Laurence Barthe

Learning in Agriculture: Rural Development Agents in France Caught between a Job Identity and a Professional Identity

Abstract This paper is an interpretation by researchers of oral and written accounts of ten development agents who have participated in various seminars and discussions since 2001, organized by researchers of INRA and of the University of Toulouse. According to the transcripts of lectures, discussions and articles written by development agents, it seems that the ten development agents analysed dealt with three major themes, all of which concern the new skills required by rural development actors. The first of these concerns social learning in general and, in particular, the complex interactions between public policies, as they are applied through decrees, and new local initiatives. The second theme concerns learning processes at work in rural development professions and new skills required by development agents. Finally, the third theme deals with the sensitive relationship between learning by development agents and learning by local communities or by organizations with which, or for whom, these agents work.

Labours et jachères numériques dans les territoires ruraux

Cet appel a publication de la revue NETCOM porte sur la facon dont les espaces ruraux s’approprient ou rejettent les technologies de l’information et de la communication. Trois dimensions problematiques par categorie d’espace rural (non exclusives d’autres types de positionnement) sont envisagees. La premiere, renvoyant au periurbain repose sur l’hypothese que les TIC seraient les nouveaux vehicules de l’urbanite et que leur introduction aurait pour consequence une perte de substance rurale, ...