Ways of transmitting agricultural skills in the modern city: Practical learning and conversation

Abstract

The article examines the communication of summer residents through the lens of their agricultural activities. Based on material collected during folklore fieldwork in 2018, it introduces a classification of the ways agricultural skills are transmitted and explores hypotheses about the practical significance of such transmission. Various forms of interaction between summer residents and plants (including both non-verbal and verbal “communication”) serve as a medium for passing down practices, both from the older generation to the younger (the primary form) and among members of the same generation. When both actors perceive the possession of agricultural skills as an essential attribute of the status of a “good summer resident”, the transfer of practices enables the adviser to assume a dominant position. Meanwhile, the recipient can either accept this role distribution or reject the status of “junior”. The possibility of such a refusal arises through recounting the advice to a third party: the person adopting the practice can indicate either that they did not follow the advice or that the advice holds no value for them. Alternatively, there is a version of the story in which the recipient acknowledges following the advice without elevating the adviser’s status relative to their own.