On January 31, 1911, the Homemakers' Clubs of Saskatchewan became an official organisation under the direction of the University of Saskatchewan. Established to provide isolated rural women with companionship, access to education, and the opportunity to carry out community service, Homemakers' Clubs appealed to thousands of farm women because they provided the means by which they could improve themselves, their farm homes, and their communities. Its appeal also lay in the fact that the organisation remained non-political and non-sectarian, focusing instead on women's primary responsibilities to their homes and their families. To that end, Homemakers' Clubs embraced a domestic ideology that institionalised notions of gender and celebrated women's roles in the home. Given that the nature of farm women's work was not restricted to the household, however, Homemakers' Clubs allowed rural women to redefine an urban domesticity to include their farming responsibilities. Moreover, in a setting where gender lines were often blurred and the division of labour was not always strictly defined, membership in an organisation that reinforced gender roles, promoted family and community life, and embraced a traditional mandate provided farm women with a level of respectability and femininity that was often lost in a farming setting. Finally, the domestic ideology under which the Homemakers' Clubs operated allowed its members to find recognition and validation in their work, and, in their goals to elevate home life, to legitimise their work, and to adjust domestic ideology to include their farming responsibilities, the organisation became a space in which its members discussed, debated, explored, and, in some cases, challenged common perceptions of women; they subtly challenged the status quo and demanded validation and recognition for their work in and contributions to their farms and communities. As such, an organisation that may outwardly appear to be a traditional women's organisation devoted strictly to the exchange of recipes and household advice, was, in actuality, quietly political and provided farm women with a sense of identity that enabled them to contribute fundamentally to their rural homes, families, and communities.

This dissertation illuminates the links between agriculture, popular culture, social class, and agrarian nostalgia. Using an interdisciplinary approach, I draw from the fields of American Studies, American History, Agricultural History, Environmental Studies, popular culture, and cultural geography. Consisting of four diverse case studies, my project focuses on America's evolving relationship with its agrarian roots from the late eighteenth century to the present. Each case study pays close attention to the ways in which the forces of modern consumerism have shaped public understanding of agricultural issues. The dissertation pivots on two main arguments: 1) the modern realities of industrialized agriculture have sparked a desire for highly romanticized visions of farming, particularly tourism to rural places that promise temporary pastoral transcendence to consumers, and 2) as a result of the public demand for idyllic constructions of American rural life, agrarian nostalgia has frequently been deployed in the service of commerce. From the writings of Thomas Jefferson and Laura Ingalls Wilder, to Currier and Ives painting, Martha Stewart's media empire, and state fairs of the American Midwest, I analyze a variety of highly romanticized cultural forms that enrich our understanding of the nation's agrarian heritage. Yet, I also make important links between the past and present, and demonstrate how and why debates about such issues as farm policy and the politics of food once again stand at the forefront of popular consciousness in the twenty-first century. / text

Inscrite dans la tradition monographique en sociologie et en anthropologie, cette thèse prend pour objet la diversité des pratiques et des idéologies caractéristiques des différents types de populations rurales distingués en fonction de l'enracinement territorial, afin d'apporter un nouvel éclairage sur les conflits sociaux actuels dans tous les milieux ruraux québécois qui surgissent notamment de l'accroissement du nombre des néo-ruraux dont les visions du monde s'opposent à celles des agriculteurs, dont le nombre diminue sans cesse. Prenant un village comme observatoire, il s'agit de rendre compte du mouvement totalisant de l'expérience de la vie en société à la fois dans ses dimensions « matérielles » et « symboliques ». L'étude des principales formes de vie sociale (religieuse, économique et politique) se fait grâce à des méthodes diversifiées: l'observation participante, l'analyse statistique, l'analyse du discours, le travail sur les archives municipales et l'histoire orale. L'analyse des différentes formes de vie sociale montre que leur organisation est structurée par deux principaux modèles. Le modèle public et communautaire comprend les personnes qui valorisent l'implication de l'État et des professionnels dans la gestion collective de la redistribution des richesses et dans le développement des milieux ruraux. Ces personnes occupent une position économique « marginale » à l'intérieur de la localité et sont plus près des milieux urbains tant par leurs positions que par leurs visions du monde. Quant au modèle privé et familial, il comprend les personnes défendant le rôle prépondérant des réseaux