Troubling Contexts: Toward a Generative Theory of Rurality as Education Research

Authors

  • Robert J Balfour University of KwaZulu-Natal
  • Claudia Mitchell McGill University, Montreal
  • Relebohile Moletsane Human Sciences Research Council

Abstract

Marsden (2006) suggests that rurality as a signifier is transformative, capable of changing behaviour and affecting the motivation of teachers, community workers, and learners. Research from the Rural Teacher Education Project in South Africa, which informs our argument in this article, demonstrates that the very generative and transformative nature of rurality serves both to inform but also to delimit the effectiveness of intervention programs designed, often with the best of intentions in mind, for education, health care, job creation, and poverty alleviation. This article asserts that a theory of rurality needs to take account of contemporary theories of globalization and society, drawing from the sociological as well as the postcolonial accounts of identity and environment. What emerges in this article is what we have termed a “generative theory of rurality,” in which the dynamic interaction between variables allows for both a descriptive and an analytical framework for data emanating from, and located within, research in rural areas.

Author Biographies

Robert J Balfour, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Robert Balfour is Head of the School of Language, Literacies, Media, and Drama Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). He publishes in contemporary literarure, education development, and linguistics. He is also poet, and also a painter. He lives in Durban and his website may be visited at http://www.sllmde.ukzn.ac.za. His email address is: balfourr@ukzn.ac.za

Claudia Mitchell, McGill University, Montreal

Claudia Mitchell is James McGill Professor of Research at McGill University in Montreal. Widely published in gender, HIV/ AIDS education, popular and teen cultures, she is also Honoarary Professor of Education at the Univeristy of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Relebohile Moletsane, Human Sciences Research Council

Relebohile Moletsane is with the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa where she is Director of Gender Research and responsible for initiating and drawing together research on gender and human rights, education, and gender and development. She has published in HIV/AIDS education, education and development, gender education and curriculum development.

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Published

2009-01-26

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Section

Articles