While much analysis of land reform has focused narrowly on production (crops, livestock, and markets), this perspective risks overlooking the broader range of activities and relationships that sustain households and communities over time.
Social reproduction refers to the maintenance and sustenance of people through care, education, health, kinship and environmental relations. It encompasses the often-invisible work of nurturing children, supporting the elderly, providing food and water, managing illness and maintaining households, all roles disproportionately carried by women.
Placing social reproduction at the centre of our analysis shifts how we understand the outcomes of land reform. Success is not only measured in terms of yields, income, or accumulation but also in whether households can reproduce themselves from one generation to the next. This requires examining how caregiving, education, health shocks, and access to water and energy shape livelihoods. As Ben Cousins points out in the Oxford Handbook of Land Politics, “the character of social reproduction shapes change, but that change is mostly driven by the restless and relentless forces of capital in one guise or another.” The shaping of patterns of accumulation and the success of land reform, however, are vital foci for analysis.
This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.