familiaux dans le développement local et la fermeture de la localité face à la concurrence des marchés extérieurs et aux interventions politiques exogènes. Les représentants de ce modèle occupent une position économique locale dominante, mais se sentent de plus en plus dominés politiquement face aux interventions extérieures des représentants politiques régionaux et des professionnels ainsi qu'économiquement à l'échelle mondiale où ils occupent une position dominée. Les oppositions sous-jacentes à ces deux modèles s'inscrivent dans une histoire ancienne qui met en scène d'une part les élites traditionnelles liées à l'Église et les notables francophones scolarisées et d'autre part les élites industrielles et commerciales qui succèdent aux anglophones dès les années 1920. Le sens et le contenu des modèles varient légèrement avec les transformations récentes de la structure familiale et la régionalisation des pouvoirs politiques et religieux. / Pertaining to the monographic tradition in sociology and anthropology, this dissertation is about the diversity of the practices and ideologies of the different kinds of rural populations, which are in turn distinguished according to their "territorial establishment". I aim to shed a new light on the ongoing social conflicts in all of Quebec's countryside that are due to the increase of "new-inhabitants" whose world views are in opposition to the always decreasing farmers. With a village as observatory, I account for the "totalizing movement" of the social life experience in both its material and symbolic dimensions. I study the main forms of life (religious, economic, and political) with multivarious methods: "participant observation", statistical analysis, analysis of discourse, as well as the municipal archives and oral history. The analysis of the diverse forms of social life shows that they are organized according to two main models: the public and communautarian model, and the private and familial one. The former model comprises individuals who value the State's and professionals interference in the redistribution of goods as well as in the development of the countryside. These individuals occupy a marginal economic position in the village, and their positions and world views are closer to urban individuals. As for the private and familial model, it comprises individuals who defends both the predominant role of family network in the development of the village, and the separation of the village from the exogenous market competition and political interventions. This model's representatives occupy a local dominant economic position, but feel more and more politically dominated in the regional political scene by their representatives and professionals, as well as in the world economy where they occupy a dominated position. The underlying oppositions of these two models are anchored in an age-old history that displays, on the one hand, the traditional elite associated to the Church and the francophone educated notaries, and, on the other hand, the industrial and commercial elite that succeeded to the Anglophones in the 1920s. The meaning and content of the models lightly vary with recent transformations in the family structure and with the regionalization of the political and religious powers.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:33:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 2856164 bytes, checksum: f913cdd7f5b5944056773859fca00ef1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-16 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This thesis aimed to investigate the effects of rural retirement in the way of life of families with retirees. We sought to analyze the changes in lifestyles of families with elderly from the institutionalization of "pension habitus" in their life. Although the research has not treated the rural retirement as a causal variable in relation to changes in way of life of families with retirees, it sought concerned the lives of these families. For classification purposes and considering the purpose of this research, you can frame it as a descriptive-explanatory. In methodological terms it was used procedures for collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, with the application of a survey with open and closed questions. For the study was chosen municipalities of São Miguel do Anta and Piranga, both belonging to the microregion of Viçosa. The choice was due to the fact both have different connotations of rurality. The survey sample was representative of the population, consisting by 117 rural elderly: Piranga 64 in and 53 in São Miguel do Anta. The data were categorized, analyzed and tested through Statistical Package software for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0. The research results revealed that there was the institutionalization of what might be described as a "pension habitus" in the lives of rural retirees, according to the same have incorporated a new way of perceiving time and get organized before him. The horizon of the future entered the lives of families with retirees, who through security money received, each month, developed habits and practices of medium and long term. A hybridized way of life with elements of urban life start to combine with traditional customs and traditional practices. The Families with rural retirees kept alive elements of rural culture. Thus, their ways of life proved hybrids showing a synthesis between the influence