The river and the people. An approach to memories, craft and adult education

The main aim of this article is to describe an ongoing study to recover the memories of the people and the traditional crafts associated with the Guadalquivir River where it passes through a town called C., 12km from the city of S. in the south of Spain. It seems that people are losing their sense of belonging to both a symbolic and geographical territory. The process for recovering it can be considered a generator of experiences and learning. These experiences are related to identity as an element which enables people to understand how individuals establish relationships amongst themselves and with the environment. The paper describes the process of research based on interviewing people to capture their experiences. This is a work in process. The first outcomes are related to a number of descriptive categories such as: the crafts associated with the River; the use of the River to transport goods and people; the family ties associated with the crafts; the cosmopolitanism of the people and the changes ensuing from it; the role of women; and the River as a magical and mysterious place. Preliminary conclusions call on us to consider the importance of recovering traditional crafts as a source of adult education, and of maintaining a cultural identity threatened by globalisation processes.