A Case Study in a Major Italian Bank
from Part II - Learning Differences in Contemporary Cultural Practices
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2026
The chapter explores innovative forms of relational, collaborative learning among highly specialized professionals. An ethnographic approach to learning processes remains rare in Italian anthropology, particularly in its practical applications within complex organizations. The research, conducted between 2011 and 2013 across five macro-areas of a major Italian private bank, involved multiple communities of practice in the retail sector. The resulting “prototype in process” demonstrated flexibility, enabling adaptation to varied corporate settings and diverse professional backgrounds. Revising the assumption of a novice’s peripheral co-participation with a single “expert,” the study reveals learning dynamics in which both colleagues are “diverse experts” (Bonetti 2017), each with distinct qualifications and competencies. Effective co-participation occurs when both adopt cognitive, mental, and embodied predispositions toward co-learning; otherwise, outcomes tend to be inadequate or resistant to change. The chapter offers a phenomenological reading of learning as a relational, embodied, and co-creative process fostering understanding and change in practice.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.