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Regeneration in Rural Catalonia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2008

Alexander F. Robertson
Alexander F. Robertson*
Affiliation:
School of Social and Political Studies, Edinburgh University [sandy.robertson@ed.ac.uk].
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Abstract

The efforts of rural communities around the world to survive in the face of economic and demographic decline dramatise the bio-cultural processes on which human regeneration routinely depends. This paper explores the very conspicuous symbolic aspects of regeneration in a village in Catalonia, Spain, and traces the long term physical and material processes that underlie them. Scrutiny of two different festivals reveals a passionate concern to renegotiate deeply fractured generational relationships. Having exported its fertility to the towns and cities, the community is now working to incorporate newcomers and devise new livelihoods. Public rituals have done much to sustain these efforts at regeneration, but how they may resist the “sterile growth” of Mieres as a village of mostly empty second homes is a provocative new issue.

Résumé

Le déclin économique et démographique des communautés rurales affecte les processus bioculturels qui sous-tendent la transmission intergénérationnelle. L'article explore les inventions symboliques remarquables d'un village de Catalogne et retrace les évolutions physiques et de la culture matérielle qui sont sous-jacentes. Deux festivals mettent en évidence la force de l'effort passionné pour renouer les fils brisés des relations intergénérationnelles. Le village a exporté sa fécondité vers les villes et travaille désormais à accueillir des nouveaux venus et à inventer des modes de vie. Les rituels publics ont fait beaucoup mais le défi est d’être devenu une communauté stérile de résidents secondaires et de maisons vides.

Zusammenfassung

Der wirtschaftliche und demokratische Niedergang der ländlichen Bevölkerung beeinflußt die biokulturellen Abläufe, die dem Generationsaustausch zugrunde liegen. Dieser Beitrag untersucht die für das katalonische Dorf Meires ganz spezifischen symbolischen Lösungsansätze und zeigt die physischen und materiellen Aspekte auf, die langfristig zu dieser Entwicklung führten. Zwei Festivals verdeutlichen den Kraftakt, der notwendig ist, um den zerstörten Generationsaustausch wiederherzustellen. Das Dorf hat seine Bewohner an die Städte verloren und bemüht sich nun Zugezogene aufzunehmen und neue Lebensweisen zu erfinden. Die Rituale haben viel dazubeigetragen, doch nun stellt der sterile Zuwachs von meist leeren “Zweitwohnsitzen” eine neue Herausforderung dar.

Type
Research Articles
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , August 2008 , pp. 147 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2008

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