engleski

Hidden Lives: An Anthropological Study of Rural Women

This ethnographic study was a response to a need to conduct anthropological research, which focuses on the experiences of different rural and farm women in Croatia. Participant observation and qualitative research interviews were principally used as the most appropriate ways of grasping and giving voice to women's (and men's) everyday lives and experiences. Fieldwork for this study was conducted in six rural villages (74 households) in Slavonia, in the County of Vukovar-Sirmium. This study does not examine the objective category of 'women' but engages with the subjective ideas and practices making up different femininities. Its purpose is to reveal the diverse and multifaceted gendered experiences of rural and farm women as well as their expressions of gender in rural areas. In an attempt to understand women's 'realities', perceptions, as well as their engagement in these worlds, this study starts with an exploration of their personal perspectives and then moves on to learn about their homes, families, and wider social networks. It also illuminates the larger structures and processes that mediate their experiences in rural areas. An overview of the socio-cultural, political (as well as historical) contexts that reflect conditions as they appear at the macro-level is provided through a review of available and relevant demographic statistics and reports. In addition, it explores to what extent rural space determines how people live and think about gender and shows how women are involved in rural social worlds and how they experience and interpret this involvement. Although gender is taken as the key focus, this study also investigates how women's experiences are influenced by the interweaving influences of age, marital/maternal status, education, employment, religion and personal/familial background. Specifically, it emphasises the complex ties between domesticity, femininity and rurality as they interrelate to influence the (domestic) identities of contemporary rural and farm women. Further, this book aims to explore how powerfully traditionally feminine identities (acceptable rural femininities) are embedded and reinforced in the performance of gender but how they are also negotiated and contested by some women. Thus, rather than seeing rural women as passive victims of patriarchal structures, this study attempts to bring out their agency and the creative ways they take control of their lives in often difficult circumstances.

rural/farm women; qualitative research; femininities

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