Abstract
Employing decolonial theory and ecofeminist perspectives, this research sought to understand the lived experiences of abattoir workers in Johannesburg and locate these experiences within the broader context of capitalist food production systems. Through the project, I sought to investigate and contribute to the activist and scholarly work that draws connections between meat production, racism, patriarchy and ecocide. Due to capitalist extraction, the meat industry continues to grow, with production exponentially increasing each year. Through the meatification of diets (Weis 2016), the average person in 2019 consumed twice the meat they consumed six decades ago and although climate justice activists and scholars have warned about the ecocidal impact of this, meat production and consumption continue to increase (Weis 2016; Ritchie, Rosado and Roser 2017). Through qualitative research methods, data was obtained from seven abattoir workers at Mabe Farm and Abattoir in Johannesburg. Their stories provided rich insights into the expression of masculinity at the abattoir, and also revealed the deep-rooted structural inequalities within the food production system. In addition, their contributions helped in theorising the relationships between non-human animals and humans.
In this minor dissertation, I argue that the abattoir is a space where multiple, intersecting violences occur on a trans-species level. Human and animal workers have shared experiences of the violence of coloniality and patriarchy and these happen in legalised spaces including the abattoir. Furthermore, on a human level, the abattoir is a space where gender/masculinity is done and thus by researching and understanding this space from a decolonial perspective, we can have nuanced understandings of the lived experiences of South African, male workers and how they do gender and/or perform masculinity in the workplace.