of urban culture and rural heritage. This fact could be verified through changes in the structure of the house, the purchase of utensils and appliances, in the technological investments, in property and even the consumption of food and clothing. The credit and investment in goods paid in installments, as well as investment in studies of children and grandchildren, were some of the practices that pointed to the changes that were giving us their ways of life, which approached the patterns of urban life. The data showed that such transformations were institutionalized in their lives with the monthly income from retirement, which materialized a 'pension habitus ", marked by the horizon of the future planned. The fear of hunger and the uncertainty about tomorrow left behind. The safety of receipt of social security benefits, month after month, introduced the "future" in their lives. A time to come, through which pass to make in home improvement projects, procurement of goods and aid to projects of close relatives, as they could save part of what they received to invest. The security of receiving the money showed up as a factor of removal of fear of spending with some investment in the property, as henceforth not need to risk buying agricultural implements and technologies into debt in the bank. The receipt of rural retirement, thus created a predisposition to plan for tomorrow. Finally, It has been found, that the welfare income had a differential impact on the lives of men and women: the women who were used to working, but not getting the work they did, with the rural pension went from "dependent" to "autonomous ", deciding on how to use the money they received. / A presente dissertação teve como objetivo investigar os efeitos da aposentadoria rural no modo de vida das famílias com aposentados. Buscou-se analisar as mudanças nos modos de vida das famílias com idosos a partir da institucionalização do habitus previdenciário em sua vida. Embora a pesquisa não tenha tratado a aposentadoria rural como uma variável causal em relação às mudanças dos modos de vida das famílias com aposentados, ela procurou incidir sobre a vida destas famílias. Para efeitos de classificação e considerando-se o objetivo desta pesquisa, pode-se enquadrá-la como descritiva-explicativa. Em termos metodológicos utilizou-se procedimentos de coleta e análise de dados quantitativos e qualitativos, com a aplicação de um survey com perguntas abertas e fechadas. Para a realização do estudo escolheu-se os municípios de Piranga e São Miguel do Anta, ambos pertencentes à Microrregião de Viçosa. A escolha se deveu ao fato de ambos apresentarem diferentes conotações da ruralidade. A amostra da pesquisa foi representativa da população, tendo sido constituída por 117 idosos rurais: 64 em Piranga e 53 em São Miguel do Anta. Os dados foram categorizados, analisados e testados por meio do software StatisticalPackage for Social Science (SPSS) versão 20.0. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que houve a institucionalização do que se poderia definir como um habitus previdenciário na vida dos aposentados rurais, em função dos mesmos terem incorporado uma nova forma de perceber o tempo e se organizar perante ele. O horizonte do futuro adentrou a vida das famílias com aposentados, que mediante a segurança do dinheiro recebido, mensalmente, desenvolveram hábitos e práticas de médio e longo prazo. Um modo de vida hibridizado com elementos da vida urbana passaram a se combinar com costumes e práticas tradicionais. As famílias com aposentados rurais mantinham vivos elementos da cultura rural. Assim, os seus modos de vida se mostraram híbridos, apresentando uma síntese entre a influência da cultura urbana e a herança rural. Tal fato pôde ser constatado através das mudanças na estrutura da casa, na aquisição de utensílios e eletrodomésticos, nos investimentos tecnológicos na propriedade e, até mesmo no consumo de alimentos e roupas. O crediário e o investimento em bens parcelados, assim como o investimento nos estudos dos netos e filhos, foram algumas das práticas que apontaram para as alterações que se estavam dando nos seus modos de vida, os quais se aproximaram dos padrões de vida urbanos. Os dados mostraram que tais transformações se institucionalizaram em suas vidas com o recebimento mensal da aposentadoria, a qual materializou um habitus previdenciário , marcado pelo horizonte do futuro planejado. O medo da fome e a incerteza em relação ao amanhã ficaram para trás. A segurança do recebimento do benefício previdenciário, mês após mês, introduziu o futuro em suas vidas. Um tempo vindouro, através do qual passam a fazer projetos de melhoramento na casa, de aquisição de bens e de auxílio aos projetos dos parentes próximos, à medida que conseguiam poupar parte do que recebiam para investir. O dinheiro certo mostrou-se como um fator de afastamento do medo de gastar com algum investimento na propriedade, pois, doravante, não precisavam se arriscar a comprar implementos e tecnologias agrícolas, se endividando no banco. O recebimento da aposentadoria rural criou, assim, uma predisposição para planejar o amanhã. Verificou-se, por fim, que a renda previdenciária teve um impacto diferenciado na vida de homens e mulheres: estas, que eram acostumadas a trabalhar, mas não a receber pelo trabalho que realizavam, com a aposentadoria rural passaram de dependente a autônomas , decidindo sobre a forma de usar o dinheiro que recebiam.