Feminist ethics of care in urban food governance

The purpose of this chapter is to examine how a feminist ethics of care provides a framework of analysis for urban food governance activities. Grounded in a relational social ontology, we see that a feminist ethics of care in urban food governance draws attention to the interdependencies and responsibilities that exist within and beyond these systems and provides a valuable lens through which to view existing practice. Drawing from our research with urban food producers in Australia and New Zealand (Aotearoa), we identify three existing domains of research on an ethics of care in urban food governance: (i) caring connections; (ii) care as a politics; and (iii) materialities of care, as brought about through relationships with and between actors and subject and objects. Throughout our analysis we emphasise the potential of a feminist ethics of care to decentre humans as the subjects of food systems, revealing how more-than-human others play an integral role in enabling, and restricting particular types of care. We conclude by highlighting the possibilities and challenges of approaching urban food governance through the lens of a feminist ethics of care to support new imaginaries for care-full and just food futures.