Corporate Packaged Food in Manila’s Slums: Circuit, Channels and Sari-Sari’ (Ad)Ventures

Date & Time: January 14, 2020, 16:00-18:00
Venue: Tonan Tei (room 201 Inamori Foundation Building)

Speaker: Dr. Heriberto Ruiz Tafoya

Abstract:
Massive volumes of corporate packaged food are circulating through thousands of Sari-Sari stores, stalls, tricycles, baskets of individual vendors in Metro Manila. It is an economic phenomenon transforming society in all levels and hierarchies through food retail and consumption. In this presentation, I will share stories, pictures, graphs and experiences of branded food retailing in slums of Payatas, Dakota (Malate), and Tatalon. The purpose is to answer the question of how the CPF arrives to the slum household. First, I show the map of involved actors that (voluntarily and involuntarily) serve as channels of corporations. Second, I give importance on the ‘boundary’ of slum and non-slum. To live in slums is itself a trigger for multiple CPF meanings and for practices of micro-retail and consumption. Third, I distinguish market and non-market mechanisms (gifts) that introduce packaged food into a slum household. Fourth, Sari-Sari stores receive a particular attention based on their multiple relevancies for slum families. The information presented here form part of initial chapters of my book project ‘Packaged Food, Packaged Life: causes and consequences of eating processed food in Manila’s slums,’ which discusses more issues about packaged food consumption and its impacts on key aspects of life: health, environment, culture, social relations, economy and politics.

About the Speaker:
Heriberto Ruiz Tafoya received his Doctoral Degree in Economics from the Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University in 2019. His profile is multifaceted. He studied BA in Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), MSc. in Technology and Innovation Management at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) of Sussex University in Brighton, UK, and a Global Master of Business Administration (GMBA) at the Doshisha Business School. Heriberto also received a Diploma in Small and Medium Enterprises Development from JICA and Ryukoku University and a Diploma in Political Economy and Government from the National Institute of Public Administration, Mexico (INAP). He has published papers, articles and specialized reports on Economic Development, Political Economy, Business Management, Social Entrepreneurship, and Regional Innovation. He has been lecturer of courses in the Economics field, government officer, entrepreneurial advisor, consultant, and activist and advocate of political and social movements since 1993.