Faith Ossy Ikioda

Doing Gender in communities of practice
Supervisors: Dr Megan Blake and Dr Chasca Twyman

Qualifications

BSc Geography, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria (2005)
MA Human Geography, University of Manchester, UK (2007)

Research Focus

As communities of practice continue to gain increasing importance for theorizing identity, learning, participation and knowledge production across a variety of disciplines two concerns prompt the attention of this present paper.

Firstly, relatively little attention has been directed towards understanding the diversity of learning in communities of practice; particularly as learning is informed by and informs participants' social positioning (eg through gender, ethnicity, class, etc)

Secondly, although it is widely acknowledged in the literature that learning through communities of practice is essential to the development of knowledge production in contemporary work place settings, studies have been slow to consider the visibility of communities of practice in other kinds of dynamic work settings that do not necessarily take on the characteristics of corporate or employing organizations.

This research examines the emergence of the applicability of the concept of the communities of practice to the entrepreneurial setting of the outdoor retail market place. On the basis of a comparative study of outdoor retail markets the research considers how gender interacts within and between communities of practice and the implications for such relationships for enhancing or limiting optimal economic outcomes.

Funding

University of Sheffield Fee Waiver
The Foundation for Urban and Regional Studies
The Wingate Scholarship Contact details

Contact details

Address: University of Sheffield, Department of Geography, Winter Street, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
Tel: +44 (0)114 222 7973
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 7907
Email: F.Ikioda@Sheffield.ac.uk