Rural Elderly Women’s Knowledge of Local Food and Intention toward the Succession of that Knowledge: A Case Study for Incorporating External Actors

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the knowledge possession and intention to pass it on, concerning local food among rural elderly women by comparing individuals and local communities. The results showed that individuals possessed only tacit knowledge; though the community possessed tacit knowledge even as knowledge was formalized, individuals lost conventional opportunities for collaboration. In addition, the communities shrank their activities so that the function of succession declined; individuals have little intention to pass on knowledge and such intentions in the communities were discouraged by a lack of resources and opportunities. The future succession should involve reconstruction of the knowledge transfer mechanism and management of the knowledge itself.