"Just doing what needs to be done:" rural women's peacebuilding on the prairies

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Date
2015, 2015
Authors
Neusteter, Jessica Robin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lexington Books
Canadian Journal for the Studies in Adult Education
Abstract

Usually bubbling under the surface of the ordinary everyday routines of life, women’s volunteering in their communities, helping out and just doing what needs to be done, represent a significant phenomenon in sustaining and developing human life and civilization. Embedded within their everyday community action is a dialectical learning and cognitive praxis which informs their situated public care practice. Grassroots peacebuilding is dependent on the efforts of volunteers. As well, volunteering itself is a means for building social cohesion, solidarity and trust—factors fundamental to sustainable development and peace. Rural women’s community involvement is situated within the everyday of their diverse communities. There is diversity both within and between rural communities; as well rural women represent a diverse group in regards to age, race, class, ethnicity, language, marital and family status, ability, and religion. Blending participant observation and in-depth interviewing, this ethnographic study explored rural women’s community involvement practice and learning in South-Central Manitoba. This study invited women from across the region; representing a mix of age, race, education, ability, ethnicity, religion and areas of involvement, to share their stories of being involved in their communities. Their narratives revealed a rich story of women’s peacebuilding for individual and community wellbeing fitting into a tradition of rural women’s community development. As well, their learning narratives revealed a situated community involvement learning within the action and reflection of being community involved.

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Keywords
Adult education, Peace, Peacebuilding, women's learning, Community development, Rural, Gender, Volunteer, women's peacebuilding, women and development, informal learning
Citation
Neustaeter, R. (2015). ‘It’s not just the icing, it’s the glue’: Rural women’s volunteering in Manitoba. In M.P. Flaherty, S. Byrne, H. Tuso, and T.G. Matyok (Eds.), Gender and peacebuilding: All hands required, (195-212). Boulder: Lexington Books.
Neustaeter, R. (2015). Situated feminism, rurality and women’s learning in rural Manitoba, Canada. Canadian Journal for the Studies in Adult Education Online, 27(2), 100-119.