‘Yes, we get food… but you see we are still foodless’: everyday experiences of food for women and young people in the asylum system as epistemic injustice

Nethaway, Helen Angela (2024). ‘Yes, we get food… but you see we are still foodless’: everyday experiences of food for women and young people in the asylum system as epistemic injustice. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Nethaway2024PhD.pdf
Text - Accepted Version
Restricted to Repository staff only until 31 July 2027.
Available under License All rights reserved.
Download (4MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

This thesis adopts a participatory approach to understanding the everyday experiences of food for women, children and young people navigating the asylum system living in the West Midlands, United Kingdom (UK). The research is set within a socio-political backdrop of a hostile environment, increasing charitable food aid provision and the ‘cost of living’ crisis in the UK. Whilst cumulating issues around accessing consistent, nutritious foods are observed across the UK population, it is disproportionately impacting people in the asylum system, and this remains under researched. This research develops a novel theoretical approach by using a framework that combines concepts of epistemic injustice, food sovereignty and necropolitics to unpack how and why women, children and young people in the asylum system are not heard in relation to their everyday experiences of food. By centring the focus on race, the thesis addresses a lacuna within existing research in social policy; there has largely been an omission in critiquing the racialisation of social security regimes.

There were 128 women, children and young people that participated in this research. The participatory research methods evolved during the research period, they include: ethnographic research, creative methods, PhotoVoice, semi-structured interviews and a ‘Bring and Share’ event. This research provides a series of key findings around the role of food in everyday life. The women, children and young people reveal that they struggled to access culturally appropriate, fresh food from formal charitable food aid or dispersed accommodation spaces. The women and young people introduce new ways of understanding this, through describing how “food makes me happy” or a lack of suitable food leaves the women feeling “empty”. They highlight that navigating formal charitable food aid spaces was fraught with inconsistent treatment, mapping onto existing ideas around ‘deserving’ or ‘underserving’ dichotomies, but also important discussions around race. The women highlight the extent of their resistance against the hostile environment, experienced at a macro state level and through micro replications of hostility, experienced in formal charitable food aid spaces. They describe sharing food, friendship and developing community gardens. The women critique the provision of housing in the West Midlands and highlight the specific challenges this presents in relation to food, ranging from insanitary conditions to the inability to access cooking facilities. This research calls for greater recognition of the racism and oppression, silencing and dismissal experienced by women, children and young people in relation to food. As outlined by a coresearcher, the fundamental argument of this thesis is: “yes, we get food… but you see, we are still foodless”.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):