictions that explain the uneven conditions of social reproduction of (and through) food. Finally, by explaining modalities of access and availability of ultra-processed food in rural areas, it reflects on the tensions between the capitalist global food system and its interaction with the logic of state-led development to maintain the social reproduction of rural life.