What do you mean? An educational researcher's reflections regarding ‘rural’ when rural is home

Abstract

In this article, I engage in a reflexive examination of my educational research in order to explore various meanings of rurality and the ways these meanings can include and exclude. Focusing on commonly held conceptions of rurality as critiqued by theorists (Halfacree 2003, 2006; Cloke 2006), I use examples from my own multi-media research, as well as the work of other researchers and scholars, to illustrate the usefulness and limitations of these definitions. I detail the ways I have worked to address restrictive definitions of the rural and to encourage more plural, and ultimately, more inclusive understandings of the term. When notions of rurality that fail to capture the complex and unique realities of rural regions make their way into schools and sites of learning people and their rural communities are denied models of education that honour their particular needs and assets. I argue that educational research must be designed and carried out in ways that attend to the various inter-related dimensions of rurality. Researchers who hope to contribute to inclusive education in rural regions can start by examining ways that their own understandings of rurality and the research processes connected to such understandings foster inclusion.

Keywords:

• rurality
• reflexivity
• educational research
• multi-media research

Acknowledgements

The author also thanks the reviewers for their helpful feedback. Very special thanks to the participants in these studies.

Notes on contributors

M. Tanya Brann-Barrett, Ph.D. in Educational Studies, is currently Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Communication at Cape Breton University in Canada. Her research investigates social exclusion and rural community development education and issues of public engagement and citizenship as they relate to youth, young adults, gender, and class. For 23 years she has designed and facilitated communication workshops for school-aged children and young people, families, and community groups and organisations.

Notes

1 Throughout this article I make reference to history, findings, conclusions, and reflexive conclusions I have reported in other published articles (Brann-Barrett 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014).

Additional information

Funding

The author is grateful for the support of the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Cape Breton University and the Beaton Institute.