Humanizing industrial geography: Factory canteens and worker feeding on the Witwatersrand

Modern industrial geography has been aptly described as in danger of becoming "dehumanized", silent on a range of important issues concerning the work environment inter alia, surrounding occupational safety, health, nutrition or welfare. The objective in this paper is to contribute towards a more humane industrial geography through illuminating one of the "back regions" of productive enterprises, viz, the industrial canteen. First, an examination is undertaken of the historical geography of factory canteens and of key factors underpinning the international spread of employee feeding schemes. Against this backcloth the second section of the paper analyses the introduction of factory canteens for workers on the Witwatersrand. The South African case study is instructive for industrial geographers because of the emergence of separate arrangements for the feeding of White as opposed to Black factory workers. Themes of concern include the acceptance of scientific management, the role of government and struggles surrounding the displacement of an informal sector food supply system for Black workers.