Anthropology of knowledge: Rural women and lifeplace learning

Abstract

A study of learning in rural women’s daily life was carried out with the purpose of establishing a framework to interpret learning as a sociocultural practice in the rural context. The theoretical framework was constructed of the following concepts: lifeplace learning, knowledge and phenomenological methodology. The empirical study followed a qualitative paradigm of narrative research. Participatory observation and interviews were used. The research target group were women in their late middle years (between 45 and 65 years of age), living in a rural environment. Data was collected from 2013 to 2016. We
found that learning as experienced by our respondents is influenced by various factors, which can be understood as a whole or an ecology of learning that undergoes constant development. The ecology of learning contains various strategies, content and the patterns of social power, which in specific narrations make up a subjective knowledge network and, in the local environment, an emergent sociocultural knowledge network.