The Cultural Politics of Food in South Africa
Media, Nourishment, Inequality
In The Cultural Politics of Food in South Africa, interdisciplinary perspectives are brought together to explore how food in South Africa operates as both a material system of nourishment and a communicative system filled with cultural meaning. The volume critically examines how food is shaped by and shapes historical, social, and mediated experiences of colonialism, migration, apartheid and inequality, revealing that food is never just food but deeply entangled with identity, representation and power in South African society.
This publication emanates from the Never Just Food Symposium held in May 2023, which sought to create a space for interdisciplinary conversations around food and the role it plays in society. The symposium was interested in both scientific evidence on and around food and cultural analysis of and into it, and aimed to bring together these two spheres of knowledge production into an integrated conversation about the meanings and politics of food in the specific context of here (Southern Africa) and now (as intertwined climate and political crises deepen).
Contributors:
- Amy Rommelspacher
- Brittany Kesselman
- Carla Tsampiras
- Darlene Miller
- Liani Maasdorp
- Mehita Iqani
- Maya Loon
- mpho ndaba
- Rebecca Pointer
- Russel Hlongwane
- Sarah Gibson
- Tammy Langtry
- Tanja Bosch
- Wamuwi Mbao
Linked Publication:
The Cultural Politics of Food in South Africa: Media, Nourishment, Inequality (2026)