This study presents a policy-related ethnography of women's income generation in Lesotho. The study begins with the proposition that current Women in Development (WID) policy has been shaped, at the international and local level, by over-generalized and, therefore, decontextualized concepts derived from recent WID literature. While a number of these WID concepts, i.e. women's "marginalization," may be generally valid, they tend to narrow our understanding and predefine our interpretation of women's development needs in specific situations. As a result, a "standardized" approach to WID programming has emerged. The study addresses the need to "break-away" from the standardized concepts underlying conventional WID policy in order to learn about how the proposed beneficiaries of WID policy, the women themselves, interpret and respond to the needs and conditions to their particular environment. / Ethnographic principles and procedures are employed to discover and develop indigenously derived analytical constructs. These constructs are applied to the study's depiction and analysis of the income generation enterprises of Basotho women in a number of villages in the Maseru District of Lesotho. A case study of the development of the enterprises of the study's key informant is presented. / The Domestic Developmental Cycle is presented as a culturally-grounded context for understanding women's income generation as a strategic response to immediate and long-term needs and wants. An ethnographic analysis of these needs and wants is provided. A grounded typology of work is developed and applied in this analysis. The study also identifies and describes the People of Business Network, an informal learning and resource system which supports the learning and development of women involved in business in a number of ways. / The implications of these findings for non-formal education programming in Lesotho are discussed. The study also examines the potential of this ethnographic approach to policy research as a planning and needs assessment strategy to inform educational policy in other settings. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-04, Section: A, page: 0914. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75535 |
| Contributors | COBBE, LOUISE BARRETT., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 308 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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