Picnics, potlucks and cookbooks : farm women's clubs and the livelihood of community in twentieth century Southern Alberta
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Date
2009
Authors
McNab, Tracy
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Anthropology, c2009
Abstract
This thesis examines the collective labour and resources utilized by farm women within
the context of the farm women’s neighbourhood club in rural communities in twentieth
century Southern Alberta. The ethnographic research explores the historic, cultural and
political foundations of women’s labour on farms and in formal and informal farm
organizations through interviews conducted with former members of two clubs that were
actively involved in fundraising and philanthropic projects in their rural communities for
more than forty-five years. The critical perspective argues farm women in rural clubs
responded to the patriarchal farm discourse that gendered their labour by using their
reproductive skills and resources to build and maintain friendships, social networks and
mutuality, and do good works that ensured the livelihood of their rural communities.
Description
vi, 141 leaves ; 29 cm.
Keywords
Women in agriculture -- Alberta, Southern , Rural women -- Alberta, Southern -- Societies and clubs , Farm life -- Alberta, Southern , Agriculture -- Alberta, Southern , Women in charitable work -- Alberta, Southern -- Societies and clubs , Dissertations, Academic