This paper focuses on the power dimension of social practices. The study sought to understand the literacy-related practices of a retired woman without a high-school diploma in everyday life and community activities. It drew on social practice theories, the New Literacy Studies, and transformative learning. The ethnographic approach chosen to provide a thick description of practices, involving participant observation and interviews, allowed the power dimension to surface. The study contributed an in-depth analysis of the singular experience of an adult faced with literacy challenges in power-embedded contexts, as defined in three main findings. First, it revealed unexpected empowering achievements from an adult with little formal education not usually captured in standardised evaluations. Second, it outlined three intermingled practice categories that evolved during a lifelong project: resourceful literacy, self-directed learning, and ambivalent participation in the community. Third, the participant's ambivalence provided a strong means to uncover the power dimension of social practices in the form of a dialectic between solidarity and domination relationships. Experiences of solidarity encouraging participation in literacy, learning, and community activities and of domination inhibiting participation are described. Implications point to emancipatory approaches in adult literacy, learning, and education, as well as prior learning recognition.